The role of social norms in belonging to physics

Amy Smith: Research shows that pervasive stereotypes about physics act as a barrier to belonging for underrepresented groups, yet social norms within the context of studying physics, which have the power to influence behavioural decisions, are under-researched.  This talk/workshop will demonstrate the benefits of taking an arts-based approach to understanding social norms through a practical workshop element in which participants will be provided with tools to measure and reflect on social norms in their own context. The talk will then discuss findings from the speakers own PhD research, a two-year longitudinal study into social norms within the department of physics at a research-intensive UK university. The talk encourages the audience to reflect on their own experiences in physics and question how we can better support students entering the field.

About out speaker

Amy Smith is a final year postgraduate researcher in the department of physics at Imperial College London carrying out educational research. She is interested in the study of physics culture; particularly on identifying the social norms that exist within physics undergraduate programmes, and how these influence students’ behaviour and sense of belonging. Before completing her PhD Amy was a secondary physics and maths teacher. During her time teaching, Amy completed an MA in Education, focusing on the backgrounds of women in physics and how access to science capital influenced their decision to take the subject. She now works on extending this research to understand sense of belonging formation once these students enter university.