ATHENE MARGARET
DONALD, DBE FRS
Curriculum Vitae
Address : Cavendish Laboratory,
Tel.no. : +44
(0)1223 337382
Fax: : +44 (0)1223 337000
email: amd3@cam.ac.uk
Present Employment :
1998- Professor of Experimental Physics, Department of
Physics
2014- Master of Churchill College
Previous employment:
1977
- 81 PDRA Cornell University
(Department of Materials Science and Engineering),
1981 - 3 SERC Fellowship held at the
Department of Metallurgy and Materials Science,
1983 - 5 Royal Society 1983 Research
Fellowship held at the Cavendish Laboratory,
1985 - 95 Lecturer in the Department of Physics,
1995- 8 Reader in Experimental Physics,
2003- 10 Deputy
Head (with responsibility for Finance and Resources from 2005-10)
1981- 2014 Fellow of Robinson College
Education :
1971 - 4 Cambridge University, B.A.
1974 - 7 Cambridge University, Ph.D.
Prizes and Honours
1989 Charles Vernon Boys Prize of the
1989 Samuel Locker Award in Physics (
1995 Rosenhain Medal and Prize (
1999
Elected Fellow of
the Royal Society
2003 William Hopkins Prize of the
2005 Mott Medal of the
2006 Bakerian Lecturer of the Royal Society
2009 Laureate for
2009 Elected to the Academia Europaea
2009 Founders’ Prize, Polymer Physics Group of the
2010 Fellow of the
2010 IOP Faraday Gold Medal
2010
Mott Lecturer for the IOP's Condensed
Matter and Materials Physics Division
2010
Appointed DBE in the Birthday Honours
2011 UKRC Women of Outstanding Achievement Award:
Lifetime Achievement
2012
Honorary DSc’s
from Exeter University and UEA
2013 Elected Fellow of the European Academy of
Science
2013 One of MRC’s Suffrage Science winners for
2013
2013 Honorary DSc from
University of Sheffield
2014 Rideal
Prize Lecturer of the SCI
University Roles
I
am a Deputy Vice Chancellor, I chair the Gender
Equality Group and am a member of the Research Planning Committee. Within my
own department I am a member of the Senior Management Group and chaired its
Unit of Assessment (which includes the Institute of Astronomy) committee for
the 2014 REF. Until October 2014 I was a memberof
University Council and the University’s Gender Equality Champion.
Selected Recent National and International Committees
and Responsibilities
2006-10 1st Chair of Biological Physics
Group of the IOP
2006 - Member
International Scientific Committee for ESPCI, Paris
2007-8 Chair, EBS Committee Review for BBSRC
2010-11 Chair,
BBSRC Committee C; Deputy Chair 2009
2010 Member,
Physics Pilot REF panel
2010-14 Chair Royal Society Education Committee
2010- Project
Director for the IOP’s Biological Physics Teaching Project
2011- Trustee
Science Museum Group
2011-12 Member
Reports on Progress in Physics Editorial Board
2012-14 Observer Royal Society Science Policy Advisory
Group
2012- 14 Member Kroto
Institute, University of Sheffield, Advisory Group
2012- Member
Royal Society Council
2013- Member
ERC Scientific Council
Outreach
I have been engaged in a variety of events revolving
around the public awareness of science, dating from the time I headed up the
team of 4 giving the 1995-6 IOP Schools
Lecture Series, giving a lecture entitled "Building with Snakes - the
Physics of Long Chain Molecules" at ~25 venues around the country. On the back of the L’Oreal Prize I
have been delighted to be given a number of opportunities (ranging from Desert
Island Discs to Woman’s Hour) to talk about my science to a large audience on
the radio. In the last few years I have participated in Start the Week,
Essential Classics, The Life Scientific, the 7 Ages of Science and In Our Time.
Policy
Through my role as Chair of the Royal Society
Education Committee I was involved in discussions with civil servants, SPADs
and Ministers and sit on the Joint Ministerial STEM Committee (headed up by the
Schools and University Ministers). I am a member of the CU Science Policy
Exchange Advisory Board and regularly meet with CSaP
(Centre for Science and Policy) Fellows.
Diversity
2007- 14 Director of WiSETI (Women in Science,
Engineering and Technology
Initiative)
2009-13 Chair Athena Forum
2009- Patron
Daphne Jackson Trust
2009- 13Member Equality and Diversity Network of the
Royal Society
2011-12 Chair L’Oreal/UNESCO FWIS Fellowships Jury
2012 - Member
IOP Advisory Group on Girls In Physics
Within the University I was the Gender Equality Champion
(2010-14) and chair the Gender Equality Group. Nationally, I chaired the Athena
Forum and am increasingly asked to talk at relevant events (including abroad),
such as many other university’s Athena Swan events. I have written numerous
articles about issues for girls and women in science (eg
for the Smith Institute,for Fabiana and for the Fabian Review), and this topic forms a
substantial part of my blogs – my
personal blog at http://occamstypewriter.org/athenedonald,
on Guardian science blogs and at Physics Focus, the new IOP blog.
In the last few years talks other than science talks
have far outnumbered standard seminar and conference presentations, although
they often have some research content.
Talks (other
than pure science) since 2011
Outreach and Careers
Imperial Cancer Research Postdoc Day
Edinburgh Engineering Graduate Research Day
IOP (Wales) Schoolteachers Event
IOP (SE Branch)
IOP (East Anglia Branch)
IOP Liverpool City of Culture Event (x2)
Edinburgh Innovative Learning Week
Patrons of the Science Museum
St Paul’s Girls School
Skipton High School
Imperial Life Sciences Postdoc Day (upcoming)
2 debates at Hay Philosophy Festival
Science Week Debate on the Future of Healthcare
Science Week Lecture
Oxford Science Society
Cambridge Union Society
CUPS
Recent Appointees in Materials Science
Bedford Girls High
Triple Helix Society
IOP Nanoscience Group
Careers’ Day
Royal Institution Friday Evening Discourse
Leeds Bioscience postgraduate symposium
Inspiring the Future
Saffron Walden High
St Mary’s Girls School Cambridge event
Chesterton Community College
The Other Club
Hinchingbrooke School
School Education
Association of School Educators
Sunday Times Festival of Education
Westminster Forum
Quantitative Skills debate at British Academy
Diversity
Manchester WISET
Osterreiche Naturwissenschaft Gesellschaft
Leicester Athena Swan
Exeter Athena Swan
Leeds WISE
InGov Meeting
Dorothy Hodgkin Day
Hay Philosophy Festival
Triple Helix Debates (twice) on science and women
Eureka Debate on science and women
L’Oreal FWIS Fellowship Day
Launch of ASSET Report
Leeds University Athena Swan
Sheffield University Women’s Network
Newcastle Women’s Group
Imperial College Athena Swan Lecture
MRC Wikipedia Editathon at
NIMR
CU Society for Policy Exchange
Schlumberger Faculty of the Future
Cam AWISE
Royal Holloway Athena Lecture
Merton College Oxford
University of Southampton Campbell Lecture
Sheffield Science Week 2014
Sanger Institute
Churchill College JCR
Women in Science Research Network
IOP Open Lecture
General
Sidgwick Lecture, Newnham College
Cambridge International Summer School
University of Kent (open lecture)
St John College (Oxford) Interdisciplinary Institute
Lewis Elton Lecture University of Surrey
European Innovation Convention
British Academy/American Academy of Arts joint meeting
Contributions
on Radio (since 2009)
Essential Classics
Today x2
Desert Island Discs
A Good Read (discussing biography of Erasmus Darwin)
In Our Time (macromolecules )
Start the Week with Andrew Marr
Women’s Hour
Life Scientific
Inside Science (x2)
Several interviews with Radio 5 and local radio
BBC News 24 x3
Print and
Online Journalism
Regular blogger for Guardian Science Blogs and
occasional blogger for the IOP’s Physics Focus blog and the Huffington Post
2 articles for Observer Comment and 1 for Politics
section
Daily Telegraph (1 article)
Interviews with the Daily Mail, Telegraph and Observer
Various articles and book reviews for the THE