SET Fair report cover
The SET fair Report figurehead was Baroness Susan Greenfield and was written at the time of the Roberts Report into the STEM pipeline. In contrast to the well-funded Roberts review, the Greenfield Report was not heavily resourced and we agreed our aim was to collect together wisdom and a small number of key steps that might create a step change in the way that the UK addressed the under-representation of women in SET. There was data and evidence, but efforts at making change happen, at the time, were limited to small, poorly funded, and resourced women’s groups and a team at the DTI SET for Women Unit.
Data gathering was organised by Jan Peters through working groups, led by Teresa Rees, Nancy Lane, and Gill Samuels in addition to a small number of public meetings.
Of the key recommendations, one was to create a resource centre or hub to support and facilitate the growth and effectiveness of the technical women’s groups and initiatives. In the end, funding was allocated to Bradford College and the UKRC for SET Women was established and many of the project-based functions of the DTI unit, such as the statistics site, were taken over from the DTI unit.
A second funded recommendation was the National Return campaign, designed to do more to facilitate the return of SET-qualified women to technical careers. The evidence for this campaign was gathered through the Maximising-Returns study.
NB after the major funding was withdrawn around 2012, the UKRC merged with the WISE Campaign which took over the project and intellectual property portfolio.
