RisingWISE: developing enterprising women in STEM
Tuesday, 18 November 2025 to Saturday, 21 March 2026
Hosted by mpls.enterprise@mpls.ox.ac.uk
RisingWISE is an established Oxbridge programme and network inspired by EnterpriseWISE: designed by women, for women.
COURSE DETAILS
Women are being urged to pursue careers in STEM subjects, where they often excel, but face a huge disparity in achieving success and leadership roles.
RisingWISE has been developed to address this challenge, bringing together women early career researchers from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge to meet with women working in industry and commerce, who face similar challenges. Rather than existing in competition with each other, we have developed an innovative, collaborative programme with Cambridge, including working closely with industry to build mutual relationships, which aims to benefit STEM researcher women from both institutions, and all involved.
Feedback has been consistently high - with 100% of attendees saying they would recommend participating to a friend or colleague, and an overall rating of 9.5/10 for the whole experience. We won the MPLS Equality & Diversity Award and were also finalists in the University of Oxford Vice-Chancellors’ Diversity Awards 2020.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Over the course of the six days, you will be immersed in a programme that will:
- Provide helpful tools and techniques to help you think through your chosen path.
- Expand your knowledge of industry and collaborative research & development.
- Highlight opportunities beyond academia.
- Create a forum to meet women who are working within industry and academia.
- Develop your networking, mentoring and leadership skills.
BOOKING INFORMATION
Applications for the next cohort are now open click here.
Application Deadline: Tuesday 30 September 2025
Before applying or registering interest, please check the dates below. Attendance to all dates is expected from participants.
Please contact Louisa at mpls.enterprise@mpls.ox.ac.uk with any queries.
DATE / TIME
We run the programme in a blended format and believe this enables an optimum balance between online and in-person. Exact timings will be provided when applications are open, but please check your diary for ALL the days below as you will be expected to attend the course in its entirety:
Dates & Timings of the RisingWISE 2025/2026 Programme
|
Tuesday 18th Nov |
OXFORD Meet & Greet (in-person), 15.30 - 17.00 |
|
Thursday 20th Nov |
CAMBRIDGE Meet & Greet (in-person), 14.00 - 15.30 |
|
Saturday 22nd Nov (Optional) |
REUNION EVENT (in-person), 12.00 - 17.00 Francis Crick Institute, London |
| Saturday 6th Nov | Day 1 (online), 09.00 - 17.00 |
| Saturday 17th Jan | Day 2 (online), 09.00 - 17.00 |
| Saturday 7th Feb | Day 3 (online), 09.00 - 17.00 |
| Saturday 28th Feb | Day 4 (online), 09.00 - 17.00 |
|
Friday 20th March & Saturday 21st March |
Day 5 & 6 (in-person), full days Two full days; coach transport for Cambridge participants provided and finishing at 16.00 on Saturday. Accommodation for all participants provided for one night (venue TBC). |
INTENDED FOR
RisingWISE is tailored specifically for women* early career researchers working in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in both academia and industry.
*We also welcome non-binary people who are comfortable in a space that will discuss women focused experiences.
Additionally, each year we welcome a small number of DPhil students who are nearing the end of their studies and are thinking about next steps.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
For additional information about the RisingWISE programme please visit the RisingWISE webpage.
Any questions? Contact Louisa Trevail at: mpls.enterprise@mpls.ox.ac.uk.
TERMS & CONDITIONS
When registering for this course, please check our Terms and Conditions.
Additionally please find our privacy notice associated with RisingWISE applications.
TESTIMONIALS
Thank you so much for the most incredible, and genuinely life-changing series of weekends. It is by far the best thing I have ever done for my career and myself.... I have already raved about Rising WISE to every junior colleague and woman I know, so I would love to see it continue. The whole event was so smoothly run, and the content was incredible. (Michele Veldsman, Oxford)