26 Mar 07

Professor Frances Ashcroft, the Royal Society GlaxoSmithKline Research Professor in the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics at Oxford, and a fellow of Trinity College, is one of six women to be featured in the 2007 photographic exhibition to celebrate women of outstanding achievement in science, engineering and technology (SET).

Professor Ashcroft was chosen because she is an inspirational leader and has made outstanding contributions to the understanding of how glucose stimulates insulin secretion and how this process is impaired by disease, according to the judges. Professor Ashcroft holds one of the Royal Society's 15 Research Professorships. These were instituted in 1922 but, until 2001 (when she was appointed) only two had ever been awarded to women. She was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1999.

The SET exhibition of photographs launched in London and is now on tour around the UK. With just over 24 per cent of women in SET professions the UK Resource Centre, funded from the science budget of the Department of Trade and Industry, aims to make women in science, engineering and technology more visible as role models and an inspiration to others.

The winners were announced by the Minister for Science and Innovation, Malcolm Wicks MP, who said: ' Every one of the six women featured in this second exhibition, and the 66 women nominated, demonstrate the outstanding contribution of women to British science and innovation. Britain's science is world-class, and is crucial to keeping our economy competitive, and tackling the challenges we face such as climate change.'

Last year, Professor Jocelyn Bell-Burnell, Visiting Professor of Astrophysics at Oxford and a fellow of Mansfield College, was selected for the exhibition.

The photographer, Robert Taylor, has pictures in collections including those of the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum.