Celebrating the women inspiring inclusion at Queen Mary this International Women’s Day

Here at Queen Mary, inclusion is at the core of everything we do – it is one of our five core values and it is crucial to our vision to open the doors of opportunity.  

Here are some of the women helping to make Queen Mary the most inclusive university of its kind, anywhere: 

Chloe Orkin, Professor of Infection and Inequities and Director of the SHARE Collaborative 

Chloe is an internationally recognised leader in infectious diseases. She’s advocates for equality, diversity, inclusion for medical women and for LGBTQ+ and disabled people in society. 

In her research career, Chloe is Professor of Infection and Inequalities. She directs the SHARE Collaborative for health equity in minorities communites across East London. Her ground-breaking research in mpox and has informed international standards and guidelines. Her particular interest is improving inclusion in clinical trial design.  

Chloe has provided EDI leadership within the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry’s (FMD) for the past five years, first as Athena Swan SAT Chair and then as Academic Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Lead.  

Chloe is works hard to make the world a more inclusive place in everything she does – in her research, in her workplaces, and in the many positions she serves outside of these (for example, she is former President of the Medical Women’s Federation and former Chair of the British HIV Association). She embodies ‘Inspiring Inclusion’ and we’re grateful to have her at Queen Mary. 

Rainbow Murray, Professor of Politics    

Rainbow is an expert on representation, political institutions, gender and diversity, with particular expertise in French and British politics.  

She recently won a €2M grant from the European Research Council Consolidator scheme for the MENSREP project, a comparative study across the UK, US, France, and Norway, will investigate the representation of men in political bodies. Despite men and women making up approximately half of the electorates, nearly every legislature worldwide has a male majority.   

Rainbow is also the former lead for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Science. She was the first Senior Diversity Lead at Queen Mary, advising and consulting on equality and diversity issues at every level of the university. 

Hazel Screen, Head of the School of Engineering and Materials Science and Professor of Biomedical Engineering 

As an inspiring trailblazer in a field where in the past there have been few women, Hazel leads initiatives to promote inclusion in the School of Engineering and Materials Science.  

This includes ‘Proud to be An Engineer’, a programme that will provide engineers with bespoke public engagement training and support to go out into the community and inspire people from less represented backgrounds to become engineers. In the summer of 2024, the participants will showcase their stories at two community festival events. 

In a new video Hazel explains why we need diversity in engineering, as well as her own research interests, where she uses engineering principles to explore disease, to understand how the body works or test new drugs or therapies.