From Arusha to Westminster. “More women in research” wins diversity award

Being awarded second place in the Society of Chemical Industry leadership in Diversity Awards speaks volumes about the growing impact of More Women in Research. From 50 women gathering in Arusha in 2024 to being recognised at the Palace of Westminster in 2025 where the group was represented by Nsubili Isaga and Jenny Falconer, is an amazing story.

By Jenny Falconer

An invitation to a palace in England feels like a fairy tale. Dressed in our finery, we attended a glittering ball to celebrate the Society of Chemical Industry (SCI) Leadership in Diversity Awards hosted by Viscount Stansgate, patron of the sciences. With the weight of the More Women in Research network behind us, we represented diversity, the award that we had been nominated for.

Women get left out of research all the time, as subjects and as participants. Drugs have been tested on male bodies only because hormone fluctuations create noise, period products were only tested using blood in 2023, and menopause is a chronically underfunded area of study. The scientific method asks questions, and then systematically goes through a process of research in order to find answers to those questions. But when women are not in the room contributing to the questions, we find that research is skewed away from their real needs, as is true for all communities, groups and designations.

The road has been long and sometimes difficult, but 50 amazing strong women in research from across Africa and beyond came together in Arusha, Tanzania, in 2024, where we told each other the stories of our lived experiences.

These stories were about loss and hardship, determination and strength, sympathetic male influences and wonderfully supportive women.

We learnt from women who left their babies to pursue studies in foreign countries, women who had to leave their cultures behind in order to achieve an education and mothers nursing in their cars where no infrastructure existed. We heard about sexual harassment and requests for favours in order to be considered for promotion and about being ostracised for not having children. Women spoke about being removed as authors of their own research, about being given time consuming and laborious tasks that male colleagues deemed beneath them, about glass ceilings and sticky floors.

As we listened to these experiences together, we realised that we are not alone.

We have the collective power to demand that the current situation must change. We put a synthesis of our experiences into a manifesto, a document that serves as a reminder of the conditions faced by women in research, and serves as a recommendation to all the people involved in research to bring about change. This includes ourselves as researchers, our institutions and governments, the media and journals that communicate the work, the funders and NGOs without whom the work could never happen. We gave ourselves a purpose, and we continue to let everyone else know that we have expectations and recommendations to achieve gender equality. As we have journeyed along our various paths since the gathering in Arusha, we have been spreading the word and getting people involved. This has led to the great honour of being nominated for the SCI award for Leadership in Diversity.

This STEM industry award is external proof to us that our work is not only valuable, but extremely necessary. Nsubili Isaga, senior lecturer in entrepreneurship at Muzumbe University in Tanzania and I, Jenny Falconer, technical manager at Cwenga Technologies in South Africa, attended a beautiful ceremony at the Palace of Westminster in May 2025. We were surrounded by a group of extremely distinguished guests, members of the UK government as well as leaders in various scientific research fields.

Communities, wherever they are in the world, often imagine that other parts of the world have already figured out the challenges they face, but this is far from the truth. The gender pay gap and under-representation of women in decision-making roles are worldwide problems, with no country in the world having achieved gender parity.

More Women in Research was awarded second place, the first having gone to Johnson Matthey, a giant in the speciality chemicals industry with an enviable research and development team. I congratulate and salute Johnson Matthey, but I also mention this because it is truly humbling to be considered to be making a contribution to gender equality comparable to that of a company with a substantial level of resources available to it. We benefit from the comparison. The scope of our undertaking is unleashed with the investment of time and effort from the growing network of More Women in Research. We have already seen some beautiful changes in the policies of some of our institutions, and more of us are making headway in the long laborious process of changing mindsets and preconceived ideas in our leadership. We are supporting each other with mentorship and learnings, as well as easing the way for those who are just coming into the field.

If one thing has become clear from receiving this award, it is that the work has only just started. Women in research are an unstoppable force, and we are actively building a world for ourselves, for our children and for our communities to thrive in.

The story of SCI began in 1881 when a group of forward-thinking scientists, investors and entrepreneurs founded The Society of Chemical Industry.

The SCI Leadership in Diversity Award were established in 2024. The award recognises initiatives, led by an individual or a team, which have resulted in significant impact to encourage more equal, diverse and inclusive workforce in science-led industry

More about more women in research

The More Women in Research manifesto 

When 50 women researchers first met

When 270 women researchers provided input to the manifesto

When the manifesto was launched together with 300 youth leaders across Africa

Playlist: The More Women in Research on YouTubeTurning dialogue into action

More women in research now in Asia

Key Takeaways from eLearning Africa 2025: Reimagining Education for Africa’s Future

More Women in Research and Building Stronger Universities

 

 

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