Beth Soanes from WISE is our 2020 Inspirational Committe Member. Take a look at her nomination for ideas:
Beth has worked tirelessly with WISE for three years and graciously led the team as President for 2019/20. She has made it her mission to not only inspire school pupils and her fellow students through WISE’s activities, but also to bring together the many diverse groups that make up the University’s STEM community. She conceived the idea of Equal in STEM but was not content with this just being a women’s event and so collaborated with BEaMS and oSTEM to ensure everyone in STEM was included. Sourcing funding from Caterpillar, Beth carefully crafted a plan with her co-organisers to deliver the University’s first collaborative conference to host important conversations on barriers to STEM such as mental health, the pressure of being a role model, parenthood and allyship. She has also successfully expanded WISE’s Girls in STEM outreach scheme to involve a third local school and has overseen the training of more than 60 student tutors to become better science communicators and role models for the pupils they work with. To bring all this activity to fruition, Beth secured £5,200 in funding from various sources including Caterpillar, Accenture and the University’s Alumni Impact Fund for Students. Alongside her non-stop work for WISE, Beth has completed a lab-based Masters degree and secured a funded PhD position to research Molecular Biology and Bioengineering. Beth has consistently worked to bring together students across EPS, Life and Environmental Sciences and the University’swider STEM community to empower and inspire.
More strong examples can be found in the 2020 Shortlist brochure (PDF).