Greg Cooke

IncludeHer UK

IncludeHer UK is a study by G. J. Cooke, S. B. White, S. Buttigieg, N. Lowson, S. Galaudage, A. Battisti, L. Kelsey, and K. Ross examining who is named in UK science education syllabi for students aged 14-18 (Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5). It extends the IncludeHer movement to the UK, systematically reviewing exam board specifications across England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland to ask: which named scientists appear in the curriculum, how often are they mentioned, and are they credited as a concept (for example, Newton's laws) or as a scientist (a named individual)? We also recorded the gender, nationality, and regional background of each named person.

A paper describing this work has been submitted to the British Journal of Education. The accompanying data and analysis code are openly available on GitHub.

What we found

Across all exam boards surveyed, named scientists in UK science syllabi are overwhelmingly male. At GCSE level (ages 14-16), we identified 244 scientist mentions, of which only 1 credited a woman. At A-Level and Scottish Highers (ages 16-18), there were 489 mentions, with only 3 crediting women. When counting unique named individuals rather than total mentions, women account for fewer than 2% of scientists named at both key stages.

Interactive data explorer

Filter by key stage, exam board, and chart type below. Hover over chart segments for counts and percentages, or click a segment to list every named scientist in that group.

If you use this data or code, please cite the IncludeHer UK paper (submitted to the British Journal of Education; citation details to be added on publication).