Hi there Adam

Announcing our first speakers for ALD Live 2014: Roma Agrawal and Dr Turi King 

It is with great excitement that we can announce our first two speakers for Ada Lovelace Day Live, which this year is being held at the Royal Institution on 14 October:

Roma Agrawal

A structural engineer, Roma Agrawal spent six years working on The Shard, designing the foundations and the ‘Spire’. Roma will talk about her own first bridge project, an inspirational bridge engineer from the past, and will give us a live demonstration with a little help from the Ri prep room and some jelly babies!

Geneticist Dr Turi King led the DNA analysis in the Grey Friars project which located the remains of Richard III in Leicester. She will reveal how genetic research, combined with history, archaeology, anthropology, forensics and epidemiology, can shed even more light on our past and future.

As usual, our event is being produced by comedian Helen Arney, this year with invaluable support from the Ri. Tickets are not yet on sale, but do save the date in your diary! 

ALD Women in STEM anthology

Thank you to everyone who submitted a chapter proposal for our next collection of essays about women in STEM, or applied to be mentored. We were delighted by a great response, and we now have rich selection of chapters in progress which I am very much looking forward to reading. 

Our offer of two mentorships was oversubscribed, but we had such great suggestions for subjects that it was incredibly difficult to choose just two. Out of the nearly 30 applications, we have ended up choosing ten for mentorships, which means we’ll have to find another couple of mentors!

We are on track to produce another awesome book, so thank you to everyone who is contributing, and to our existing three mentors, Veronique Greenwood, Jennifer Ouellette and Ed Yong. 

News from the Ri

Get stuck into science this summer with the Royal Institution. This summer the Royal Institution has an action-packed Summer School programme of fun, hands-on educational activities for all ages, including grown-ups! The workshops and classes run from Thursday 24 July until Friday 22 August, with more than 50 innovative and interactive events bringing to life all areas of science, mathematics, computing and engineering. 

May – August Ri events programme now open for bookings. Find out why some people have to battle their weight more than others with Sadaf Farooqi, explore how biological complexity changes our view of nature and science with Sandra D Mitchell, and much more in our summer programme.

Family Fun Day: Great Stuff. Enjoy hands-on family activities on Saturday 17 May: play with magnetic liquid, learn how to make paint change colour before your eyes, and catch a talk by structural engineer on The Shard, Roma Agrawal. Learn more about Roma and the Family Fun Day online.

Ri evening short courses. If you want to explore a subject in more depth than a one-off talk, but without the formality of a university course, the Ri's science short courses are for you. With access to world-class researchers in a social atmosphere, you can gain an insight into some of the most fascinating topics in science. This summer we are offering two short courses: cosmology and climate science. 

Looking for a new challenge? The Ri’s recruiting! The Royal Institution is currently looking for talented professionals to fill four new roles – Video Producer, Development Manager (Corporate), Human Resources Manager and PA and Governance Administrator. Please visit the jobs section of the Ri website for more details.

Women in Engineering: The Challenge, 23 June 2014

Women in Engineering — or the lack thereof — is a hot topic at the moment, says the Women's Engineering Society. In order to address the UK’s future skills shortage, we need to attract more girls to engineering and retain more of our qualified women engineers. To discuss this problem, WES is organising the National Women in Engineering Day, a one day conference on 23 June in London, aimed at business leaders looking to increase diversity within their organisation, and anyone working in the engineering sector who would like to see more women in engineering. Book your tickets online before 30 April to get the Early Bird rate of £40 for non-members.

If you have any news about events, courses, books or other information relevant to Ada Lovelace Day and women in STEM please email us at findingada@gmail.com. 

Best regards, 

Suw & the ALD team

With thanks to our sponsors and partners, past and present: