Women and Spinouts: A Case for Action

Contact: smanfredi@brookes.ac.uk

Project start: November 2018

Project finish: August 2021

Funded by: EPSRC

About us

Too few women researchers are leading spinout companies and there has not been enough attention focused on the progression of women researchers at all career stages on the entrepreneurial pathway from research to spinout leadership.

Oxford Brookes University in collaboration with the University of Oxford have been funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) under its Inclusion Matters call to undertake a project to identify barriers and enabling factors that exist for women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) in key stages of the spinout process.

Focus on

Women, STEM and Investments: Closing the Gender Gap

As part of the Women Backing Women campaign, Oxford Brookes University hosted a highly successful event on 5th June 2023 that brought together women researchers in STEM and founders of university spinouts and women Business Angels and investors, as well as key figures from the enterprise ecosystem including Innovate UK, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Francis Crick Institute, UKBAA, British Business Bank and the NatWest Group.

Scientists and entrepreneurs: Women tackling global problems (Webinar)

Watch the panel discussion and Q&A

Follow us

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@WomenSpinouts

Research impact

Close up of a women's face

The Industrial Strategy has set an ambitious goal for the UK to become the most innovative economy in the world by 2030, to become a ‘science superpower and invest in the science and research that will deliver economic growth and societal benefits’.

Increasing diversity among researchers and spinout founders is essential for delivering these objectives.

Read our submission and recommendations to the All-Party Parliamentary Groups Enquiry into Equity in the STEM Workforce (PDF).