Women in science talks

View recordings of a range of talks organised by the Liverpool Women in Science and Engineering Society (LivWiSE), featuring and celebrating women in science and engineering, providing insights into their careers and areas of expertise.

Women in data science

Alessia Calafiore's talk focuses on the relatively recent invisible women (on data bias) and data feminism books, specifically considering the impact for geography and planning research.

Role models in research

Xinxin Cao is from a semi-rural area in the southeast of China. In this talk she shares one of my female role models — Wang Zhenyi, born in 1768.

Black in geoscience

Louisa Brotherson talks about Black in Geoscience Week, an annual, grassroots social media movement, designed to highlight, empower, and amplify the voices of Black geoscientists.

Perspectives of a professor in geography

Professor Janet Hooke's talk deals with different aspects of the challenges and discrimination encountered when she started her career and the remaining barriers to female career progression.

Fieldwork experiences

Grace Skirrow reveals how fieldwork involving looking at sediments and the dirt under our feet, can tell us a lot about the processes at work in the environment and provide insights into the past. 

Women in ocean science

In 1872, the British Challenger expedition set sail to sample the world’s oceans. Of the 243 people onboard, not one was a woman, partially because of an old nautical superstition that women on ships brought very bad luck. Fast forward to the 21st century and over half the science crew, engineers and officers are typically female. In this talk, Professor Claire Mahaffey provides an overview of the role of women in ocean sciences.

Dear life: A doctor’s story of love and loss

As a specialist in palliative medicine, Dr Rachel Clarke chooses to inhabit a place many people would find too tragic to contemplate. Every day she tries to bring care and comfort to those reaching the end of their lives, to try to help make dying more bearable.

Dear Life is a book about the vital importance of human connection, by the doctor we would all want by our sides at a time of crisis. It is a love letter - to a father, to a profession, to life itself.

The future of human space flight

Holly Ridings is the first female Chief Flight Director at National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). She works at Mission Control in Houston, Texas, and is responsible for all NASA human space flight missions, including to the International Space Station.

In this lecture, Holly talks about her career and role at NASA, as well as current and future human space flight missions, before answering pre-submitted questions from the audience.

Question and answer session with Holly Ridings

A question and answer session with Holly Ridings, the first female Chief Flight Director at NASA. The session is facilitated by Dr Jackie Bell, a Liverpool graduate and participant on the BBC’s "Astronauts: Do You Have What it Takes?".

Science and the city: The mechanics behind the metropolis

Cities are a big deal. More people live in them than don't, and with a growing world population, the urban jungle is only going to get busier in the coming decades. But how often do we stop to think about what makes our cities work?

Laurie Winkless takes us through a tour of the world of science and technology that keep a modern city working. Based on her book, Science and the City: The Mechanics Behind the Metropolis, Laurie explores how innovation and imaginative engineering have built the world we see today.

What's the future... 3D printing?

A discussion panel debate the future of 3D printing technology, also known as additive manufacturing).

The panel included:

• Dr Kate Black (Panel Chair): Lecturer in Additive Manufacturing, University of Liverpool
• Sophie Jones: General Manager of Added Scientific
• Dr Candice Majewski: Lecturer in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Sheffield
• Dr Rebecca Davnall: Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Liverpool
• Rachel Park: Passionate speaker, blogger and expert on additive manufacturing.