The annual Athena Lecture was established in 2001 by the Academic Opportunities Committee to celebrate the achievements of women in science, engineering, technology and medicine. It is given annually by a prominent female scientist.

It is coordinated by the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Centre at Imperial. Visit their pages for more information about the lecture and for a full list of previous Athena speakers.

Past speakers also include Professor Dame Ann Dowling, President of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Professor Deborah Smith, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of York and Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Manchester. Watch all the recorded lectures from this series via the dedicated YouTube playlist.

Previous lectures in this series

2021 - Of passions, failures, bold decisions and alternative careers

Dr Magdalena Skipper, Editor in Chief of Nature and Chief Editorial Advisor for Nature Research

 2018 - Experiments in Chemistry and Life

Dame Mary Archer DBE, Chair of the Science Museum Group

 

2017 - A journey from Physics to the Boardroom

Sinead Lynch, UK Country Chair, Royal Dutch Shell

 

2016 - Order, Disorder, Complex Fluids & Life

Professor Alice Gast, President of Imperial College London