Angela Saini

In celebration of International Women’s Day, the Universities of Sussex and Brighton are jointly hosting award-winning science journalist and author Angela Saini.

A Conversation with Angela Saini will take place online on Wednesday 10 March 2021 at 12noon and is open to all staff and students at both universities.

For hundreds of years, Western science took women’s intellectual and physical inferiority as a given. But as we move beyond these false assumptions, are researchers falling into traps when they think about sex and gender? Are they even at risk of creating new myths? Can we learn from the devastating history of both the science of sex differences and race science to build a smarter way of approaching human difference – one that doesn't rely on stereotypes?

Professor Tara Dean, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise) and Chair of the Athena SWAN Steering Group at the University of Brighton, said: “I am very proud that our university annually recognises International Women’s Day and really pleased that this year we will be celebrating it with colleagues from the University of Sussex.

“International Women’s Day started in the early 1900s, but still to this day, it continues to be a powerful platform globally that unifies tenacity and drives action for gender parity, while celebrating the social, cultural, economic and political achievements of women.

"I am delighted to welcome renowned author Angela Saini to talk about her critical work on women and race. The theme for International Women’s Day 2021 is 'Choose to Challenge', and I can't think of a better author to share the day with us. I look forward to seeing you there.”

Angela Saini authored Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong and Superior: the Return of Race Science. These two acclaimed books powerfully depict science inaccuracies about women and race respectively, and have captured the imaginations of many – with Inferior now being available in every state school library in the UK thanks to a grassroots crowdfunding campaign.

Professor Miguel Maravall, Academic Lead for Gender Equality and chair of the Athena SWAN self-assessment team at the University of Sussex, said: “Angela is a powerful contributor to debates about gender, race and science – her books are justly recognised for their ability to bring together historical and scientific arguments and debunk pseudoscientific essentialism.

“After this momentous pandemic year in which structural inequality and discrimination have so cruelly been reflected in life and health outcomes, we wanted to invite a prominent voice to reflect on the social, as opposed to biological, origin of these disparities.

"This year Angela was named by Prospect magazine as one of the world’s top 50 thinkers, was asked to sit on the Lancet COVID-19 Commission, and contributed to multiple discussions on scientific and structural racism. She is the ideal speaker to bring us together to commemorate International Women’s Day and I very much look forward to her talk.”

Angela Saini has spoken at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, the Sydney Writers Festival, the Jaipur Literature Festival, New Scientist Live, and at literary festivals, science events and conferences across the world, and has given distinguished and keynote lectures at Yale, Princeton, Oxford, and other institutions. Find out more about Angela Saini.

The free event will start at 12noon with an hour-long talk from Angela. Following the talk, there will be a student-led Q&A session, which will last until approximately 1.45pm.

Registration for this event is essential. To book your place, please visit EventBrite.

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