Durham University Women in STEM is a student-run society consisting of a mixture of undergraduate and postgraduate students across a range of STEM subjects. Our mission is to empower women and non-binary people in STEM through personal support, professional development, CV building opportunities and fun events.
We hold networking, developmental, and student support events, which are available for free to all society members. Our networking events, held together with our sponsors in industry, give students the chance to learn about job opportunities available to them and careers within different areas of a company. Our developmental events provide members with the opportunity to strengthen their CV and get help with job applications. Student support events are a place where our students can get to know each other in a welcoming and inclusive environment, and have some much needed downtime from their studies.
We also run multiple schemes which aim to support students both with their studies and as they enter the job market. Our industrial mentorship scheme provides some exposure to industry, through meetings with a recent graduate currently working in their desired field. To date we have provided over 100 female STEM students with guidance from our fantastic team of mentors, who come from a variety of professional backgrounds including engineering, pharmaceuticals, biotech, finance and academia. Most of them are Durham alumni, as we have found it particularly beneficial for students to talk to people who were in similar positions to themselves.
Furthermore, the Student Support Board is in charge of running our course representative scheme, which is geared towards students in their first or second years at university. We recruit students further on in their studies to act as peer mentors, providing advice on everything from module choices, revision tips to de-stressing techniques! By splitting the scheme into individual course groups, it provides a relaxed environment for our members to chat to new people on their course and help to create a sense of community for all of our members.
Membership for our society is completely free, and open to all Durham University students studying STEM subjects who identify as women, non-binary people, or as any gender identity which is traditionally underrepresented in STEM fields.
Earlier this year we began expanding our course representative scheme. Over 25 course reps were elected to take part in subjects ranging from maths and physics to psychology.
A number of our events and coffee afternoons have incorporated the course reps. Recently, we hosted a “Welcome afternoon” for our first event of the academic year. This gave the new freshers a chance to meet and interact with people from their course, and ask questions to the reps if they had any questions or queries.
Going forward we are looking to develop the course rep scheme by hosting more events such as coffee afternoons and advice sessions, and we are also looking into getting our reps merch/lanyards to make them easier to spot at our events.
We are currently in the process of rolling out our society mentorship scheme for the academic year! Students who are interested in being paired with a mentor are asked to complete an application form, where they state their subject and what they are interested in doing post-graduation.
We then carefully match students with an appropriate mentor, who will arrange meetings throughout the year to advise our members on their career path.
The mentorship scheme for 2021/2022 had over 50 students paired up with around 25 industrial mentors. So far, the scheme has been a great success and we have had high levels of communication and great feedback.
The most popular event of our calendar is our annual ‘Destress with Dogs’ event, held in the final weeks of summative season before exams kick off.
Last year we partnered with local charity ‘Tendercare Rescue’, who very kindly bought 12 dogs for our members to relax and destress with.
Through ticket sales and a donation from the society itself, we raised over £500 for the charity as a thank you for an amazing day!
Last year we ran a networking drinks evening for our members, which gave them an opportunity to meet at the local Ebony champagne bar for some relaxed cocktails.
This event was attended by around 60 students, with tickets selling out in just over an hour.
Students thoroughly enjoyed the event and found it a great opportunity to meet other like minded women studying similar subjects to themselves.
Throughout the academic year we run a series of professional developmental events for our members, which provide advice on how to boost your CV and any potential job applications.
Highlights from the last academic year include a CV/cover letter advice session, a workshop on interview technique, and a panel-style event on applying for a PhD or further study.
If you would like to find out more, please email us at women.instem@durham.ac.uk
