Diversifying STEM Curriculum 2022 Projects

During Summer 2022 we ran our Diversifying STEM Curriculum project for the second year, with five undergraduate students from five STEM-based subjects joining us remotely for a two-month internship. Supervised by academic faculty members from the Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences (MPLS) Division and academics from the Faculty of History, these students had a unique experience to broaden their learning and understanding of their STEM subjects from a historical context and bring to light inspiring and important research and people who have not received the recognition they deserve.

The students picked their own research topics and developed their final projects in collaboration with each other and their supervisors. The final projects are available through the buttons below – one button per subject. These resources are available to anyone who is interested in learning or teaching a more diverse curriculum and we encourage you to share this with your colleagues and friends. You are welcome to make use of any of the materials on these pages, but we ask that you credit the authors of the research and the MPLS/Faculty of History Diversifying STEM Curriculum Project.

This project is being run annually so, if you would like to be involved or have any questions, please get in touch with us at diversity@mpls.ox.ac.uk.

The 2022 Biology student project discusses how colonialism and use of language has contributed to our perception of scientific progress across the globe, using biological examples to support the topic. The link below takes you through to a page which hosts both the Biology and Engineering projects. Our Biology student wanted to share their presentation alongside the written paper. 

The 2022 Chemistry student project provides an in-depth analysis of the under-representation of women in clinical trials and its effects on modern medicine, looking at hysteria and Valium in particular. The link below takes you through to their webpage, where you can also download their full written paper.

The 2022 Engineering student project looks at both attitudinal and physical barriers against women within the higher education engineering curriculum. The link below takes you through to a page which hosts both the Biology and Engineering projects. Our Engineering student wanted to share their full data analysis alongside their written paper.

The 2022 Materials student project focuses on the early years of the publication of ‘The Women Engineer’ journal, just after the First World War. The project studies how women wrote and felt about the issues affecting them in engineering, within the journal. The link below downloads their full written paper in PDF (access a Word version here).

The 2022 Physics student project explores the contributions and impact of Islamic thinkers in physics, focusing on influential figures from the later Abbasid period, specifically around the 10th and 11th centuries.The link below takes you through to the website the student created for this project.

Interested in reading the 2021 projects? You can find them here.