Women in Science

The "why"

BHF has stood at the forefront of global cardiovascular research for more than 60 years. Our vision is a world in which everyone has a healthier heart for longer. To achieve this, we need a research and clinical workforce that reflects the widest pool of talent.

Ensuring no group is excluded from contributing to cardiovascular research is equitable, fair and responsible. It’s not only the right thing to do, it also benefits cardiovascular research and in turn health outcomes. Better representation of women in clinical trial leadership is associated with higher enrolment of women participants, which can address the typical under-representation of women in cardiovascular research trials.

Ensuring diverse leadership that includes women as senior cardiovascular science and cardiology leaders, enables varied perspectives, better decision-making, and in turn better research and better patient care, and ultimately enables research to reflect the patient populations who need it.

The data

Following on from the success of BHF’s first equality, diversity and inclusion strategy Igniting Change, we have refreshed our ambitions. As part of this, because women are substantially under-represented in our funding schemes, we have included a new vision statement to double the number of senior BHF-funded women researchers within the next decade and aim towards achieving parity within a generation.

Our data highlights clear disparities in who accesses and progresses through our funding schemes, most significantly for women, which is why we are starting with addressing the under-representation of women.

The data shows that:

• women make up 30% of all applicants, despite being 47% of UK biosciences academic staff
• despite 44% of Early and Mid-career Fellows being women, they only make up 25% of Senior Fellows and 16% of currently funded BHF Research Professors.

These trends are also seen in the clinical community. In 2023, BHF carried out a first-of-its-kind census of the cardiovascular clinical workforce in England.

The census revealed that fewer than 1 in 5 consultant cardiologists were women. These results are backed by the findings of The European Society of Cardiology 2023 Atlas of Cardiovascular Disease Statistics which showed that the UK has the third-lowest number of female cardiologists in Europe.

The "how"

BHF has launched a Women in Science programme with 3 key pillars: Enabling Funds, Convene and Connect and Leadership and Development.

Under Enabling Funds, we have introduced a Caring Responsibility Fund to help Fellows cover additional caring costs associated with conferences, training and collaboration. We have also partnered with the Daphne Jackson Trust to create a supported re-entry pathway for researchers returning after a career break. While these measures are open to all, they are likely to particularly benefit women, who disproportionately shoulder caring responsibilities.

Through Convene and Connect, we are committed to hosting annual events that recognise under-representation, celebrate women in cardiovascular research, and create space for the community to connect, network and share their experiences.

Under Leadership and Development, we have introduced a new discretionary fund within our Fellowships, giving Fellows the autonomy to choose the professional development opportunities that will benefit them most, helping to create greater equity of opportunity. We have also partnered with the Academy of Medical Sciences to provide every Fellow with access to their mentoring programme.

We’re committed to building on this work and learning from the community about what makes the biggest difference. If you have ideas or reflections, we’d love to hear from you via the Women in Science inbox.