Dr Lynn Williams is a Reader in Psychology within the School of Psychological Sciences and Health. She is currently Deputy Director of Research in the School and previously chaired the School’s Athena SWAN committee. Her research is in the area of health psychology and behaviour change and she has led a number of externally funded projects in this area.
What achievement are you most proud of?
Last year was a very productive year as I was Principal Investigator on three externally funded research projects. I was really pleased that we managed to deliver successfully on all three projects despite the challenging circumstances of the pandemic and the move to working from home. Our success was due to the fantastic teams of co-investigators and researchers, both male and female, who were working on the projects.
What progress have you seen from your time in academia towards achieving gender equality?
In 2018, I led our School’s successful application for an Athena SWAN Bronze award. We were the first School in the Faculty to receive the award. One of the issues that we identified during our analysis was a lack of progression of women to more senior grades in the School. However, in the past two years we have seen a number of women promoted to Senior Lecturer and Senior Teaching Fellow level. This has been very encouraging.
In 2020, I was promoted to Reader, and I look forward to seeing more women promoted to Reader, Principal Teaching Fellow, and Professor in the coming years. I am confident that with the right support and processes in place we will see this happen, as we have many extremely talented women in the School.
One thing that we will need to be aware of is the impact of Covid-19. Evidence suggests that the Covid-19 disruptions have disproportionally affected women, so we need to make sure that this is recognised within the promotions process.
What women have most inspired you and why?
While there are a number of women within the broader culture who promote excellence in their work and integrity in their values, for me it is my female colleagues who inspire me most. Not only are they smart, articulate, and ambitious, but crucially they are also extremely supportive and encouraging of one another. We shouldn’t underestimate the importance of women supporting and empowering their female colleagues.
