20–28 Mar 2025
Emperors Palace Hotel Casino Convention Resort
Africa/Johannesburg timezone

The Supernova Foundation: A mentoring and networking programme for women in physics

24 Mar 2025, 13:30
15m
Emperors Palace Hotel Casino Convention Resort

Emperors Palace Hotel Casino Convention Resort

64 Jones Rd, Kempton Park, Johannesburg, 1620
Talk Addressing Inequality in Astronomy Education, Development, and Outreach (EDO)

Speaker

Michelle Lochner (University of the Western Cape/ South African Radio Astronomy Observatory)

Description

The Supernova Foundation (www.supernovafoundation.org) is a global mentoring and networking programme aimed at women and gender minority physics students, mostly from developing countries, to try to improve gender equality in physics. We target women in physics departments with few or no woman role models and use mentoring by senior female researchers to empower them and give them the support they need to stay in physics. We currently have nearly 400 mentors and mentees from six continents. We regularly host webinars on topics like imposter syndrome or work life balance and our mentors meet their mentees monthly for private sessions. As founder and director, I will overview the Supernova Foundation in this talk, lessons learned and tips for successful mentoring programmes.

Stream Education Development and Outreach

Primary author

Michelle Lochner (University of the Western Cape/ South African Radio Astronomy Observatory)

Presentation materials

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