Trustee

We are seeking additional Trustees with experience in the education sector, STEM or have a financial accounting background. At Promoting Women in Science we believe STEM Higher Education should be made more accessible to women from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

What difference will you make?

PWIS is looking to expand its work and reach through working more closely with a small number of universities. Your presence and work on our Board of Trustees could help us reach many more disadvantaged girls and young women who are unable to, or deterred from accessing STEM Further Education.

You and your experience will help us reach our goals and develop our work more quickly and effectively, and mean that we can get the most out of our resources, with the potential to expand and grow our partnerships.

What are we looking for?

We are looking for new trustees who will be keen to get actively engaged and who can bring proactive ideas and are particularly keen to hear from potential trustees with experience in the education sector, a STEM career or with an accounting background that would like to make a difference in this area. However, if you are interested and have other skills or experience or simply keen to make a difference, please do get in touch - we welcome interest from all individuals regardless of their skills or background, as long as they are enthusiastic about what we do, and keen to actively support our work.

What will you be doing?

Through our partners, we work with young people, offering targeted university and pre-university support to increase enrolment in STEM Further Education. This currently takes the form of providing scholarships to pay for university tuition fees and investing in STEM outreach programmes targeting young women and girls in schools. We are one of very few charities in the UK that provide full Tuition Fee scholarships.

We have two students that we are currently financially supporting through study at Newcastle University. We are close to finalising two separate STEM Outreach programmes with a London and a Midland based university.

We are committed to being evidence led, focusing on interventions that make a difference, in our activities and investments.

We are seeking additional Trustees with experience in the education sector or STEM who can help support us with their expertise, but above all we are looking for individuals who want to make a difference in this space.

We are currently looking to appoint up to two new Trustees. Most of our Trustees are like a non-executive board of directors - typically not involved in the day-to-day running of the charity unless they would like to be, they oversee what we do and make sure we stay on track. In between meetings, we might call on the trustees for particular issues with which they need help or support, such as policy changes, working on developing particular projects using a trustee's contacts or area of expertise, or simply when a sounding board for new ideas is needed. Our trustees may also choose to participate in events with our partners e.g. providing input to design an intervention programme, sitting in on selection interviews for scholarship students and participating in project governance meetings for investments the charity is making.

The only absolute requirements are that you are interested in and enthusiastic about what we do, and that you are willing to work to support the charity using any skills, knowledge or contacts that you have which may be relevant. Candidates with experience in the education sector, or those from STEM careers are particularly welcomed.