Nicky March, the Institute's South East representative brings us this report from the Institute of Physics.
The Project Juno initiative has been set up in an attempt to address the under-representation of women in physics education. Only 20% of A-level physics candidates are girls. In Higher Education less than 20% of researchers are women, less than 10% are senior lecturers and less than 5% are professors. An event was therefore held to promote the launch of the Project Juno Code of Practice at Institute of Physics on 14 June, 2007.
The Opening Speaker, the President of the Institute Of Physics, Peter Saraga, asked whether we should care about this deficit of women in physics. He argued that women are an untapped national resource and added that women still do not face a level playing field when making career choices. He then described the 'cultural awakening' an electronics laboratory had experienced when a team of designers, including women had begun working with them.
Professor Peter Main, Director of Education & Science at the IOP, described the programme of site visits which the IOP had undertaken to visit university physics departments in the UK and Ireland. The idea of the scheme was to allow an external panel to spend a day in the department to investigate its 'gender friendliness' - how welcoming it was to female students and staff. A Code of Practice has subsequently been devised and university physics departments are encouraged to join the Juno Project, and hopefully then become Juno Champions. The scheme is currently working through the IOP but may spread to maths and other branches of science.
Professor Jocelyn Bell Burnett, President Elect of the IOP, described the need for physics departments to be 'welcoming, open and inclusive'. She stated that the shortage of female academics has been commented upon by research committees and added that publicly funded bodies have a 'gender equality duty'.
Professor Christine Davies from the University of Glasgow's Department of Physics and Astronomy continued with a case study from her own department. She argued that good practice leads to good physicists. She described the need for a transparent work allocation model and robust organisational processes.
An Open Discussion then ensued and I asked the following question. Stating that I was attending the event to represent the Institute of Career Guidance, I said that Careers and Personal Advisers were occasionally taken to task for not promoting careers in science to girls in schools. I added that as a Connexions PA I am not able to 'talk' students into careers - for example if a young woman informs me she wants to be a beautician, I am not really able to say 'Have you thought about mechanical engineering?' I therefore asked how the IOP would suggest I promote scientific careers, adding that I already display promotional literature, information about sponsorship schemes, etc.
The IOP felt that as a PA there was possibly not much more that I could do and that the issue needed to be addressed at a more 'grass-roots' (i.e. parental) level. However, various individuals spoke to me after the event with ideas and suggestions which I shall pursue. | 
