Last night saw the first event for the newly form Portsmouth (and surroundings) “Girls into Physics” network. This is a new initiative set up by the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation to encourage and support girls and young women studying physics in Portsmouth and the surrounding areas.

Our first event saw girls studying Physics at AS level in the local area (Portsmouth College, and Isle of Wight College) attend with their parents and teachers to take part in a panel discussion on the reasons why fewer girls than boys choose to study A-level physics. Despite more than 30 years of effort to support girls to study physics, and the fact that girls actually do very slightly better in Physics than boys at GCSE level, the percentage of A-level physics students who are girls has stayed flat at about 20%.

This interesting discussion was followed by “speed networking” with our volunteers, who represented many stages of the academic physics career path (from undergraduate, postgraduate, postdoctoral research to lecturer) and a presentation showcasing some of the careers people who study Physic at University might end up in.

With support from the Institute of Physics, all attendees were also able to take away materials with more information about studying physics.

It is planned that this is just the first of many events for this network which will provide ongoing support and networking opportunities for young women studying Physics in the Portsmouth area.

For more details please visit the Girls into Physics Page of our website.