Celebrating Women in Mathematics Day

Katie Severn, Assistant Professor in Mathematics 

Happy Women in Mathematics Day, particularly to everyone who identifies as a woman! And thank you to everyone, including allies, who has helped increase gender equality and representation within maths.  

We are very proud at the Observatory for Mathematical Education of the many fantastic women we have in our team. From leading on the complex operations for a project this large, to advising on educational challenges and getting stuck into complex data analysis, we have women to celebrate in every part of our work. 

A recent photo at a team away day of Cath Gripton, Kathy Seymour, Jennifer Norris, Katie Severn, Holly Gilbert, Dawn Holt and Emily Williams, who along with Balbir Kaur, Marie Joubert, Corrinne Robinson and Emma Owens make up the Observatory's women in mathematics education. 

Not only are we proud of the women in our team but also of our work to increase inclusion and accessibility of maths to all - including for all genders. In the mathematical pipeline report, led by a team from the Observatory, a key feature identified within the mathematics pipeline was fewer girls choosing maths A-level to their male counter parts. And this trend continues into undergraduate maths degrees. Our current work will offer new insights in to this which we can use to understand the causes of this and what we can do to change it! 

May 12th was chosen as Women in Mathematics Day to celebrate the birthdate of Maryam Mirzakhani an Iranian mathematician who became the first woman to win a Fields Medal; a prestigious award to recognize outstanding mathematical achievement.  

Events to celebrate Women in Mathematics Day run throughout May and June. 

Author information

Based at the University of Nottingham, Katie (she/her) splits her time between the School of Mathematical Sciences, where she teaches statistics modules for undergraduate students, and the Observatory for Mathematical Education (where she is one of our data experts).  

Katie believes Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) is central to the work of the Observatory and the University of Nottingham. She is the Deputy Director for EDI in the School of Mathematical Sciences and has been very involved in work surrounding the Athena Swan Award. Most recently, Katie was part of the team working on the data collection and analysis which led to the University of Nottingham being awarded the first instituional Athena Swan Gold Award. 

Observatory for Mathematical Education team

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