Dr Ulla McKnight photographed for last year's exhibition

Celebrating Early Career Researchers and Male allyship for International Women’s Day 2026 - have your portrait taken and celebrate being part of a supportive community in our amazing Women at Sussex Library Exhibition.

This International Women’s Day we are celebrating our women Early Career Researchers and acknowledging the value of allyship by encouraging men to support gender equality and diversity in academia.

International Women's Day (IWD) has been around for over a hundred years, as have many of the issues still impacting women's advancement.  IWD belongs to all who care about women's equality, want to celebrate women's achievements, and raise awareness about discrimination.

“Give To Gain” with our amazing ECR women and men allies

The theme for IWD 2025 is ‘Give to Gain’ which encourages a mindset of generosity and collaboration. Give to Gain emphasises the power of reciprocity and support. When people, organisations, and communities give generously, opportunities and support for women increase. Giving is not a subtraction, it's intentional multiplication. When women thrive, we all rise. Whether through knowledge, resources, infrastructure, visibility, advocacy, education, training, mentoring, or time, contributing to women's advancement helps create a more supportive and interconnected ecosystem in academia.

And you, what will you Give to Gain gender equality?

Celebrating Early Career Researchers and male allies

As part of our IWD 2026 celebrations, Dr. Elizabeth Rendon-Morales Equality, Diversity and Inclusion lead at the School of Engineering and Informatics and Dr Laura Blackburn Research Fellow at the Department of Physics and Astronomy are inviting contributions from all women Early Career Researchers (ECRs) at Sussex. We are also encouraging men Early Career Researchers (ECRs) and Mid-Career Researchers (MCRs) to contribute and to engage in allyship and promoting gender equity, challenging bias, and creating inclusive environments for women and minorities.

This year the IWD2026 call aims to inspire, recognise, and showcase the diverse contributions of women in research in early career stages as well as recognising that allyship benefits everyone and drives institutional change. Male allyship refers to the active and supportive role that men can take in advocating for and promoting gender equality, in the context of supporting women's rights and challenging societal norms and behaviours that perpetuate sexism and gender discrimination.

We are excited to invite all women Early Career Researchers (ECR) and male allies working at Sussex to share your story, achievements, motivations, aspirations and insights to Give to Gain, inspire others and promote gender equality in research. 

We are preparing to open an exhibition in the Library Open Learning Space of photography portraits to help raise awareness, showcase ECR role models alongside male allies to celebrate, inspire and recognise the incredible work of women researchers that are pushing boundaries in their fields, advancing knowledge, and driving positive change. The exhibition will be on display in the Library during March - why not sign up now to have your portrait taken? 

If you are interested in contributing, please email womenatsussex@sussex.ac.uk and including: 

• your encouraging statement 
• a 150-word summary of your research work
• your preferred date to book a time slot with Stuart Robinson, the University photographer. 

Stuart is available to take portraits during 26 January and the 2, 5, and 11 February. We encourage you to have your photograph taken rather than supplying a photo, as portraits taken in a research environment will help to highlight the breadth of roles. 

We encourage ECR researchers and male allies from all Faculties to get involved.

Encouraging comments 

Please also include an encouraging statement for other women in your email and a 150-word summary of your research work. The encouraging comments could be:  

• a personal experience (e.g. proudest achievement at Sussex)  
• advice for women wanting to get into your field  
• a reflection on a woman who has inspired you (mother/daughter/wife/partner/friend)  
• or simply a comment supporting our celebration of women at Sussex. 
• for male allies, you can encourage, support, and advance gender equality through both verbal statements and sharing experiences of actionable behaviours that challenge the status quo. Effective allyship involves using one's voice to amplify women, calling out bias, and actively sponsoring women's career advancement. 

You can see some of the inspiring comments and portraits that Sussex women have already shared in this interactive board. 

Find out more about IWD. 

About Women at Sussex and Library exhibition

This is the third IWD exhibition that Dr. Rendon-Morales has curated in the University Library. Previous years' exhibitions invited women and ECR from across our staff community to participate have their portrait taken along with an encouraging comment from them for other women. A full collection of portraits taken in 2023, 2024 and 2025 are now part of our University Women at Sussex webpage, as we continue to celebrate the achievements of women, past and present, who have shaped Sussex. The full set of photos and supportive comments by a wider group of Sussex’s women is available on Padlet 2024 and 2025.