Women in the Frame this Month
We would like to celebrate and congratulate this months List of British women for their achievements, contributions and stoic determination in their field. We would also like to thank them for being such positive role models for the young women of today.
Onora Sylvia, Baroness O'NEILL
Born 1941 (Northern Ireland)
Nationality British
Education Oxford University, doctorate from Harvard
Occupation Philosopher and politician
Onora Sylvia O'Neill, Baroness O'Neill of Bengarve CH CBE FBA (born 23 August 1941) is a philosopher and a crossbench member of the House of Lords.
She taught at Barnard College, the women's college in Columbia University, New York. Returning to the UK in 1977 she became Professor of Philosophy at the University of Essex; she was Professor of Philosophy there when she became Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge from 1992-2006. She is an Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge, a former President of the British Academy 1988-1989 and chaired the Nuffield Foundation 1998-2010. in 1999, she was created a life peer as Baroness O’Neill of Bengarve. In 2003, she was the founding President of the British Philosophical Association (BPA). In January 2013 she was installed to chair the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
Donna May COVEY
Born 1961
Nationality British
Education Graduated from University of Warwick
Occupation Trustee at COUNTERPOINTS ART
Donna spent many years at the GMB Union, where she was the National Officer responsible for equal rights, and a member of the TUC General Council where she specialised in equality and diversity work. She then moved into the voluntary sector where she specialised in health advocacy, as director of the Association of Community Health Councils and the Chief Executive of Asthma UK. From 2007 – 2012 she was Chief executive of the Refugee Council, and was chair of Refugee Week. She became a Trustee of Counterpoints Arts in 2012.
Professor Julia Mary SLINGO, OBE
Born 1950
Nationality British
Education BSc Maths and Physics and PhD at Bristol University, Hon DSc 2010
Occupation Chief Scientist, Meteorological Office
Dame Julia Mary Slingo DBE becoming the UK's first female professor of meteorology and the first female president of the Royal Meteorological Society. She has been the Chief Scientist at the Met Office since 2009.
Professor Slingo has had a long and distinguished career in weather modelling and research, working at the Met Office, ECMWF and NCAR in the USA. In 2006 she founded the Walker Institute for Climate System Research at Reading, aimed at addressing the cross disciplinary challenges of climate change and its impacts. Regularly involved in Royal Society activities, in 2008 became the first woman President of the Royal Meteorological Society. Before becoming Met Office chief scientist in 2009, Prof Slingo was Director of Climate Research in NERC's National Centre for Atmospheric Science, at the University of Reading, where she is still a visiting Professor of Meteorology.
She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2014 New Year Honours For services to Weather and Climate Science.
Dame Anne Laura Dorinthea McLaren, DBE, FRS, FRCOG
Born 26 April 1927 London, England, UK
Died 7 July 2007 (aged 80)
Citizenship British
Fields Developmental biology, animal genetics
Alma mater Oxford University
Dame Anne McLaren was a leading figure in developmental biology and had a long and distinguished career. Her work helped lead to human in vitro fertilisation (IVF). She received many honours for her contributions to science, including being made fellow of the Royal Society, the Scientific Medal of the Zoological Society of London, the Pioneer Award of the International Fertility Society and the Royal Medal of the Royal Society.
She became president of the Association for Women in Science and Engineering (AWiSE). One of her principal contributions was to help produce a white paper that played a major role in the passing of the 1987 Family Law Reform Act and the 1990 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act. The latter established the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, on which Anne served for 10 years.
Dame McLaren became fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, She was made a DBE in 1993. She was also president of the Society for the Study of Fertility, president of the Society of Developmental Biology, president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1993-94, she was fellow of King's College, Cambridge, from 1992 to 1996. Anne McLaren Laboratory for Regenerative Medicine has be set up at the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute in memory of her extraordinary contribution to science.