International Women’s Day at the Foundry with Carol Vorderman

Registration is required

Register at: https://swanseauniversity.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_L3yEwjKBQqOEpAF_LOugMQ

College of Science

- A CHERISH Digital Economy Research Centre Event

This event is part of the International Women's Day Celebrations series

Speaker

Carol Vorderman MBE

Speaker's Biography

Carol Vorderman (MBE) became a household name during her time on Channel 4’s hugely successful and timeless programme Countdown. Being a figurehead for strong, smart females she became one of the nation’s sweethearts, with multiple TV shows, best selling books and a pilot’s licence all under her superwoman belt. From a poor single parent family, and on free school meals, education has been all important to her.

After being offered one of the few places for girls from a state school to study at Cambridge University in 1978, she graduated with a Masters Degree in Engineering, Carol’s television career began with her appearance on Channel 4’s first ever-televised programme, Countdown. After 26 years on the show and creating a name for herself as one of the most successful women on British television. With many primetime shows under her belt including BBC’s Tomorrow’s World and Mysteries with Carol Vorderman, ITV’s hit shows Carol Vorderman’s Better Homes and Better Gardens and Stars and Their Lives, all of which were gaining over 10 million viewers, she was for many years hosting primetime shows on all major terrestrial channels, sometimes on the same day!

In 2011, Carol was asked to be one of the hosts on ITV’s hit show Loose Women. Over the years Carol has also participated in some of the UK’s largest programmes. She was the first celebrity ever to take part in Who Wants To Be A Millionaire winning £125,000 for her charity, and later became part of ITV’s 2016 I’m A Celebrity… Get me out of Here! cast. For more than 20 years, Carol has also been the host and key champion of ITV’s acclaimed Pride of Britain Awards – an awards ceremony celebrating brave and extraordinary people. 2019 will be its 20th Anniversary. She also hosts an incredibly popular weekly radio show on BBC Radio Wales.

Carol has also been praised for her writing, having written columns for newspapers including The Daily Telegraph. She was the best-selling non-fiction author of the year in 2002 and 2005 with her No 1. best selling book titled Detox For Life published by Virgin Books, selling over one million copies, and her How To Do Sudoku range of books published by Random House. Ask people in the UK who do they know in the world of mathematics, and they will say Carol Vorderman. She has a reputation for trust, authority and brainpower. She has her own online maths school The Maths Factor teaching nearly 100,000 children. She has also become the best selling children’s education author of all time in the UK with a large range of books published by DK focusing on mathematics, English and science books for ages 3 -12.

As well as her successful television and writing career, Carol is renowned for her passion for flying and science. Having being denied the opportunity to become a fighter pilot when she was young as she was female and therefore not allowed to join the RAF at that time, in 2014 Carol fulfilled a life long dream and qualified for her private pilot’s licence. She has now progressed to be fully instrument and multi engine rated and is “one step down” from commercial pilot level. Carol loves to fly her own aeroplane, a Diamond DA42 which she calls Mildred. In 2014 she became Ambassador for the RAF (Royal Air Force) Air Cadets, becoming the first women to be appointed as an Honorary Group Captain For decades, Carol has been hugely influential with STEM, advocating and encouraging young women to study and work within the Science and Engineering sphere, working at Government ministerial level including writing a major report about mathematics education for the Prime Minister at the time. In the USA, Carol has been a Board Director of the NASA Challenger Centers since 2015. In 2020/21 Carol plans to fly her plane solo across the globe becoming only the 11th woman ever to do so.

Carol is now an Honorary Fellow at Cambridge University and continues to give bursaries to students from a similar background to her own, from a state school and on free school meals. She is a motivator and fearless

From: 10 Mar 2021, 2 p.m.
To: 10 Mar 2021, 3 p.m.
Location: Online Event - Please see description

Carol will talk about being a woman in STEM and her amazing career and experiences


Contact: Ellie Carpenter (Email: e.a.carpenter@swansea.ac.uk)

Twitter


Event created by: e.a.carpenter