Nancy Lane
Nancy Lane a cell biologist at Cambridge University and an Official Fellow at Girton College, where she is also a lecturer, and for many years the tutor for research students in science. At present she is the Project Director of the University�s new initiative for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology and is Deputy Chair of the UK government�s Athena Project. Dr Lane chaired the Working Party on Women in SET for the Cabinet Office, which published �The Rising Tide� report in 1994 and led to the setting up of the Development Unit for women in the government�s Office of Science and Technology. She now serves on the UK�s Commission on University Career Opportunities and is a member of UNESCO�s Scientific Committee for Women in Science and Technology.

Mary-Lou Pardue and colleagues
Professors Pardue, Hopkins, Potter, and Ceyer are members of the faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. All are either past or current members of the committee that carried out the recent study of the status of senior women faculty members at that institution. Professor Pardue's teaching and research is in the field of eukaryotic molecular genetics. Professor Hopkins works in developmental biology. Professor Potter is a cognitive psychologist working on visual attention and short-term memory Professor Ceyer works in physical chemistry.

Sybille Krummacher
is an experimental physicist at Research Centre Juelich, Germany (FZJ). She has been active in the pioneering times of several synchrotron radiation laboratories in France, the US and Germany, and was also involved in the planning of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, ESRF, now in Grenoble. Her field of interest has evolved from electron spectroscopy of free atoms and molecules via surfaces and thin films to that of atomic clusters, including fullerenes.

In recent years, she has also become active in the promotion of women in science. She was one of the main promoters for the establishment of the "working group on women at the research centres" at the Hermann von Helmholtz Association of National Research Centres, and has initiated a series of conferences on the general topic of equal opportunities there. Presently, she is setting up an equal opportunities office at FZJ, where she is also responsible for the "Tenure-Track Programme for Female Scientists".

Nicole Dewandre
Nicole Dewandre was born in 1959 and has three children. She studied Physics, Engineering, Operations Research and Economics, in Belgium (Louvain-la-Neuve) and in the United States (Berkeley, CA). She has been working with the European Commission since 1983. She has been involved in the strategic analysis of research and industrial policy in the Central Advisory Group and the Forward Study Unit. Since 1998, she has been in charge of mainstreaming the research policy. She is now Head of the newly created "Women and Science" Sector.

Helga Ebeling
Helga Ebeling is head of the department -- Women in Education and Research -- in the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and is responsible for implementing gender mainstreaming in the policy of the ministry. She has been a member of the EU expert group - Women in Science - since 1998, and the chair of the working group on the same subject of the the Bund-L�nder Commission for Educational Planning and Research Promotion since 1991. Her publications are on issues of equality of opportunity in science and research, schools, vocational education and training, lifelong learning, and international developments.

Lydia Makkubu
Lydia Makkubu has been the vice-chancellor of the University of Swaziland for the past 11 years. She joined the university after receiving a doctorate in medicinal chemistry from the University of Toronto in 1973; she rose through the ranks at the from junior lecturer in chemistry to dean of science to deputy vice chancellor. She has research publications focus on medicinal plants in Africa. Her efforts have largely focused on ways to find common ground between ancient and modern medical medicines and procedures. Makhubu has gained her greatest recognition promoting higher education in Africa and as advocate for advancing the role of women in science throughout the developing world. She was president of the Third World Organization for Women in Science (TWOWS) since the organization's inception in 1989, until last year.

Geoffrey Oldham
Professor Geoffrey Oldham was the former director of the Science Policy Research Unit at the University of Sussex, in the UK. He was chairman of the United Nations Advisory Committee on Science and Technology for Development , and for five years was the UK Delegate to the UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development. He chaired the Commissions' working groups on Gender and Science for Development , and Information Technology and Development. He participated in the two previous UN conferences on Science and Development in Geneva in 1963 and Vienna in 1979.

Campbell Warden
Campbell Warden works as an expert on gender issues and co�ordinator of publications andpublicity of the "Enhancing Access to Research Infrastructures" activity in Directorate F�3 of the EC Research Directorate General. In 1997 he was appointed to the Executive Committeeof the European Association of Research Managers and Administrators (EARMA), and in1998 as its Vice�Chairman. He has been a member of EARMA's working group on Equal Opportunities since its creation in 1998.

Samuel Gorovitz
Samuel Gorovitz is Professor of Philosophy and of Public Administration at Syracuse University, where as Dean of Arts and Sciences he was especially interested in supporting women in science. His public appointments include working with WHO, several US government agencies, and the NY Department of Health. His more than 120 publications focus on ethical issues in medicine, science, engineering and education.

Lisa O'Connor
Lisa O'Connor graduated in 1998 from the University of South Australia, achieving first classhonours in a Bachelor of Engineering (Mining), and a Bachelor of Applied Science (Geology). She has worked at a number of different mining operations throughout Australia, in various positions: graduate geotechnical mining engineer, technical assistant and mine planner, geologist, and an underground miner - which involved driving dump trucks andcharging explosives. Recent cut-backs to the gold mining operation in Kalgoorlie have meant that she has been seeking work in mining since August.

Kristina Rolin
Kristina Rolin is a philosopher working on social epistemology -- a subfield of epistemology which studies norms applying to the culture and social organization of science. Her research focuses on women in science and gender ideology in the professional culture of science, and the consequences this area has for the philosophy of science.