Category: Uncategorized

Cait says “I’ve been working in news for more than 20 years. In that time, TV journalism has become more fast-paced and more demanding. Multi-skilling is now the norm. Teams are smaller and often produce content for multiple platforms. There are more women in positions of power and diversity is at the centre of editorial and …

Read more “Guest Post – Channel 5 Editor Cait FitzSimons tells Lis Howell why C5 News has a consistently higher ratio of female to male experts than other programmes……. and staved off the male politicians during the Covid-19 crisis…..”

As a result of being on the BBC EW list as a health expert, I was approached to comment on emerging news events about Covid-19. Never has the world been so aware or interested in matters normally confined to those immersed in specialised fields (parodied perfectly by Catherine Tate in the skit with David Tennant …

Read more “Expert woman…me?”

“I usually contribute on a fairly frequent basis to the morning radio shows up here in Scotland, where I get called on to give a business perspective on various issues (independence, Brexit, even travel). I’ve also done some TV work for BBC Scotland on tech issues such as the potential of 5G technology and the …

Read more “A View from Scotland”

One of the best experiences of my working life has been my involvement with the BBC’s Expert Women programme. The programme was launched in 2013 by the BBC Academy (the BBC’s training arm), and I came on board in 2017 first as joint, then sole lead, running Expert Women events in Scotland and London. The …

Read more “Fran Acheson on the BBC’s Expert Women initiative”

The world has suddenly gone quieter. Aside from key workers we are all at home. We keep on hearing the challenges and frustrations. I don’t intend to ignore the reality of this painful period with people losing jobs, loved ones, livelihoods going down the drain. But there are many positives coming out of this too, …

Read more “Modern Life Is Rubbish”

Sarah Johnson is the Superintendent for Operation Talla, Northamptonshire Police “I am the force lead for Northamptonshire Police’s for Operation Talla, this is the Police response to the Coronovirus pandemic. My ‘normal’ day job is as the Head of Operations, armed policing, dogs, public order, and other specialist disciplines and associated command roles. In the …

Read more “Guest Post: Operation Talla – Leadership in a Pandemic”

Professor Amelia Hadfield is the Head of Department of Politics and Director of the Centre for Britain and Europe (CBE) at the University of Surrey “I’ll admit I’m not crazy about working from home. But I also enjoy a challenge, so I attempted to get my head around the idea early on, and set up …

Read more “Guest Post: Living La Vida Lockdown, But Not Loving It”

Chloe Duckworth is a Degree Programme Director for Archaeology at Newcastle University “People often used to say to me before the birth of my son that there’s no ‘perfect’ time to have a baby. Equally, I’m certain there’s no ‘good’ time to be under lockdown, although – to misquote Tolstoy – every unhappy quarantine situation …

Read more “Guest Post: The Balancing Act”

Jillian Evans is Head of Health Intelligence for NHS Grampian “How do you know when you’ve become an ‘expert’?  Are you defined as such based on qualifications or experience? Is it because you are a good speaker and confident? Can you get your message over well? Are you interesting?   All of these things is what I’ve become through the expert women project.  I have got many years …

Read more “Guest Post: What I Learned from the Expert Women Project”