My experience as a woman of colour studying Mathematics

One of the things that I was worried about when studying a STEM subject was that it would be a white male-dominated field, but in my experience that hasn’t been the case at all!

There are so many things that the university does to help you feel comfortable and increase inclusivity right from the start. In my first week at university, there were so many socials in the Maths department alone. I specifically remember going to the LGBTQ+ welcome social as well as the ethnic minorities social; I met three girls there who are now my housemates and my closest friends! These socials also carry on throughout the year, so even if you go at the beginning, there are always other opportunities!

The Maths department itself are really pushing for equal gender representation in Maths. Each tutor group will never have only one girl, meaning you never have to be in a group just of boys. There are talks throughout the year to female and non-binary undergraduates explaining what a Masters or PhD would be like (and free pizza too!). During one of these events, everyone shared reasons as to why they wouldn’t do a Masters or PhD, and a lot of the answers were to do with self confidence and not thinking they were good enough. The PhD students themselves said that they had struggled with imposter syndrome at every stage of their education, yet they are very successful now! It’s very reassuring to talk to older students similar to me about their experiences/ struggles and what they’ve learnt from them.

Piscopia is an initiative who create a support network for women and non-binary students in Mathematics and related disciplines. It’s named after Elena Piscopia, who was the first women to get a PhD. They have weekly coffee mornings which give you a chance to talk to PhD students about anything, including help with maths, emotional support, talking about your choices after your undergrad, or for a friendly chat! It’s been so useful knowing older students that are happy to help with any problem, big or small, and have great advice. To commemorate International Women’s Day, they held a PhD showcase event for us to learn more about the variety of research you can do as part of a Maths PhD. Everyone had completely different backgrounds- some had been at UoB for the entirety of their undergrad, others had previously done Biology and Physics, then changed their field and others were from places all around the world! It really demonstrated the versatility of the subject and no matter what your background was, you were definitely capable enough to go down the PhD route. 

This semester, one of my modules is taught by Dr Sara Jabbari, who specialises in Mathematical Biology and is the school lead for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. Not only does she teach us differential equations, but she also makes a conscious effort to educate us on diversity in the field of mathematics. Many people (myself included) thought mathematics is dominated by straight white men, but Sara showed us many influential people at the forefront of mathematics research who I had never come across before. One particular woman that stood out to me is Marina Logares Jiménez, who is a Spanish mathematician, specialising in differential geometry and mathematical physics. She was one of the 50 most influential LGBTQ+ people in Spain in 2019, advocating for LGBTQ+ rights whilst being on the forefront of mathematics research.

I have really felt that the department as a whole makes that extra effort to deconstruct the stereotypes that surrounds mathematics- it is a subject for everyone, and that is definitely reflected at UoB!