Cognitive biases and their influence in academia

On Wednesday 24 November, the WMI Early Career Committee are organising an event to discuss cognitive biases and stereotypes, and the impact they have on both women and men in academia.

The afternoon will open with a talk by Dr Eva Kaufholz-Soldat entitled:

Unattractive, uncreative and single: Historic and modern stereotypes and role models of male and female scientists, and their influence.

This talk will be followed by structured discussion groups and refreshments. We invite all attendees to come with a willingness both to listen to other perspectives, and to question their own assumptions.

Our speaker: Dr Eva Kaufholz-Soldat

Dr Eva Kaufholz-Soldat studied mathematics and history of mathematics at Hamburg University, and is currently based at the Koblenz-Landau University.

In her dissertation at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, she studied the reception of the Russian mathematician Sofya Kovalevskaya (1850-1891) amidst the vivid discussions about women's ability to study during the long 19th Century. Ever since, she has been interested in the way people write and think about women in STEM disciplines and how this influences women's own perception and choices.

Event details and registration

The event will take place 1pm-3pm on 24 November 2021 in a hybrid format. The in-person event will take place in MS.02 in the Zeeman Building, and online participants can attend via Teams. Further details of how to participate online will be sent to registered participants closer to the time of the event.

We ask all in-person participants to take a lateral flow test before attending: test kits can be obtained for free by here.

Registration for the event is now closed.