logo
episode-header-image
Jun 2023
28m 38s

Anne-Marie Imafidon on fighting for dive...

Bbc Radio 4
About this episode

Anne-Marie Imafidon passed her computing A-Level at the age of 11 and by 16, was accepted to the University of Oxford to study Maths and Computer Science.

She's used to the 'child prodigy' label that's followed her throughout her career, but that doesn't mean she's had an easy ride.

It was a combination of personal experience and the discovery that the number of women working in the STEM sectors - Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics - was in free-fall that inspired Anne-Marie to found Stemettes: a not-for-profit social enterprise introducing girls to STEM ideas and careers in fun and accessible ways. It's now in its tenth year and still growing, while Anne-Marie has received an MBE, enjoyed a successful stint as the numbers guru on the TV series Countdown, and is the current President of the British Science Association.

In conversation in front of an audience at the 2023 Cheltenham Science Festival, she tells Jim Al-Khalili about her quest for equality and diversity across the scientific community - and explains why she thinks everyone has the potential to be a 'child prodigy', given the right opportunity...

Produced by Lucy Taylor.

Up next
Jul 8
Dame Pratibha Gai on training atoms to do what we want
Chemical reactions are the backbone of modern society: the energy we use, the medicines we take, our housing materials, even the foods we eat, are created by reacting different substances together. If we zoom in, it’s the atoms within these substances that rearrange themselves to ... Show More
28m 23s
Jul 1
Catherine Heymans on the lighter side of the dark universe
Have you ever considered the lighter side of dark matter? Comedy has proved an unexpectedly succesful way to engage people with science - as today's guest knows first-hand. Astrophysicist Catherine Heymans is a Professor at the University of Edinburgh and the current Astronomer R ... Show More
28m 34s
Jun 24
Tim Coulson on how predators shape ecosystems and evolution
As a young man, traveling in Africa, Tim Coulson - now Professor of Zoology at the University of Oxford - became seriously ill with malaria and was told a second bout would probably kill him. Aged only 20, this brush with his own mortality led him to promise himself he would writ ... Show More
28m 36s
Recommended Episodes
Aug 2023
The Life Scientific: Anne-Marie Imafidon
Anne-Marie Imafidon passed her computing A-Level at the age of 11 and by 16, was accepted to the University of Oxford to study Maths and Computer Science. She's used to the 'child prodigy' label that's followed her throughout her career, but that doesn't mean she's had an easy ri ... Show More
27m 24s
May 2019
Moms of Science: Stories about being mothers and scientists
This week we present a story of scientist becoming a mother. Part 1: Heather Williams trades in her physicist labcoat for motherhood, and wonders if she can return. Heather Williams is a principal medical physicist at The Christie hospital in Manchester, UK, where she oversees im ... Show More
19m 34s
Feb 2020
Science Stories - Mary Somerville, pioneer of popular science writing
Mary Somerville was a self-taught genius who wrote best-selling books translating, explaining and drawing together different scientific fields and who was named the nineteenth century's "queen of science". Born Mary Fairfax in 1780, she was an unlikely scientific hero. Her parent ... Show More
27m 33s
Jun 2012
Science et plafond de verre : diversité des parcours et des approches, Claudie Haigneré et Jacqueline Laufer, version audio
Cycle Femmes et sciences. Conférence du 5 mai 2011. Le sujet « Femmes et Sciences » est sorti de l'ombre en France au milieu des années 1990, lorsque le problème de la place des femmes en politique a été soulevé. Depuis, la crise des vocations scientifiques s'est fait jour : puis ... Show More
1h 11m
Jul 2021
Anna Reser and Leila McNeill, "Forces of Nature: The Women who Changed Science" (Frances Lincoln, 2021)
From the ancient world to the present women have been critical to the progress of science, yet their importance is overlooked, their stories lost, distorted, or actively suppressed. Forces of Nature sets the record straight and charts the fascinating history of women's discoverie ... Show More
1h 1m
Oct 2023
Education and Science
Grace sits down with Dr Isabelle Kingsley, Senior Research Associate for the Office of the Women in STEM Ambassador a government initiative. She has worked as a science teacher and a museum educator but now focuses on gender equality within science and STEM. 
9m 57s
Oct 2022
Nobel Prize 2022: The science behind the winners
For the scientific community, the Nobel Prize announcements are an important part of the yearly science calendar. The award is one of the most widely celebrated and gives us a moment to reflect on some of the leading scientific work taking place around the world. This year’s winn ... Show More
57m 18s
May 2016
Engineers: Marita Cheng and Nisrine Chartouny
When Australian mechanical engineer Marita Cheng got to university, she was shocked to discover that only five out of 50 students on her course were female. She responded by starting Robogals - an organisation that goes into schools and teaches robotics to girls as a way of encou ... Show More
26m 39s
Mar 2022
S1E144 - Kapow's Power of Invention: Marie Curie
Marie was the first woman in France to earn a PhD in physics. The professors who reviewed her doctoral thesis, declared it “the greatest single contribution to science ever written." What kinds of contributions did she make to the understanding of science as we know it today? Tun ... Show More
10m 15s