RisingWISE: An enterprise course by and for women

What is RisingWise?

• RisingWISE is for women* in STEM early career researchers who face isolation in a male dominated STEM research culture, especially at senior levels
• RisingWISE offers a training programme to reframe skills, realise individual potential, broaden mindsets and networks, and expand career options
• RisingWISE is built by women for women

We also welcome non-binary people who are comfortable in a space that will discuss women focused experiences.

Aims

Women are being urged to pursue careers in STEM subjects, where they often excel, but face a huge disparity in achieving success and leadership roles.  RisingWISE has been developed to address this challenge, bringing together women early career researchers from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge to meet with women working in industry and commerce, who face similar challenges. Rather than existing in competition with each other, we have developed an innovative, collaborative programme with Cambridge, including working closely with industry to build mutual relationships, which aims to benefit STEM researcher women from both institutions, and all involved. Please see bios of our two founders below.

Feedback has been consistently high - with 100% of attendees saying they would recommend participating to a friend or colleague, and an overall rating of 9.5/10 for the whole experience. We won the MPLS Equality & Diversity Award and were also finalists in the University of Oxford Vice-Chancellors’ Diversity Awards 2020. Please see the ‘impact’ and ‘testimonial’ sections for further recommendations.  

Eligibility

RisingWISE is tailored specifically for women* early career researchers working in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in both academia and industry.

*We also welcome non-binary people who are comfortable in a space that will discuss women focused experiences.

Additionally, each year we welcome a small number of DPhil students who are nearing the end of their studies and are thinking about next steps.

Please find the privacy notice associated with RisingWISE applications here. 

We are aware that weekend participation could be difficult for those with caring responsibilities. As such (and although the programme is run on a limited budget), we would welcome discussions as to how we can support families and help facilitate your attendance on the programme – please contact us for more information on mpls.enterprise@mpls.ox.ac.uk.