2023 is the 125th anniversary of the founding of the School on this site by the Lawrence sisters. Their founding ethos, that this school should provide girls with an outstanding education to empower them and prepare them to make their mark in society, makes marking International Women’s Day all the more important this year.
They had the courage and creativity to imagine a school that, even years later, was still described as a ‘sublime act of faith’. In many ways, they were trailblazers, who believed that young women should have every opportunity to excel, and we are fortunate that ‘Nelly, Dolly and Milly, the Lawrence sisters, saw visions and had the courage to follow the gleam.’
At this year’s festival, Roedean is proud and delighted to welcome twenty-one speakers, all of whom are at the forefront of their careers – they cover a range of topics, catering to diverse interests and passions. We are also pleased that Roedean students and staff will be joined on this day by our Year 10 Roedean Academy students from local state schools.
We hope that today’s talks are both exciting and enlightening, and that they inspire our students to take full advantage of the opportunities they have, and to have the self-belief to chase their dreams.
Dr Ross Barrand Deputy Head: Co-Curriculum and Partnerships
Dr Merihan Alhafnawi
Merihan works as a Postdoctoral Researcher in Robotics at Princeton University, USA. She obtained her PhD in 2022, and Master’s degree in 2019, in Robotics and Autonomous Systems from University of Bristol.
Merihan’s work focuses on building swarms of robots to work together and achieve tasks. She is particularly interested in how humans can interact and communicate with those robots. Prior to joining University of Bristol, Merihan worked in General Electric (GE) in software development and product ownership roles in the UK, UAE, and Saudi Arabia.
Whereas Iran today features on the news as a country where Islamic authorities are trying to suppress the equal rights of women, and where human rights for everyone are indiscriminately trampled underfoot, in fact, Iran in its Zoroastrian phase had an exemplary record of respect and appreciation of women. These will be explored in the context of Zoroastrian philosophy and values.
Shahin is the granddaughter of a renowned Iranian Zoroastrian priest, poet, stargazer, and mathematician. She was born and grew up in England, and founded a successful Sixth Form college & language school in Oxford, and was a teacher, interpreter for the immigration appellate, and a legal consultant for a tour operator. She has completed 29 years’ service as a magistrate in the criminal and family courts in Oxfordshire.
Kelly is a Hong Kong-born Creative & Art Director based in Paris, France, who often explores topics like time and space with a playful and theatrical approach. She has a background in fashion photography and branding, helping to build and execute campaigns and concepts. Selected clients include Hermès, Louboutin, Vogue, Loewe, Maison Margiela, and Clarins.
Her talk will explore the route she navigated from being at school at Roedean to fashion photography with some of the top brands in Paris.
Mairi Cunningham
Mairi has worked oversees in humanitarian mine action with the British charity, the HALO Trust, since 2018. She trained in Cambodia and Somaliland in demining and explosive ordnance disposal, before then working in operational and leadership roles in the Caucasus, the Middle East, and, since November 2021, in Ukraine. She will talk about how she ‘fell into’ this line of work, and some of her experiences and challenges as a woman, and a woman in leadership, in a sector which still remains very male-dominated.
She will also share some of her most recent experiences in Ukraine over the past turbulent year, leading an evacuation and the relocation of several hundred Ukrainian staff from Eastern Ukraine, then re-establishing and scaling up humanitarian demining operations across the country following the full-scale Russian invasion of February 2022.
Gqibelo is the CEO of the Future of the African Daughter project (FOTAD), a nonprofit girl child development project, working with teens in townships and rural areas of South Africa. She also co-founded the Bongolesizwe Tintswalo Theatre project (BTTP), a programme within FOTAD focused on unemployed but trained young performing artists.
She started her career as a banker, but her heart wasn’t in it. Instead it lay with young girls in rural areas of her country, girls she knew who didn’t know her, young girls who needed a helping hand, motivation, and guidance to prepare them for a successful future. So her career changed direction. Her own experience is the reason why Gqibelo will speak about the fact that there are always opportunities to change direction, and not worrying about being set on a particular path.
“It’s Okay to
–Who Knows What is Around the Corner?”
Gender inequality is a pervasive global problem, and its implications are particularly devastating in the poor socio-economic conditions faced by South Africa. Research shows that globally, there has been very little progress towards achieving gender equality, since 2015. What then? How can we accelerate the pace of change?
Lindi is the newly appointed Executive Director of Roedean South Africa, our sister school in Johannesburg, which this year is celebrating its 120th anniversary.
Dr Naomi Falcone OR
Dr Naomi works between psychiatry, paediatrics, and A&E for the NHS, whilst also establishing herself as a cosmetic doctor both for her own business and in a clinic near Harley Street in central London.
As an aspiring GP and with interests in multiple avenues, she reveals her unconventional route into medicine, the possibilities of specialist interests and side hustles, and making your career work for you.
The gleaming white marble of Greek and Roman sculpture is firmly fixed in our minds, and it is difficult to think beyond the whiteness – and the sense of Classical purity – that we perceive in such works. But we are wrong. Most sculptures were originally painted in bright colours, and would have been seen very differently from the way in which we see them today. This talk discusses the modern techniques used to detect and reconstruct the painting of ancient sculpture, and the ways in which adding back lost colour changes our perception of the Classical world.
Lesley is a British classical archaeologist and formerly the Keeper of the Department of Greece and Rome at the British Museum, and the first woman to hold this role. She is particularly known for her work on the Minoans, the Cyclades, and the Greek Bronze Age. She was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1999, and was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2021 New Year Honours for services to museums and the arts.
“Colour: the Fourth Dimension of Classical Sculpture”
Shermara Fletcher
Talent, achievement, accolade, and credentials are visual signs of success in our society. But today’s talk will focus on the hidden ingredient of success that is not often spoken about. Consistency.
Shermara is Principal Officer for Pentecostal, Charismatic and Multi-cultural Relations at Churches Together in England (CTE), where she leads CTE’s work amongst Pentecostal and Charismatic churches, as well as facilitating CTE’s new Racial Justice Working Group.
“It’s not about how great you are; what defines you is your consistency”
Gillian Foulger Professor
I was a scientist at school, and after A Levels there was never any other path for me but being a scientist. So at university I studied science as an undergraduate, a Master’s student, and ultimately for a PhD. I initially went into Earth Sciences because it was fun, and it gave the opportunity for outdoors work and travel. I stayed in it and finally became an academic because of the challenge, the amazement of discovery, and the deep satisfaction to be found in worthwhile achievements.
This all probably sounds at best implausible. So, in my talk, I will take you on a walk through the highlights of my scientific work and let you judge for yourself. I research in earthquakes, geothermal energy, volcanoes, and what lies inside the Earth at depths of hundreds or thousands of kilometres. I discovered a new volcano, saw Earth’s tectonic plates moving with my own eyes, and measured it using satellites. I set new world standards for ambitious field experiments, and I challenged some of the most deeply ingrained assumptions in the field of Earth Science. Difficult? Yes. Exhausting? Yes. Often bruising? Certainly. Worthwhile? Absolutely!
“Earthquakes,
Dr Suzie Imber
Suzie Imber is an Associate Professor of Planetary Science at the University of Leicester. She specialises in understanding the impact of the Sun and the solar wind on the magnetised planets, a research area known as Space Weather.
Suzie is a Co-Investigator on the X-ray spectrometer on board the joint ESA/ JAXA BepiColombo spacecraft, which launched in October 2018 and will arrive at Mercury in 2025. She will use this data to characterise the unique X-ray aurora recently discovered at Mercury.
Suzie was also the winner of the BBC2 series, entitled ‘Astronauts: Do You Have What it Takes?’, during which twelve candidates were put through astronaut training with Canadian astronaut, Chris Hadfield. She endured challenges such as taking her own blood, speaking Russian while in a centrifuge at 5g, and carrying out emergency procedures on the NASA undersea astronaut training facility, Aquarius. Suzie will receive a letter of recommendation from Chris Hadfield to support her application to the European Space Agency astronaut training programme.
Suzie was an England U21 lacrosse player, an elite rower, and is now a highaltitude mountaineer. She has written computer code to automatically identify mountains in South America, and found hundreds of mountains that had never been identified before. She sets off annually to scale these incredibly remote, unclimbed mountains, exploring new regions of our planet, and even discovering Incan ruins on the summits. She is currently training to be part of Edale Mountain Rescue – a volunteer organisation called out to handle emergencies in the Peak District where she lives.
Laura has been Senior Middle East Analyst at Oxford Analytica since September 2016. She covers the wider Levant, Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Iraq, and Iran. Before this, she was an affiliated lecturer teaching Middle East politics in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge, and a special supervisor at Newnham College.
As an independent consultant, she specialised in the interface between political and economic issues in the Middle East and Africa. Before that, she spent five years in Khartoum, working as an economic adviser for the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the European Union. She was also an adviser to the mediation team on the South Sudanese secession negotiations.
Her talk will look at what 2023 might hold for the Middle East region, given the current global context, Islamic fundamentalism, and the aftermath of the February earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.
Monica Lakhanpaul Professor
Professor Monica Lakhanpaul, clinician (consultant paediatrician), science communicator, and Professor of Integrated Community Child Health at the University College London Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, will talk about her research work, focused on using collaborative, participatory, and creative methods to work directly with communities, particularly the most vulnerable in society, and the professionals that support them, in order to ensure their voices are heard in planning and implementing ways to improve their health and wellbeing.
Her projects often involve working with female participants – girls, mothers, teachers, carers, and others – who have historically had fewer opportunities to raise their voices and actively participant in these critical discussions. To ensure everyone has a voice in the decisions about them, she works closely with photographers, sound artists, street artists, and others to ensure science does not just ‘sit on a shelf’, but is communicated to policy makers and practitioners, and action can be taken.
She will also share insights from her experience leading multiple crossinstitutional, cross-sector, and national and global projects, such as in India, to optimise child and adolescent health and wellbeing in areas such as early years development, nutrition, sanitation, mental health, health inequalities, minority health issues, and COVID-19 pandemic recovery.
“The Arts – An Essential Ingredient of Science”
Charlie Martin
Charlie is a game changer in motorsport, and her inspiring story has captured the imagination of people around the world, proving that she represents a paradigm shift in motor racing.
Charlie has fought continuously to overcome adversity throughout her life, having lost both her parents at a young age. Entering motorsport without anyone supporting is hard enough, but she also realised she identified as transgender from as young as 7, transitioning to live as female midway through her career in 2012.
In 2018, she began a full season of circuit racing in the Ginetta GT5 Challenge, taking the brave step of coming out as transgender within motorsport on TDOV and aiming to improve LGBT visibility & acceptance within the sport she loves. 3 class podiums quickly followed, helping raise the profile for her campaigning alongside charity Stonewall with initiatives at Silverstone for PRIDE at the British GT Championship in June.
As a transgender woman in motorsport, she occupies a unique role within her sport and the LGBTQ+ community, having faced incredible adversity to become her true authentic self. Her tenacity and self-belief have helped her to overcome the impossible, and push for change when the odds were stacked against her.
“How
Sophie was part of the world record-breaking Ice Maidens – the first female team to ski across Antarctica in 2018. Before signing up for the expedition, she had no relevant experience, a very average level of fitness, and absolutely hated the cold! Looking for a challenge to distract from an unfulfilling job in London, she was one of 250 applicants for just 6 places on the final team.
Sophie discusses the challenges of team selection, two years of training and preparation, overcoming Imposter Syndrome, and fighting the inner voice that said she wasn’t good enough for the team. Taking on this challenge built her resilience and confidence, allowing her to take positive steps that changed her life, career, and purpose.
Jane is an English historian, biographer, author and broadcaster, and Professor of Modern History at the University of Buckingham.
This lecture examines the images of power and empire projected by Queen Victoria over the course of her reign. Beginning with her coronation, it surveys her depictions as a young queen. It looks at the transformation of her image after Albert’s death from devoted wife to grief-stricken widow. It examines portrayals of Victoria as grandmother of Europe and as Empress of India, and it concludes that the strongest image is that of the black-dressed Queen alone.
Hannah Rudd is a marine biologist, author (Britain’s Living Seas, Bloomsbury Publishing 2023) and Tedx speaker, who has worked in global shark hotspots, including South Africa and the Maldives. She currently works in the British Isles focusing on blue sharks and angling interactions, alongside studying public perceptions of sharks, which are crafted by the media and can have dire realworld implications for shark conservation.
Less than a third of the world’s researchers are women, and, in the field of shark science, female scientists experience poor representation in the media. We need everyone at the table, not only on this issue, in order to tackle the challenges in front of us following the climate crisis and ecological emergency. During this talk, Hannah will share her personal experiences of being a woman in shark science, and provide an outline of her work.
Pamela Silver Professor
Pamela is Professor at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University, where she is building synthetic cells that act as sensors, memory devices, bio-computers, and novel subsystems, such as proteins with designed properties for therapeutic use.
Among her most recent innovations are bacteria that can sense and respond to gut inflammation, and the Bionic Leaf, which couples sunlight capture to bioproduction at an efficiency exceeding plants. Understanding how to program cells in a rational way will have value in stem cell design, drug therapy and the environment.
Among other awards, her work was recognised by an Innovation Award at BIO2007, and she has been named one of the top twenty Global Synthetic Biology Influencers.
Lila Turner is Partner and Programme Director at One Thought, and the Founder and CEO of Relationship Ready.
Lila struggled at school for many years with undiagnosed dyslexia and was not able to read until she was nine years old. She started her career as a painter and sculptor, and, until 2013, she was a high-end fashion designer with a focus on women’s wear and then children’s wear. She got her Master’s degree from Central Saint Martin’s in London.
In 2013, Lila started working with people to understand their thoughts and feelings, so that they are able to access new thoughts to solve their challenges and problems. She is passionate about supporting the clarity of organisations who are striving to impact issues around climate change and social injustice. She also does work to advocate for the LGBTQIA community.
Lila founded Relationship Ready, which helps people who want to find love and dating more enjoyable while being more themselves in relationships. She has just finished a manuscript for her first book on love. Her clients vary widely, from leaders, engineers, filmmakers, students, teachers, and entrepreneurs. She is a regular conference speaker and presenter both in the UK and abroad.
There are more CEOs called Peter leading the UK’s top businesses than there are female CEOs. This talk is for the young women gunning to change that. It will provide an introduction to the business landscape, cover the skills and mindsets women need to succeed, and outline the steps they can take now to become tomorrow’s leaders.
Victoria is the founder and CEO of GingerMay, a multi-award winning global B2B PR and digital marketing agency for blue-chip, technology, advertising, media, and fast-growth disruptive businesses.
Hilary Wood
‘209 Women’ was a national artist-led project founded and directed by Hilary Wood, to celebrate the centenary of women’s suffrage and to champion the visibility of women in environments that are still largely male-dominated, such as politics and the Arts. In 2018, to mark 100 years since some women achieved the right to vote, 209 female photographers created new portraits of all 209 women MPs. These were displayed at the Palace of Westminster in a public exhibition, which opened 100 years to the day that the first women cast their votes in the 1918 general election.
Helen Pankhurst, great granddaughter of leading suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst, said: “The exhibition will for once put women centre stage, acting as a reminder to never leave women out of the equation, on behalf of all citizens but particularly the 51% of the population who have been so unequally represented. To represent and be presented for what we are, as women, by women, is a very special thing. This is what 209 women is all about.”
Hilary’s talk will examine how the ‘209 Women’ initiative, and others like it, are changing the landscape of British photography to become more inclusive for future generations. The talk will include views from internationally acclaimed British female photographers on how to succeed as a woman in this sector.
Session Time
Mairi Cunningham
Dr Suzie Imber
1 8:45-9:45
Lesley Fitton OBE
Lila Turner
Victoria Usher
Kelly Chan
Lindi Dlamini
2 10:00-11:00
Dr Suzie Imber
Charlie Martin
Shermara Fletcher
Kelly Chan
Dr Laura James
3 11:30-12:30
Prof Monica Lakhanpaul
Charlie Martin
Hannah Rudd
Shahin Bekhradnia
Dr Naomi Falcone
4 1:45-2:45
Prof Pamela Silver
Lila Turner
Hilary Wood
Gqibelo Dandala
Prof Gillian Foulger
5 3:00-4:00
Sophie Montagne
Prof Jane Ridley
Dr Merihan Alhafnawi
Topic
Humanitarian Mine Action
Adventure in Space
Colour: the Fourth Dimension of Classical Sculpture
Finding Your Wisdom and Learning To Trust Yourself
Mean Business: How to Break your Barriers and Become a Leader
Roedean to Paris – a Career in Fashion Photography
Gender Equality in South Africa
Adventure in Space
How to be Yourself When You’re Racing a Car at 170 mph
It’s not about how great you are: what defines you is consistency
Roedean to Paris – a Career in Fashion Photography
Prospects for the Middle East in 2023
The Arts – An Essential Ingredient of Science
How to be Yourself When You’re Racing a Car at 170 mph
Defying Jaws: Changing the Narrative on Sharks
The Role of Women in Zoroastrian Society
The Evolving Roles of a Doctor in the Modern Day
Bionic Leaves: Designing a Sustainable Planet
Finding Your Wisdom and Learning To Trust Yourself
Agency and Empowerment in Photography: ‘209 Women’
It’s Okay to Change Course – Who Knows What’s Next?
Earthquakes, Volcanoes, Travel, Languages… a Scientific Life
Ice Maidens: the First Female Team to Ski across Antarctica
Queen Victoria: Images of Empire
Designing and Building Expressive Robot Swarms for Human-Swarm Interaction
Roedean School
Roedean Way, Brighton, East Sussex, BN2 5RQ
www.roedean.co.uk
Registered Charity 307063
