LAURA MURPHY, Sky
Group service management, strategy manager
Pattern worked: 4 days per week
Murphy returned to the workplace after a ten-year career break which she spent bringing up her family. She attended women returners’ seminars on topics including building your CV and establishing a LinkedIn profile, before securing her part-time role as strategy manager with Sky. Following her success in this role and the acquisition of Sky by Comcast NBCU, she was asked to make initial visits to New York and Philadelphia to start the development of a global strategy.
TZANY KOKALOVA WHELDON, University of Birmingham
Reader in nuclear physics, director of the postron imaging centre
Pattern worked: 80% contract
After a 3.5-year career break to care for her twin boys and relocate the family from Germany to the UK, Kokalova completed a Daphne Jackson Fellowship in 2013. Hosted at the University of Birmingham and funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council, this enabled Kokalova to return to her career in science. Today, Kokalova’s work spans the full breadth of nuclear physics from experimental nuclear astrophysics and machine learning, to medical isotopes, applications and industry-related nuclear decommissioning. Her responsibilities include teaching and supervising eight PhD students, publishing papers and giving around three invited oral presentations a year. Kokalova is also supervising a current Daphne Jackson applicant and has key roles mentoring women.
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