Women's Leadership Workshop in Dubai

This weekend I travelled to Dubai to give a Keynote speech at a workshop on women's leadership being run by Liza Howe-Walsh and Sarah Turnball of the UoP Business School. This trip was part of Liza and Sarah's research project into the different barriers women face upon entering science fields both in the UK and the Arab world (read about their project in this UoP News Item).

I gave a talk about my research looking at galaxies, with a section in the middle about the contribution of women both to the research, and to my career in astronomy. I also gave a slide show of all the amazing things I've got to do because of being an astronomer which was fun for me (and I hope them!).

It was a very interesting experience, and I hope worthwhile both for us and for the Emirate women who participated. Liza and Sarah will be following up with them in the coming months and years so I'll be very interested to see what happens.

Some snapshots...

First a group shot with me, Sarah, Liza and some of the women who participated.

We ran the workshop at the Emirates Aviation College near the Dubai Airport.

Before we got started. 

The hotel I stayed at was attached to the Mall of the Emirates, which at the other end hosts this massive ski slope. 

And this is the Burj Khalifa - the tallest building in the world. Dubai doesn't seem to do small! 

It was a really interesting trip, and I'm grateful to Liza and Sarah for asking me to participate. 

Article I wrote on Athena SWAN blog about the trip.