Wednesday 8th January marked the 10th anniversary of the Warwick Physics Society weekly event, PhysCafé, an event which aims to display to students some of the many options open to them once they have graduated with their Physics degree. The event has seen many different speakers, from patent lawyers to authors, company founders to bankers, and, of course, Warwick’s very own research staff.

On January 15th, to celebrate the anniversary, a particularly distinguished speaker came to talk: Professor Dame Athene Donald, a former Master of Churchill College at the University of Cambridge. Professor Donald began as a researcher of Electron Microscopy before moving on to study Polymers, this gave her an appreciation for working across different fields of STEM, as such, she focused much of her presentation on describing the wonders of expanding her skill set and knowledge across subjects, as opposed to being confined to just one. She also highlighted that the opportunities that allow for such work will arise continuously through life, and students need not worry about missing the chance early on. Her presentation later discussed many of the issues that women experience in STEM, and how she has fought hard to aid her peers in the scientific world; many of the facts and figures she described were very intriguing and eye-opening to the challenges that many of our fellow scientists have to battle.

After her presentation, the students had a chance to ask Professor Donald more, to which she was more than happy to discuss and share anecdotes over the traditional meal of pizza. The society was also very glad to see some of the staff attend, including head of department, Professor Mark Newton.

Overall, the event was a great showcase of the aim of PhysCafé, and the society as a whole, and was enjoyed by both staff and students alike