Eminent Physicist Offers Career Advice for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology

Last Tuesday, I was privileged to attend the WiSETI Annual Lecture, given by Prof. Christine Davies at Robinson College, Cambridge, and sponsored by Schlumberger. WiSETI, the "Women in Science, Engineering and Technology Initiative" at the University of Cambridge, aims to advance the aspirations and careers of women in science- and technology-related professions. This annual invited lecture is a highlight in the WiSETI calendar, and a great opportunity to learn about frontier research from an eminent woman professional in the field. WiSETI lectures are also notable for including a more personal element in the discussion: it is common for invitees to discuss how they have managed work/life balance, and to offer insights into their personal career histories and trajectories. This event was no exception.

Davies is Professor of Physics and Research Group Leader of the Particle Physics Theory Group in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow, and is the recipient of many scientific honours and awards for her pioneering work in theoretical particle physics. (A query to the Spires database for papers authored by Davies returns an impressive 156 results!). Her lecture, titled "My Life Among Quarks", told us something of her work developing the theory and analytical techniques of Quantum Chromodynamics, or QCD. QCD describes interactions in the subatomic world, specifically, between gluons and quarks. Davies uses lattice field theory, a method that makes use of numerical simulations, run on computers.

One of the most intriguing aspects of Davies' talk was to hear her discuss how limitations to microprocessor power had impacted on her team's work, inspiring technical approaches that were as "conservative" of computing resources as possible. I found this insight into the technical aspects of Davies' work intriguing (and a welcome alternative message to the Moore's Law-inspired claim of neverending IT resources!). A key message I took away from the talk was that Davies' attention to minimal resource consumption had actually inspired creative problem-solving techniques.

So: to career advice for women in SET. Personal messages from Davies' experience included: the importance of accessible professional role models for women scientists (crucially, Davies came from a rural farming family, in which "the men farmed, and the women went to university"); the way that early independence can kick-start a research career (in Davies' case, this meant the ability to set up her own research group); and learning to juggle personal and work life. The last lesson may be the most crucial, but also the most stubbornly individual, and certainly, the hardest to learn.