December 15, 2015, by Graham Kendall

Athena SWAN: Rosalind Franklin Appathon

Athena SWAN Charter Member network has informed us of Rosalind Franklin Appathon which is a national app competition that aims to empower women to become leaders in STEMM and is a fantastic opportunity to showcase leading women, working in the digital space from across the UK.

Applications can be submitted at www.rfappathon.com before 4th January 2016 for a chance to win prizes from a panel of high profile judges, including Baroness Martha Lane Fox (Founder of lastminute.com), Andrew Eland (Director of Social Impact Engineering, Google) and Professor Dame Athene Donald (Professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Cambridge). We are really pleased to let you know that Rosalind Franklins sister Jenifer Glynn will be joining us at the Awards Ceremony on 23rd February.

Rosalind Franklin Appathon competition has two challenges:

Challenge 1:To develop new mobile phone apps to empower women in STEMM. This challenge is open to both women and men. Ideas to get you started include apps to increase the visibility of role models, improve networking, increase visibility of equality issues and games to educate and inspire children. Were interested to hear from everyone – from a complete novice with a good idea to an established Women in STEMM group, looking to improve communication among their members – apps are ideal for busy women on the move! We are offering support for early stage ideas to build a working prototype and will be running a mentoring day in February to connect shortlisted applicants with a range of app mentors- from designers, programmers and developers to business leaders and digital startup companies.

Challenge 2:To recognise leading women in STEMM who have pioneered new apps for research, enterprise and societal good. Help us to identify and support the female role models who are making a difference by submitting a 200 word nomination statement.

Today, there are more mobile phones than people on the planet and over 100 billion app downloads a year. We invite teams and individuals from all backgrounds to take advantage of this digital revolution to reach out to a global audience through apps, to empower and recognise a new generation of women leaders and change public perceptions of women in the digital space. The competition islinked to the Royal Society Rosalind Franklin Award that I had the pleasure to win in 2014. Please go to our website to find out more information and apply.

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