Picture a Scientist banner image featuring the Tribeca Film Festival 2020 logo

Picture a Scientist” is an award winning documentary highlighting the challenges and discrimination women face in trying to pursue a career in academia. Ranging from brutal harassment to years of subtle slights three scientists (Biologist Professor Nancy Hopkins, Chemist Professor Raychelle Burks, and Geologist Professor Jane Willenbring) provide their perspectives on how to make science more diverse, equitable, and open to all.

AGENDA:

The Picture A Scientist film will be available to watch from the 21st to the 24th July via Vimeo. The password to view the film will be sent to you upon registering to attend.

  • Friday 23rd July, 5:00 – 6:40pm
    Group screening of “Picture a Scientist” documentary via Microsoft Teams. 
    In the first event on the Picture a Scientist agenda, we will watch the film together via Microsoft Teams. The link for the Microsoft Teams meeting will be sent to once you have registered.
  • Friday 23rd July, 6:45 – 7:30pm
    Panel discussion. Please click here to submit your questions for our panel.
    After the group screening of the documentary, we have invited three academics at Imperial representing different career stages for a discussion on their scientific journey in a safe and welcoming environment. Our panel consists of Dr Naomi Nakayama, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Bioengineering, Dr Jess Wade, a Research Fellow in the Department of Materials, and Dr Catalina Vallejo Giraldo, a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Bioengineering.

PANEL MEMBERS:

• Dr Naomi Nakayama
Portrait of Dr Naomi Nakayama, senior lecturer in the Department of Bioengineering, holding a model of a plant stem
Naomi leads the Biological Form and Function Lab in the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London. Her group investigates ‘How’ and ‘Why’ living organisms have the shape and body plan they have and explores the application of such knowledge to solving knotted and wicked problems in our daily life, from sustainable agriculture to green technology. 
Prior to joining Imperial College in 2019 as a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor), Naomi was a group leader at the University of Edinburgh, first as a Chancellor’s Fellow and then a Royal Society University Research Fellow. She received a PhD in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology from Yale University (USA) for molecular dissection of organ-identity-dependent differentiation in Arabidopsis petals and stamens. As a postdoctoral fellow at University of Bern (Switzerland) and École Normale Supérieure de Lyon (France), Naomi developed new methods for mechanical treatment and characterization of living tissues. With them she revealed that mechanical cues play instructive roles in organogenesis and growth control at the shoot apical meristem, where new leaves and stems are being generated. She held a European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) Long-term Fellowship and a Roche Research Fellowship for her postdoctoral research. 

Dr Jess Wade
Portrait of Dr Jess Wade, research fellow in the Department of Materials
Jess is an Imperial College Research Fellow investigating spin selective charge transport through chiral systems in the Department of Materials. Broadly speaking, her research considers new materials for optoelectronic devices, with a focus on chiral organic semiconductors. She currently works in SPIN-Lab at Imperial, which is led by Professor Sandrine Heutz
Outside of the lab, Jess is involved with several science communication and outreach initiatives. She is committed to improving diversity in science, both online and offline, and since the start of 2018 has written the Wikipedia biographies of women and people of colour scientists every single day.
Jess has received several awards for contributions to science, science communication, diversity, and inclusion including the British Empire Medal (BEM) in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to gender diversity in science

Dr Catalina Vallejo Giraldo
Portrait of Dr Dr Catalina Vallejo Giraldo, postdoctoral researcher in the Department of BioengineeringCatalina is a research associate at the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London. She received her PhD from the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG), and her Masters in Biomedical Sciences at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.

Catalina has particular interest on the cell-material interactions and functionalized biomaterial platforms that act at the brain-device interface to promote neural integration through the modulation of reactive gliosis. In her current position, Catalina is focused on living electrodes fabrication for implantable neuroprosthetic devices.

HOSTS:

This event will be hosted by Liv Walthaus, Dr Natalie Imirzian and Dr Maria Kaimaki of the Evolutionary Biomechanics Group

Registration is now closed. Add event to calendar
See all events