News

Ekaterina Ivanova and Anna Xambo Sedo have been awarded a grant from the QMUL Erica fund worth £13,200 to support the Women in Higher Education Network plus (WHEN+), until July 2027.

The Women in Higher Education Network (WHEN) was founded in 2023 at EECS with the aim of building a strong and sustainable community for individuals identifying as women, while contributing to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEM. Over the past two years, under the leadership of Ekaterina Ivanova and Anna Xambó Sedó, WHEN has established a solid foundation for community engagement through a dedicated website, mailing list, and LinkedIn group. The network has grown from 38 active participants in its first year to 88 in the second, and now exceeds 100 registered members with the inclusion of SBBS and collaboration with ITS Women in Tech. To date, WHEN has delivered 30 monthly events, including workshops, talks, and social gatherings. These activities have received consistently positive feedback (July 2024 survey) and have fostered strong peer support, with members actively proposing new initiatives.

With this new extension funding from ERICA, they aim to increase the project's impact through

1. widening inclusion by collaborating with other underrepresented groups, including LGBTQIA+ communities;
2. expanding participation across the Faculty of Engineering; and
3. extending the network geographically from QMUL to the wider London academic community, supporting interdisciplinary exchange.

Following their already established series of regular but distinctive events, the monthly activities will include social events and skill development events. Social events include coffee mornings, cinema screenings with discussion, tea parties, social lunches, sports (e.g. yoga, zumba), and so on. Skill development events include group coaching, presentations, workshops, meetups, and any relevant activity/idea proposed by and/or powered by network members.

See the WHEN website for past activities: