In 2013, the European Physical Society launched the Emmy Noether Distinction to recognise noteworthy women physicists.
On 4 February 2019, the Emmy Noether distinction was presented to Dr. Chiara Mariotti [CM] at CERN. She was interviewed by Luc Bergé [LB], chair of the Equal Opportunities Committee of the EPS.
The first edition of the NNV-Diversity Prize was won by the faculty of Science and Engineering of the University of Groningen (RUG). The NNV (Netherlands Physical Society) has created the prize for the physics institution that is most successful in putting an open diversity policy into practice. The prize is a tribute and an inspiring example for other institutes and/or departments.
In 2013, the European Physical Society launched the Emmy Noether Distinction to recognise noteworthy women physicists.
The International Symposium “Setting Their Table: Women and the Periodic Table” will be held from 11-12 February 2019 in Murcia, Spain.
The Netherlands’ Physical Society (NNV) is searching for institutes or departments which are doing an excellent job of the promotion of diversity and gender equality within the organisation. To honour these institutes, the NNV has established the NNV Diversity Prize.
On 7 March 2018, the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers adopted the new Council of Europe Gender Equality Strategy 2018-2023.
To advance recruitment and career progression of female physicists and engineers, the directors of the four NWO physics research institutes the Netherlands, AMOLF, ARCNL, DIFFER and Nikhef, have signed Gender Equality Plans. The official ceremony took place on January 22nd, 2018 at the start of the large Physics@Veldhoven conference in front of the physics community in the Netherlands. It kicked off a systematic approach to accelerate improving the gender balance in the national physics research institutes, leading to structural changes. By publicly signing the plans, the four institute directors emphasised their commitment to and the legitimacy of the agreed actions and measures for gender equality.
There is a difference between male and female physics faculty salaries and the culture of physics is partly to blame, according to an article that is available for free this month from Physics Today, the world’s most influential and closely followed magazine devoted to physics and the physical sciences community.
On 22 December 2015, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution to establish an annual International Day to recognise the critical role that women and girls play in science and technology communities: “Girls continue to face stereotypes and social and cultural restrictions, limiting access to education and funding for research, preventing them from scientific careers and reaching their full potential. Women remain a minority in science research and decision-making”, wrote Irina Bukova, Director-General of the UNESCO. A celebration event took place on February 9th 2017 morning at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, focusing on Building capacity and Empowering women and girls and on various actions on Women, Science and Society.
In general, the physics research community fosters the assumption of being gender neutral. However, despite this, the under-representation of women in physics research is a long-standing and persistent issue. With this in mind, an international Consortium of Research Performing and Research Funding Organisations have engaged in the H2020 GENERA project which aims at continuing, monitoring and improving their Gender Equality Plans customised for the physics research community. The project started in September 2015 and is now half-way through its project life time.
The VII EPS Forum Physics and Society will take place from 26-28 October 2016 at the Institute of Physics in London, United Kingdom. It is organised by the European Physical Society in collaboration with the Institute of Physics.