Annual Campbell Lecture 2005
The University's Women in Science, Engineering and Technology (WiSET) group hosted its second Campbell Lecture and this year's speaker was Professor Dame Julia Higgins DBE FRS FREng, who spoke on 'The responsibility of being a scientist'.
Dame Julia Higgins is Professor of Polymer Science at Imperial College London, where she is also Director of the Graduate School of Engineering and Physical Sciences. She is Chair of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and Foreign Secretary and Vice President of the Royal Society. Dame Julia has a strong interest in the participation of women in science, engineering and technology (SET) and is a member and past chair of the steering group of the Athena Project, which exists to support the advancement of women in SET in higher education.
During her lecture to an overflowing Chemistry Lecture theatre, she spoke of her role in overseeing the Royal Society's international relations programme and in particular her unexpected but stimulating contacts with other scientists and scientific academies. She then went on to discuss the responsibilities of a scientist not only to do good science and to use science well but also to face the challenges of engaging and communicating with the public.
At the end of her lecture, the Deputy Vice Chancellor Professor Paul Curran presented Dame Julia with a commemorative image of Ishbell Campbell. Ishbell Campbell (1906-1997) after whom the WiSET lecture was named was one of the founding academics of the University when it received its Charter, a Reader in Chemistry and a committed teacher and inspiration for women in science.
Photograph, from left to right: Dr Andrea Russell, Professor Paul Curran, Professor Julia Higgins, Dr Jane Hart, Dr Geraldine Clough