In 2019, we celebrated 40 years of women students at New College.
As part of our celebrations, we published interviews with some of our female academics and Old Members working in STEM subjects - an area in which women remain under-represented.
We now follow this with accounts from some more of our amazing women in STEM.
Name New College title
Department title
Fien Apers Stipendiary Lecturer in Physics Graduate student
Natalia Ares Tutorial Fellow in Engineering
Elena BaenaGonzález Tutorial Fellow in Plant Sciences
Holly Bridge Stipendiary Lecturer in Physiology
Associate Professor in Engineering Science in the Department of Engineering Science and Royal Society University Research Fellow
Associate Professor of Plant Sciences in the Department of Biology
Professor of Neuroscience in the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences
Paola Conconi Professorial Fellow in Economics BP Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics
Alison Cox Dummett Fellow
Lydia Gilday Stipendiary Lecturer in Chemistry Departmental Lecturer in Inorganic Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry
Ashleigh Griffin Tutorial Fellow in Biological Sciences Professor of Evolutionary Biology in the Department of Biology
Maisha Jabeen Todd-Bird Non-Stipendiary JRF in Clinical Medicine
DPhil student in the Nuffield Department of Medicine
Lora Martucci Todd-Bird JRF in Medicine or Biochemistry Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Pharmacology
Bethan Psaila Senior Fellow in Clinical Medicine
Associate Professor of Haematology in the Radcliffe Department of Medicine
Barbara Rossi Tutorial Fellow in Engineering
Adrianne Slyz Tutorial Fellow in Physics
Christiane Timmel Tutorial Fellow in Chemistry
Polly Waite Tutorial Fellow in Psychology
Hanna Willis Stipendiary Lecturer in Psychology
Tilly Woods Non-Stipendiary Lecturer in Mathematics
Associate Professor of Engineering Science in the Department of Engineering Science
Associate Professor in Physics in the Department of Physics
Professor of Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry and Director (Chemistry) of the Centre for Advanced Spin Resonance (CAESR)
Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology at the Oxford Department of Experimental Psychology
Postdoctoral Research Assistant at the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences
Postgraduate student at the Mathematical Institute
Professor Barbara Rossi joined New College in March 2019 as a Tutor in Engineering Science (Structures & Mechanics). She has established and leads the Sustainable Metal Structures Research Group dedicated to enhancing the construction sector sustainability and resilience through a more efficient utilization of metals in structures. Her group investigates a spectrum of materials, including carbon steel, stainless steel, aluminium, and reinforced concrete. They develop advanced designs and innovative manufacturing methods within a scope that encompasses lifecycle loading histories, leading to phenomena like instability, fatigue, and long-term corrosion effects.
Professor Rossi’s work has been published in 80 papers, in peer-reviewed international journals, in industrial magazines and at conferences. She has recently been awarded an ‘ICE Bev Waugh Award’ which recognises individuals who value the views of others. It also recognises those who lead with kindness whilst challenging the status quo and quietly broadening the perspective of the team.
She says of the award, “just as Bev Waugh’s legacy inspires us, I believe in the power of positive and kind leadership to drive efficient and meaningful change. I have the immense privilege of working with brilliant young minds. I believe in open dialogue and in kindness to lead my team. Being a kind leader is essential to success. When you show empathy, you receive trust and in turn it creates a happy place where people thrive and are empowered and inspired to deliver results. This happy place is where you and your team will then quietly reach your aim”.
As a Tutorial Fellow at New College, she holds multifaceted responsibilities. She is integral to Engineering admissions and tutor for Equality and Diversity, championing long-term gender diversity at postgraduate levels in Engineering Science and contributing to Women in STEM initiatives. Through persistent engagement with UK Schools, UNIQ+, New College’s Step-Up outreach initiative, Pint of Science, Open days, WiE day, INWED, and participation in the Exhibition Road Festival, she consistently engages with diverse audiences and advocates for gender diversity in STEM.
Professor Rossi has now spearheaded the creation of this brochure dedicated to the women of New College who work in STEM.
(Above) Measuring and optimizing interpass temperatures and idle time in wire-arc additive manufacturing of steel structures for maximum benefit on mechanical characteristics.
(L) In the Sustainable Metal Structures Laboratory at Begbroke, Barbara’s team test and study structures in view of increasing their efficiency (photo: buckling of a thin perforated plate measured by Digital Image Correlation)
Natalia Ares has been an Associate Professor at New College for almost two years, having joined the Materials Department at the University of Oxford in 2013.
After graduating with a BSc in Physics from her home country of Argentina, Natalia moved to Europe to pursue her interest in quantum technology. Since her PhD at CEA Grenoble and Post Doctorate at the University of Oxford, Natalia has received a series of fellowships including the Marie Curie and Royal Society University Research fellowship, establishing herself as an international expert in quantum computing.
Here, she tells us more about what her research involves, her experience as a woman in leadership, and her excitement for the rise of the ‘Quantum Age’.
What sparked your interest in quantum technologies?
My physics teacher at school was very excited about quantum - it made me wonder what it was all about! I found it fascinating that we have established ‘rules’ centuries ago about physics - but these do not strictly apply to the quantum scale where we are concerned with single electrons. As my curiosity progressed, so did the global interest in quantum technologies.
By the time I finished my PhD in quantum computation, companies were investing hundreds of thousands to develop quantum computers. Since then, I have been swept away with the rise of this ‘Quantum Age’.
What exactly do you mean by ‘quantum computing’?
Classical computing (as we know today) is possible because we can fit a billion transistors in a single chip. A transistor is essentially a gate, which classical computing restricts to two distinct states: on or offzero or one.
However, quantum computing is not restricted to this binary system. Hence, for the same billion or so transistors in a single chip, the power enabled by a quantum computer is several orders of magnitude greater. Classical computers have changed our world but computing as we know it today has reached its limit. We have transistors that are only a few atoms thick; what more can we do?
Quantum computing is more powerful, enabled in a different way. With quantum, we can solve problems that would take classical computers the age of the universe to solve - this alone is really exciting.
The problem to which I just referred is typical of factorisation algorithms. Encryption typically involves the multiplication of two prime numbers - therefore quantum computers would enable brilliantly fast decryption. Of course, this is a concern to banks and governments worldwide, each of which are major sources of investment for quantum research; indeed IBM has developed a quantum computer which can be accessed online!
We can also use quantum computers for medical applications such as drug discovery, or the development of new materials.
The computer could be used for intricate simulations allowing real-time performance assessment.
Quantum computation may also enable the development of more powerful machine learning algorithms. ChatGPT, for example, uses a lot of energy; quantum machine learning could enable a more energy-efficient way of computing, thus reducing energy demand.
Finally, quantum computing involves a network of quantum semiconductors known as ‘qubits’ which are very fragile, enabling the development of advanced sensors.
How does quantum computation work?
These ‘qubits’ are essentially a physical realisation of the classical binary ‘bit’, and are how we achieve non-binary states. Quantum mechanics allows for the qubit to be a simultaneous superposition of states, as they concern a single electron. The qubit is only useful if we are in control of this state-superposition. For this reason we must cool it to within 20mK of the temperature of the universe, therefore the qubit behaviour is dictated on the transmission of a signal, rather than thermal excitation of the electron.
This is okay if we are concerned with only one qubit, however it becomes exponentially harder to upscale to a quantum network. IBM’s online quantum computer uses only 100 qubits - which is useful to see how a network could operate, but not really useful in terms of computational power. In fact, scaling up is presently one of the greatest barriers to the progression of quantum computing.
An alternative method is to use ‘ion traps’ which are concerned with the isolation of an atom, rather than a single electron. These are controlled with lasers, presenting similar upscaling problems.
Many solutions can be considered, but each has its own set of issues that must be overcome.
‘Hot quantum’ questions whether this is even necessary - perhaps it is possible to work at greater temperatures? Cryoelectronics is an alternative solution, suggesting that part of the network can be at a lower temperature, from which the temperature for the rest of the network can be extracted.
Yet it should be stressed that the laws of thermodynamics are supported by the fact that there are many particles. We are still learning how these laws change at the quantum level - for example, can we extract work from a quantum state, because it is quantum?
Can you give further examples of these issues to the progression of quantum computation?
I have touched on upscaling, which is related to electrical control and computer science. How do we organise the qubits so they can run altogether and communicate at scale?
Racks and racks of electronics are required for a quantum network, which all must be cooled to nearzero temperature. This is heavily related to to heat management, perhaps the greatest obstacle.
All of these questions and possible solutions are being explored simultaneously; indeed, Oxford is creating a Quantum Institute for international collaboration. Similar to natural selection, the best approach will eventuate - but this could take many decades.
You are heading a team of several people. How do you manage your group in this complex sphere of research?
Quantum is incredibly male-dominated. As I am a minority, this can make leadership very challenging; not everyone is comfortable with a minority group leading.
This becomes a vicious circle: as you progress up the hierarchy, you become more of a minority, and the challenge to be a leader increases exponentially. I would be lying if I told you I had a recipe for this.
My solace has been with other women in leadership. These fellow women are all busy with managing their own teams, their work schedule and their own troubles. However, still they make time for you. This is particularly inspiring to me, and their support has maintained my determination in my career. The more we help each other, the easier it would become, as it would encourage others to remain in challenging positions. The women before have supported the women here now, who will support the women yet to come.
If I were to meet a young woman undecided on continuing further into academia, I would not hesitate to tell her that we need her. We really need her. We need diversity, and I know it’s hard, but we need these people. If not, nothing is going to change, and a technology developed by a non-diverse work force is limited in so many ways.
Elena Baena-Gonzalez has been an Associate Professor of Plant Sciences and Tutorial Fellow of New College since 2022. Her research has taken her around the globe - from a PhD in Finland, to a Postdoctorate in the USA, and leading a research group in Portugal.
Here, she introduces her research into the physiology and development of plants, and how it can enable our species to thrive amid booming populations and climate change.
What interested you about biology and plant development?
My grandfather and father both shared an infectious love for nature, and my mother was very encouraging that I pursue my academic interests. Their combined influence motivated my interest in biology from an early age. Unlike animal growth, plant development is very plastic. We are born with the same organs we have for life. But plants are not. Plants have a basic body plan and then depending on their environment, the development of this basic body plan is improvised. I began to investigate how photosynthetic processes regulate for my PhD.
These are the fundamental processes for plant metabolism, plant growth, and stress tolerance. For example, when plants experience lighting condition changes, what happens in the machinery of the cells?
How does it cope with limited light or a sudden burst of light so that it doesn’t damage the system?
Were we to understand the mechanisms in a plant’s development, we could unlock an ability to optimise yield in limited terrain or harsh conditions, without the unsustainable provision of more water and fertilisers.
Presently, my research is more related to the next stages in photosynthesis. Plants do not have an endocrine system, therefore how does a plant coordinate its hormones and organ growth? For example, a plant must decide whether it needs to divert energy to root growth or to storage; what are the processes in the cell that allow the plant to adapt its physiology according to its environment?
Why did you pursue a career in research?
I was at a turning point in my career after my PhD, unsure whether to continue. I was immersed in a small community where we were all working on the same questions, with the same perspective; my learning sphere was too narrow.
As soon as I relocated to Boston, my spirits lifted; suddenly, I was surrounded by dozens of colleagues exploring a spectrum of biological interests. It was eye-opening; I became certain that research was where I belonged.
Diversity and collaboration are essential to the progression of research. It is frustrating that many education systems insist we restrict our focus from early adolescence; our future is becoming ever more interdisciplinary.
Each separate combination of subjects studied at a lower level brings a whole new perspective and expertise. It makes you think differently: being exposed to these different perspectives is enlightening. Immerse yourself in a diverse group with shared and diverse passions. There is a synergism when you interact; discussions with these people bring fresh perspectives and can directly benefit your work. However, above and beyond that, they motivate you - passion for a subject is infectious.
You mention diversity as integral to the progression of research. How gender-diverse is research?
As you progress through academia, there is a clear drop-off in women. Professorships and other highresponsibility positions are typically very male. In addition to our typically self-critical nature, a lack of role models, challenging environment and the traditional motherly instinct to start a family are all factors which deter one’s progression further into research.
Yet as I said; passion rubs off on you. Discussions with other female counterparts (be they in your own research sphere or not) motivate you to push back the divide. It’s phenomenal how a single person can boost your determination by a magnitude.
Since 2006, Adrianne Slyz has been a Tutorial Fellow in Physics at New College where she has had the privilege to explore some of the greatest ideas ever conceived to understand nature with generations of students.
In parallel, her research as a computational astrophysicist focuses on simulations of individual galaxies as they grow by accreting material from a dynamically evolving cosmic web, a network of dark matter sheets, filaments, and nodes structured by gravity.
Gravity draws gas towards these nodes where it cools and collapses under its own weight to form a galaxy’s stars and, in some cases, black holes. Stars emit mass, energy and even magnetic fields polluting the medium where the next generations of stars and black holes will form.
The questions that captivate her are:
1. Can we find places in the Universe where we can measure the pristine primordial magnetic field believed to be generated shortly after the Big Bang?
2. Can we understand how the complicated turbulent processes in galaxies amplify magnetic fields to their measured values?
3. Can we explain how some black holes grow to become a billion times more massive than our Sun in less than a billion years, a very short amount of time from a cosmological perspective given our Universe is just shy of 14 billion years old?
4. If we understand the story of how black holes co-evolve with galaxies, do we come closer to understanding what drives some galaxies to rapidly form phenomenally high numbers of stars?
A sequence of images from our simulations of a galaxy seen in the close up image in the upper right circle, colour coded by its magnetic energy density and whether this latter is of primordial origin (green) or is injected by exploding stars called supernovae (red).
The galaxy sits at the centre of a dark matter halo, filled with gas (orange coloured circular image) blown out of the galaxy by supernovae and a black hole powered jet.
Zooming out illustrates that the halo is fed by filaments from the cosmic web.
Zooming even further out, the background images showcase the vastness of the multi-scale ‘cosmic web’. It is dominated by invisible dark matter, but here we show its gaseous component colour coded so that gas density is in green, gas temperature is in red and heavy elements deposited by supernovae are colour coded in blue (Dubois et al. 2014, Martin-Alvarez et al. 2022).
Each turquoise smudge in the lower background image is a galaxy.
Paola Conconi
Professorial Fellow in Economics and BP Professor of Economics
Professor Paola Conconi joined the University of Oxford in October 2022, when she became a Statutory Professor in Economics and Professorial Fellow at New College. Her experience so far has been extremely stimulating, both in the Department of Economics and at New College.
Paola grew up in Ferrara, a beautiful city in the north of Italy which has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. In many ways, her hometown reminds her of Oxford. It has a university that dates back centuries (it was founded in 1391 by Pope Boniface IX), in which famous people like Nicolaus Copernicus studied (he obtained a degree in Canon Law in 1503).
Living in Ferrara, she was surrounded by art and history: the walls enclosing the city and large parts of the centre are medieval, but some of its most famous buildings are from the Renaissance, when Ferrara was an intellectual and artistic centre that attracted great minds and artists such as Piero della Francesca, Jacopo Bellini, or Andrea Mantegna.
Like Oxford, Ferrara is also full of bicycles (it has the largest number per inhabitant of all Italian cities, and most of the centre is off limits to motor traffic).
Her parents were both professors in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ferrara (her father in biochemistry, her mother in genetics).
Their passion for research truly inspired her and is no doubt one of the reasons why she became an academic.
Paola’s background, however, is not that of a typical professor in economics. When she finished high school, she was offered a full scholarship to study economics at Bocconi University in Milan. Although she was flattered by the offer, she had different plans: her goal at the time was to work in diplomacy or for international organisations. She thus enrolled in the international section of the bachelor in political sciences at Bologna University, which combined political science, international relations, law, and economics. Whilst she really enjoyed this interdisciplinary study, Paola ended up taking as many courses as possible (and writing her final thesis) in economics.
After her Bachelor’s degree, Paola enrolled in the two-year Masters in International Relations at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC, with a specialisation in international economics. In Washington, she had the opportunity to work for international organisations and she could have pursued a career there, as she had originally planned. However, while studying as SAIS Paola really enjoyed some of the more advanced couses in economics, particularly in international trade. She then decided to go deeper into economics and moved to the UK, where she obtained an MSc and PhD in Economics from the University of Warwick. She ended up writing her PhD thesis on the linkages between international trade and the environment, using economics tools to address some of the key policy questions she had been confronted with in herearlier studies in international relations.
Even today, Paola’s research builds on her interdisciplinary background. This is the case, for example, with her ongoing project on Trade Agreements and Supply Chains (TRASC) funded by an Advanced Research Grant from the European Research Council (ERC), which addresses novel and policy-relevant questions at the intersection between international trade, firm organisation, and political economy.
Although she have chosen to pursue an academic career, Paola regularly engages with policymakers. For example, her research on rules of origin in trade agreements has important implications for the postBrexit EU-UK trade relations. She have been invited to present this work in front of politicians in Brussels (at the European Commission and European Parliament) and London (in the UK Parliament, the Cabinet Office, and the Bank of England). She also regularly interacts with international organisations such as the World Bank and the World Trade Organization.
Given where she is now, you may wonder why she didn’t accept that offer from Bocconi after high school, going straight into economics. She says she is very happy she did not. “I chose then, like I choose now, to study topics that I am passionate about. And I believe that my interdisciplinary studies have enriched me as a person and as an economist” she says.
Honora Driscoll is a DPhil candidate in Engineering at the University of Oxford. Her integrated Master’s (MEng) in Chemical Engineering was completed at University College London (UCL).
Honora applied to Oxford for a DPhil because she was fascinated by the green ammonia research in the OXGATE group, and she was happy to receive an offer, funding from EPSRC, and a place at New College.
Her research looks at the techno-economics feasibility of green ammonia produection, with a focus on tidal energy in the Orkney Islands.
In 2022, she was the Vice-President and Interim President of the Women in Engineering (WiE) network, which is affiliated with the Department of Engineering Science at Oxford.
The WiE network organises a whole array of events, such as talks from female academics, career panels, movie nights, networking dinners, coffee mornings and lunchtime walks.
International women in engineering day (23rd June) is an especially important event for the network, whereby a number of female academics give presentations on their work and an elegant afternoon tea is served.
The WiE network has been an important part of her DPhil so far, and she has made many connections through it.
Engineering is known to be male-dominated, and her academic career so far is reflective of that. This can be isolating and is an extra barrier to success that women in engineering face.
She says that it is essential to find a supportive network of friends, family and colleagues (such as the WiE network) to facilitate confidence in oneself.
Four forms of renewable energy: solar, wind, wave and tidal. This picture was taken by Honora on a work trip to the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney, Scotland.
Tilly Woods joined New College in 2016 as an undergraduate in Mathematics, and stayed on after she graduated in 2020 for a DPhil in the same subject. She has now come full circle and also carries out some undergraduate teaching as part of her DPhil.
Tilly applied to a different college for her undergrad, but she was very glad to end up at New College. She says, “it felt like a castle to me when I first arrived for an interview, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time here since - the decision to apply to New College again for my DPhil was simple”.
Growing up, Tilly was always interested in science. She has fond memories of carrying out science experiments in the garage with her dad, and stargazing in the garden. Therefore, it’s not surprising that her heart has always been in the applied side of mathematics, and she revelled in the array of interesting applied maths courses on offer in her undergraduate degree.
In her final year, she attended a lecture course called Mathematical Geoscience, which particularly inspired her. It introduced her to how maths can be used to understand the atmosphere, rivers and ice sheets, all of which ties into tackling climate change. The lecturer of that course is now her DPhil supervisor!
Tilly’s current research area is mathematical geoscience, in particular the mathematics of ice sheets and glaciers. Ice sheets are a major contributor to sea level rise, and mathematical models are a useful tool for understanding and predicting the response of ice sheets to climate change. This is where her passion for maths lies - in being able to apply it to solve important real-world problems.
Tilly thinks that university-level mathematics can often be portrayed as being very abstract, and somewhat intimidating. But this shouldn’t put people off; there are so many useful, tangible applications of mathematics out there: climate change, biology and medicine, cryptography, to name a few. Mathematics is an important tool for all of them.
Maths is still a male-dominated field, as is geoscience, and this is reflected in Tilly’s day-to-day life in the Maths Department in Oxford. Everyone she has worked with closely during her time at Oxfordfrom personal tutors to supervisors - has been a man. However, there are lots of great opportunities to connect with wonderful women in maths across the country and beyond. She recently attended a multiday ‘retreat’ for women in applied maths, focused on creating a welcoming, open space for networking and discussions about academic life as a woman.
Topics ranged from writing research grant applications to navigating an academic career whilst bringing up a family.
She came away from the retreat with such a strong sense of community, as well as the new belief that she can be successful in academia.
Tilly says she has never felt like she has been directly disadvantaged by being a woman in mathematics, and she has always had positive relationships with the men she has worked with. However, she thinks the lack of belief in herself was a side-effect of being a woman in a male-dominated field that she had never acknowledged before. She says, “this realisation made really appreciate how valuable it is to have amazing women to act as role models, in male-dominated fields or otherwise”.
