International Women’s Day

Following on from our February blog for International Women & Girls in Science Day, we want to highlight the importance of International Women’s Day (IWD).

This year’s theme is “Rights, Justice, Action for ALL Women and girls”. According to the UN, women do not have the same rights as men worldwide and have disadvantages in business and their family life. The University of Oxford and the Department of Engineering Science are dedicated to creating an equal and diverse environment for work, and with the ambition to reduce gaps between female and male students and staff. According to the University’s 2023-2024 EDI report, women represent 52% of the staff including the academic element, which accounts for 35% overall.

Our admin and operations team is a large part of the Noble Group which organises the research activities and student relations managed by two women. This may sound like an employee of the month post; however, we want to mark International Women’s Day by highlighting Sam Smith’s contributions to our group’s work and the community, which shows the great effort of women’s role in our society.

Sam is our Senior PA and Research Group Administrator, managing all operational activities whilst supporting Prof. Noble and group administration tasks. Sam joined the University of Oxford in 2009, bringing her commercial experience to higher education. She has been working at the IBME since 2023.

Sam is a big part of our team and ensures that the day-to-day research activities within the group/lab run smoothly. She engages with researchers and students actively and is our “go to” person and problem-solver!

Outside of work, Sam is a member of The Trefoil Guild, an offset of Girlguiding and enjoys attending monthly meetings. She is also a part of the leadership team of a Rainbows unit that encourages and supports young girls to build confidence with a can-do anything attitude, and is delighted to be part of such a great worldwide movement.

She has also been a part of Kennington Amateur Dramatics since 2006 and helps with making the costumes for productions and leads the front of house team.

On this meaningful day, we value all our staff’s contributions to work, and we respect and recognise women’s role in the business and our lives. We support their journey and celebrate their achievements. Happy International Women’s Day!