Women and Global Leadership Forum at Trinity

A high-level Argentinian delegation of politicians, business leaders and civil society practitioners, will participate in a roundtable on 9 May at Trinity College with academics, Cambridge University leaders and representatives from government and civil society. The Women and Global Leadership Forum will discuss gender issues, including the role of women in academia, finance, technology, arts and business management.

Argentina is hosting the G20 this year, with more than 50 meetings across the country, culminating in the Leaders’ Summit in Buenos Aires at the end of 2018.

Women 20 (W20), one of the G20 engagement groups, is a transnational network drawing on women leaders in civil society, business and research. Members of the delegation coming to Trinity will participate in the W20 Summit in Argentina, which seeks to promote equality and women’s economic empowerment as integral to the G20 agenda and to turn recommendations into impactful policy.

The Women and Global Leadership Forum is organised by Trinity’s Post-Doctoral Society, Trinity Fellow, Dr Mireia Crispin, and Global Shapers Cambridge Hub, an initiative of the World Economic Forum.

The Post-Doctoral Society was founded in 2017 to enable Cambridge researchers across the disciplines to take part in college life. The Society hosts many professional, research and social events – the 9 May Forum is the first to feature global decision makers.

Among the Argentinian delegation are the Ambassador to the UK, His Excellency Renato Carlos Sersale di Cerisano, MPs Susana Lázzari and Patricia De Ferrari Rueda, and representatives from the business world.

Dr Matias Acosta, incoming President of the Post-Doctoral Society, said: ‘Members of the delegation are renowned women leaders of the Inter-American Council for Trade and Production. Some of the representatives will take part in important discussions within the W20, so the inputs of the discussions at Trinity can impact both the W20 and G20 agenda.’

Sustainable development and inclusivity are some of the priorities emphasized by the G20 host country Argentina. ‘Cambridge and Trinity play a leading role in these areas, concentrating a unique amalgam of bright minds with a successful entrepreneurial eco-system,’ Dr Acosta said.

Cambridge participants at the Forum include Professor Eilis Ferran, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Institutional and International Relations, Dame Ottoline Leyser, Director of the Sainsbury Laboratory, Professor Valerie Gibson, Trinity Fellow and Head of the High Energy Physics Research Group at the Cavendish, Dame Barbara Stocking, President of Murray Edwards College, Jeanette Walker, Director of Cambridge Science Park, Karina Prasad, Head of the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, Amanda Askham, Director of Transformation at Cambridgeshire County Council, and Nicky Massey, a Labour councillor recently elected to Cambridge City Council. Representatives from the Royal Society, Royal Society of Chemistry and Chatham House will also attend.

For Dr Acosta, the Women and Global Leadership Forum chimes with the Post-Doctoral Society’s aims.

The Society is quite multidisciplinary and has members from all over the world. In order to highlight the message of diversity, equality and inclusivity that characterizes our Society, we thought it would be relevant to host a high-level discussion about women’s empowerment in a global context. The event goes hand-in-hand with the ongoing celebrations of the arrival of women at Trinity College 40 years ago.

Key issues for discussion at the Forum will be gender challenges and programmes being developed at the University in the context of the W20 Summit.

Co-organiser of the Forum, Trinity’s Dr Crispin, a Research Fellow at Cancer Research UK, said the Forum was a great opportunity for younger members of Trinity to meet inspiring and influential women.

She said: ‘Trinity is very lucky to have such an active and entrepreneurial Post-Doctoral Society. We are also quite unique in that we have a large number of Junior Research Fellows; our interests are naturally very close and I hope that this is only the beginning of many future joint efforts between the Postdoctoral Society and the Fellowship, especially Research Fellows.’