Honorary Fellows: Professor Averil Macdonald

Throughout her career Professor Averil Macdonald has championed equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and increasing underrepresented groups in STEM, in particular women. She authored the influential ‘Not for People Like Me’ report which changed engagement approaches across the UK and developed People Like Me – a new way of engaging girls with science and engineering.

She has advised numerous organisations on EDI, including universities, national bodies, the UK government and the European Commission, as well as businesses such as Network Rail and B&Q. She initiated and led the UK National Athena SWAN rollout to arts, social sciences and humanities disciplines for the Higher Education Funding Council for England.

She was a member of the Women’s Business Council and has been Chair of the Board of UKOOG, the trade association for UK onshore oil and gas industry, a Director of the Cheltenham Festivals, sat on the board of Directors of the Campaign for Women in Science and Engineering, served as Trustee of the Science Museum Group, and sat on the Science and Technology Facilities Council Advisory Panel for Public Engagement. At European level, Macdonald chaired the Forum for Physics and Society in the European Physical Society and sat on the EU Helsinki Group on Gender in Research and Innovation, advising the European Commission on gender issues.

As Deputy Master of the Worshipful Company of Fuellers, Macdonald has been championing future energy solutions to decarbonise the UK economy, with particular focus on hydrogen to decarbonise heating systems and making decarbonised heavy goods vehicles a reality. She has been on the advisory board of the IOP Impact Project Physics Powering the Green Economy. She is also using the Fuellers’ charitable work to support students from disadvantaged backgrounds to consider STEM qualifications as a route into the energy sector through three main charities: TeenTech, Generating Genius and the Smallpeice Trust.

Macdonald is currently leading the EDI strategy in the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council-funded CORNERSTONE Photonics Innovation Centre, an Innovation and Knowledge Centre bringing together leading UK entrepreneurs and researchers with the goal to take silicon photonics technologies from research labs into industry and ultimately into everyday life, supporting the creation of new companies and jobs.

Macdonald was awarded the international Lawrence Bragg Medal and Prize (1999) by the IOP, the accolade of Woman of Outstanding Achievement in Science (2007) in recognition of her work in science communication, the Plastics Industry Award for Personal Contribution to the Industry (2007), Honorary Doctorates by the University of York (2010) and Kingston University (2015), and an OBE (2015) for services to women in science.