Question: Are there many female scientists or disabled scientists in your field?

Ashley Hughes answered on 12 Nov 2015:

The group I am currently in there are 4 women and a couple ladies who work shared with our lab and another, that works out at about 40% of the group.

I think the more towards physics you go the less girls there are but they are still there and I think there are more of them as the old stigmas die away! It might be better to ask one of the girls on the panel for their perspective as females in science, but I feel as if things are getting much better.

As for disabled people, I haven’t come across many I’m afraid. There are practical reasons for this though I think, depending on the disability. For instance my work involves many delicate adjustments of mirrors that would be difficult if you didn’t have full control of your hands. I remember during my PhD I had to voice concern at teaching one student who wasn’t disabled per se, but was known to have random fits and I felt this unsafe in a lab with exposed bunson burners + boiling water.

There is an example I know where it works mind, downstairs the main guy who runs our computer network is wheelchair bound and can’t use his hands. He deals with everything just fine and does his job perfectly well.