Departmental news

On Wednesday (12th February), the WMG OutreachLink opens in a new window Team hosted an Engineering Industry Day at the Degree Apprenticeship Centre, at The University of Warwick.

The team welcomed over 100 Year 8 and 9 students from across the West Midlands, including those from Barr’s Hill School, Eden Girls School, Yardleys School, Harris C of E Academy and West Coventry Academy.

The event aimed to inspire students from groups under-represented in STEM to consider careers in engineering ahead of them choosing their GCSE subjects.

This project was led by Marie Diebolt, the Outreach Project Officer on the High Value Manufacturing CatapultLink opens in a new window Inspiring Young Engineers project. The project aims to foster a positive culture of engineering in young people and create the future engineering workforce.

On the day, students were welcomed by Professor Kerry KirwanLink opens in a new window who encouraged them to reflect on what their career path might look like. They met employers from various engineering sectors including RambollLink opens in a new window, JLRLink opens in a new window, Aston Martin Lagonda LtdLink opens in a new window, Legacy Manufacturing Solutions LimitedLink opens in a new window, CapgeminiLink opens in a new window, and SAPLink opens in a new window, and WMG apprentices.

To mark Valentines Day we spoke to two alumni who met 20 years ago at Warwick and completed their medical degrees together at WMS before getting married, having children and progressing with their medical careers.

The Warwick Economics Staff Common Room welcomed a distinguished guest recently when Vice Chancellor Stuart Croft dropped in to surprise Dr Lory Barile with the news that she had won a Warwick Wonder Award

Presenting Lory with her award, Stuart said: “Lory Barile does amazing work in education, supporting sustainability at the University, and working with the city council to understand why certain communities don’t take up funding opportunities for home insulation and greener living. Her work makes a real difference to our local community. Lory’s teaching, education support, sustainability work, and research are all incredible. But in particular, she is being recognised for how she works with local stakeholders to tackle big issues and help communities lead greener lives.”

Lory has been working with Coventry City Council, Act on Energy, local artists and a Coventry school on the Retrofit Rocks project. This pilots the use of an s-frame approach for research, emphasising the need for policy design that accounts for the broader systems in which individuals act to better understand barriers to the uptake of retrofit energy efficiency measures, and test a creative methodology to engage citizens in policy-making.

Lory was nominated by India Holme, Research and Impact Development Manager (Regional) in Research and Impact Services, who has supported Lory with this project and others.

Commenting on the surprise, Lory said: “I am incredibly honoured to have received a Warwick Wonder Award, recognising my work with the local community on sustainability. A huge thank you to India Holme, Bret Willers from Coventry City Council and Rachel Jones of Act on Energy for their support and encouragement along the way—their guidance and collaboration have been invaluable. I also want to express my gratitude to Nikita Asnani for her creativity and dedication in working with residents and children".

“While Retrofit Rocks came with its challenges, it was a highly rewarding experience that taught me a lot—both from others and about myself. I’m thrilled to continue this journey with funding support from UKRI, and looking forward to the many exciting months ahead!”

• Read more about Lory’s nomination and watch the presentation: Meet our latest Wonder winner...

• Read more about the Wonders and Wows award scheme: Warwick's Wonders and Wows

The Department of Economics welcomed Jill Pay, Chairman of The Gender Index and former Serjeant at Arms of the House of Commons, as the latest in its series of inspirational female guest lecturers.

Jill’s lecture - 'My Kaleidoscope Career That Led to The Gender Index' – ranged across her fascinating career journey, highlights of which included helping to host President Barack Obama at the Houses of Parliament and meeting Nelson Mandela, and also covered her current work as Chairman of The Gender Index the first, free-to-use index benchmarking the impact of female-led companies on the UK economy.

Jill is best known to the public as the first female Serjeant at Arms of the House of Commons. She was appointed in January 2008 by Her Majesty the Queen after a lengthy selection process, making history on two counts – she was the first woman appointed to the post and the first appointee from a non-military background. “I needed a backbone of steel,” Jill commented, noting also that the strong network she had built with other women working in the Palace of Westminster since starting as Head Office Keeper in 1994 was a vital support for her.

Speaking to a busy lecture theatre, Jill summed up the role as holding the balance between ensuring the security of the House of Commons and protecting the public’s right to enter the building, observing democracy in action and lobbying their Members of Parliament. There was also a strong element of ceremony and theatre – the Serjeant at Arms plays a key role in the annual State Opening of Parliament and leads the Speaker’s Procession at the start of every sitting day. Sharing a photograph of herself in uniform, Jill noted that she was the only person entitled to wear a sword within the House of Commons.

After four busy years in the role, Jill stepped down to focus on her personal mission – to help women, children and small businesses grow, develop and thrive. Her passion for empowering and supporting women has led to the creation of The Gender Index where Jill teamed up with AI specialist John Cushing through her work with the Women in Enterprise APPG. “Data Man met Gender Woman, and the Gender Index was conceived,” she joked.

Jill is also very active with the Coram children’s charity and with a number of organisations supporting women in business and public life. She encouraged the female students present to challenge any feelings of imposter syndrome, sharing that when she had felt daunted in the House of Commons recruitment process she decided to respect the fact that the very thorough HR sift had recognised she had the potential to succeed in the role, so she had better believe in herself just as much as they had. She also encouraged the students to have a go at new challenges and to encourage each other to succeed.

The Gender Index aims to drive change through data, exposing barriers to female success and enabling predictive modelling of the impact of policy changes. “We want to see more female-led, fast-growth companies in the UK,” Jill said.

Warwick student Aimee Cornish said "It was incredibly inspiring to hear Jill’s story and understand her career trajectory since becoming Serjeant at Arms for the House of Commons. Her message on gender equality is pertinent to the current climate of societal expectations for young individuals’ development, for which Jill serves as a wonderful role model’.

Read more about The Gender Index: The Gender Index

A life-sized Lego Suffragette statue named ‘Hope’ will be on display in the Agora, Faculty of Arts Building until the 28th of February 2025. Originally exhibited in the UK Parliament House of Commons, Hope’s visit coincides with the University of Warwick’s 60th birthday and commemorates 75 years since the election of the first female MP for Coventry, Elaine Burton, in 1950.

The History Department is hosting a series of activities during Hope’s stay, raising awareness of local Votes for Women campaign stories and sparking diverse conversations about women’s voting and equal rights in Britain and across the globe today.

More Information on events, news, research and collaborative work related to Hope’s visit can be found here. 

The Mammo-50 trial, the first major study to investigate the safest, most effective monitoring of women after surgery, has been published in The Lancet.

Dr Ann Dixon shares her experience of the nurturing of talent in girls and women in stem for International Day of Women and Girls in Science. bit.ly/4hyVnIS

Today marks 10 years since the UN announced the first International Day of Women and Girls in Science to highlight the gender gap in STEM-related fields (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and the slow progress of women into senior positions. As of 2023, the number of women graduates in STEM had increased by 5% to just 35% since 2014, when the Awareness Day launched.

Dr Melissa Webby, Assistant Professor of Biochemistry, has been featured in a series compiled by the University of Warwick to mark the day, sharing her experience of nurturing talent in girls and women in STEM.
Find out about Melissa's experiences

We are thrilled to announce that Dr Ali Struthers has been shortlisted for the SLSA Annual Impact Prize 2025 for her work in leading the hugely successful legal outreach project, School Tasking.

£2M UKRI NetworkPlus bid “Mathematical Innovators in the Digital Space” (MInDS) grant awarded.