About Us
Who We Are
Originally set up as a Charitable Trust we decided to set up Promoting Women in Science (PWIS) as a registered charity in 2020 in the midst of the pandemic. It was jointly founded by Imran Ahmed and Sadia Nujhat. You can view further details about the Charity on the England and Wales Charity Commission website here.
There are many good causes that we could have focused on. The power of education can create such a range of positive outcomes for individuals and their families we felt it was a good area to focus our investment in. Imran has been inspired by his mother’s history who came from a low income background and studied Medicine in Pakistan, at a time when few women were in higher education, in the 1950s and helped fund herself by sewing clothes for others and relying on the financial support of other family members. Her life was transformed through education. Sadia has been committed to advancing women in their careers and engaged in a number of mentoring schemes over the years.
Women continue to face a number of disadvantages in society and therefore we felt they are a good target group for our work. They are also under-represented in many STEM subjects, although no longer in Biomedical Sciences (UCAS data), although Medical students remain overrepresented by individuals from middle-class backgrounds (Medical Schools Council 2019). STEM subjects can provide a great base for a range of careers as we can personally testify to. There is also good evidence that a STEM degree can enhance earnings relative to non-STEM subjects (Institute for Fiscal Studies 2018).
Do get in touch if you would be interested in finding out more or you are considering collaborating with us. We are keen to hear from organisations that support young people, companies and educational institutions to exchange ideas and explore whether there is any mutual benefit that coil be explored.
Our Trustees
Carolyn Fraser
Carolyn has a Business Studies degree and a career spanning 38 years in both the public and private sectors. She has a wide range of volunteering experience and is particularly passionate about raising aspirations and educational equality.
Imran Ahmed – Chair
Imran is a former EY Partner who has worked in Consulting and the Insurance industry. He studied Genetics at Newcastle and Leicester University. He now provides pro bono strategy and operational consulting support to non-profit organisations.
Kimberley Neve
Kimberley is a Registered Nutritionist (Public Health) and Head of Food Studies at a secondary school in Kent. She previously worked for a national health charity managing policy research and has taught in secondary schools in England and internationally.
Dr Mark Dixon
Mark works as an anaesthetist in the NHS having found his path to Medicine later in life, completing an Access to Medicine course. Mark works back in his native North East and has set up a program to help mentor children from less privileged backgrounds into Medicine.
Melissa Mark-Joyce
Melissa is a HSE (Health, Safety and Environment) leader with 25 years’ experience delivering sustainable, data-driven safety performance across global organisations. A Chartered Safety and Health Practitioner and Certified Safety Professional, she brings a strategic systems-thinking approach to her work. Melissa is also committed to advancing STEM access for young girls and actively volunteers in the HSE profession.
Sadia Nujhat
Sadia works in Change Management and graduated from Newcastle University. Sadia has volunteered in the UK and Overseas, with a focus on teaching and mentoring.
Prof Salma Ibrahim
Salma is Professor of Accounting at Kingston University after studying in Egypt and the United States. Since 2006, she has been dedicated to helping students learn and grow, guiding over 10 PhD graduates who are now building their own careers as academics.
