Researchers at the UK-CGIAR Centre’s wheat improvement project recently took part in a two-day career development and networking workshop for early-career female researchers working in the wheat research area.
This article was original published on the John Innes Centre website.
July 2025 saw the latest Women in Wheat event, where twenty-five early career women researchers attended a training event at the John Innes Centre, focused on addressing gender bias in the UK and internationally. Supported by BBSRC, the latest training event targeted career and network development, to support early-career female wheat researchers to become leaders of the future.
Wheat supplies around 20% of calories globally and is a major focus for global research and investment. Yet, despite a step change in the tools for wheat research, the sector continues to struggle with under-representation of women in leadership.
While there are many women in wheat research, this representation is lost in senior leadership roles. This lack of diversity is not only a loss at the individual level, but a cognitive shortfall that restricts how innovative the research space can be and its capacity to adapt to new challenges.
The Rosalind Franklin Women in Wheat Champions programme was created by Professor Diane Saunders in 2019 to address the lack of representation of women in senior wheat research positions. The programme supports emerging female wheat researchers through a combination of providing access to training, mentorship and network building.
The July workshop specifically focused on providing career development training and networking building to support the step to independent research positions. Trainers included research leaders from across the John Innes Centre, Institute for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas, National Institute for Agricultural Botany and The Sainsbury Laboratory.
The July training sessions focused on skills to promote one’s science, securing funding and managing collaborations or teams. This included dedicated time to consider how to develop research proposals and how to succinctly pitch research to potential investors.
“This training helped me clearly understand the differences between various fellowships, their requirements, and the application process. It also showed me how to prepare in advance. I believe this training was extremely valuable for both PhD students and postdoctoral researchers,” said Dr Chen Ji, postdoctoral researcher at the John Innes Centre.
Building and maintaining successful collaborations and teams is a central skill for independent researchers. These topics were explored in the July workshop as strategies to cultivate successful partnerships. This also included sessions training participants on how to manage and resolve conflict where it arises across teams.
The event also included a presentation from Royal Society University Fellow and Lecturer at Imperial College London, Dr Jess Wade, on navigating academia’s hidden curriculum. The presentation highlighted the importance of academic mentoring in helping early career researchers identify the less visible ‘untaught’ topics that support successful research.
“I really liked how Jess talked about her own journey, the choices she made, and the challenges she went through. It helped me see that every researcher has a different path, and that’s okay. Her talk made me think more about the many ways people can do science”, said Dr Ji.
All Women in Wheat programme members are paired with mentors in senior research positions. These mentors provide an experienced and independent perspective for early career researchers to engage with and learn from. As part of the programme, mentorship support has also been expanded to extend beyond the immediate Women in Wheat cohort, to provide mentoring to all interested female early career researchers in the Delivering Sustainable Wheat network, the UK’s largest wheat research collaboration.
“The mentorship has been a real boost for my career. I used the one-to-one mentoring to make my CV look as good as it could possibly be and I’ve used that in applying for postdocs,” explained Dr Catherine Evans. “Now, looking ahead, the summer session has given me more clarity on how to go forward.”
Throughout the July event and previous workshops, the Women in Wheat programme has encouraged the development of supportive network building between women researchers. Doing so provided a support mechanism, independent sounding board and place through which the success of other women scientists could be celebrated.
“We’ve made a joint WhatsApp group to encourage and celebrate successes, which is unique and encouraging”, continued Dr Evans.
“What is easy to overlook is that it’s an open and safe space to share. What happens is raised in that group and stays in that group. This means you feel able to discuss some of the more difficult topics that wouldn’t be possible elsewhere”, said Dr Gill Reynolds, senior bioinformatician at the Earlham Institute.
Through events such as the July workshop, the Women in Wheat programme provides a suite of skills and network approaches to equip and support women in their research career journey. In doing so, these same activities foster greater visibility between women wheat researchers, build community and the sense of community to pursue a career in wheat research.
“I almost avoided being part of the wheat research community because of the low representation of women in senior roles, which didn’t foster a sense of belonging,”, said Dr Reynolds. “With groups like Women in Wheat, we feel welcomed, we feel like we belong.”
The Rosalind Franklin Women in Wheat Champion programme is led by Professor Diane Saunders OBE, a Group Leader at the John Innes Centre working on plant pathogens. The programme is led by the John Innes Centre and The Sainsbury Laboratory, in collaboration with Rothamsted Research. It is supported by funding predominantly from BBSRC, with additional support from The Royal Society.