skip to content

Department of Physics

The Cavendish Laboratory
 

The Cavendish Women in Physics have made unparalleled contributions to the Cavendish Laboratory’s extraordinary history of discovery and innovation in Physics and continue to do so.

On this page, you will find information related to Cavendish Women in Physics and student-led initiative - Cambridge University Women in Physics Society, that promotes visibility of successful women, including cis/trans women as well as femme-identifying, genderqueer and non-binary people, in physics. You will also find other useful information and podcasts about current women researchers at the Cavendish Laboratory. 

 

Cambridge University Women in Physics Society

Starting out in 2014, the Cambridge University Women in Physics Society (earlier Cavendish Inspiring Women (CiW)) is an initiative that aims to raise the visibility of successful women, including cis/trans women as well as femme-identifying, genderqueer and non-binary people, in physics. It encourages more women to take up physics, especially at the advanced research stages by bringing in female role models to the fore through multiple activities.

Starting out as lunchtime seminars in the department, with Professor Sarah Bohndiek, Professor Mary Fowler and Dame Barbara Stocking as some of the early speakers, the initiative today is in its 8th year. Over the years, the activities have expanded and they now include hosting panel discussions about women in science, podcast series, tea time discussions in the Maxwell centre, running a mentoring scheme for graduates and post-doctorates and providing support with supervisions for the undergraduates.

Click here to know more about the Cambridge University Women in Physics Society and its work. 

The Making of a Physicist

The Making of a Physicist is a series of short films giving women physicists at different points in their career, the space to tell their story. The films, created by artist Miranda Creswell and Professor Ashleigh Griffin (Department of Zoology, University of Oxford), are commissioned by the Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Cambridge.