Flora Philip Fellowship
Flora Philip Fellowships honour the pioneering achievements of Flora Philip who was the first female member of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society and one of the first women to graduate from the University of Edinburgh in 1893. These four-year Fellowships are specifically aimed at promising early-career postdoctoral researchers from backgrounds that are under-represented in the mathematical sciences academic community (e.g. gender, minority ethnicity, disability, disadvantaged circumstances, etc.).
About the Flora Philip Fellowship
Established in 2022, this four-year Fellowship is specifically aimed at promising early-career postdoctoral researchers from backgrounds that are under-represented in the mathematical sciences academic community (e.g. gender, minority ethnicity, disability, disadvantaged circumstances, etc.). The Fellowship aims to provide a supportive and collegial environment for early-career researchers to develop their research and prepare themselves, with support from an academic mentor, for future independent roles in academia and beyond.
Applications are typically open in the autumn, and are advertised on our jobs page.
Current Flora Philip Fellows
- Dr Lois Baker (2023 - ), also EPSRC National Fellow in Fluid Dynamics
- Dr Emily Roff (2023 - ), also Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellow
Flora Philip (1865 – 1943)
Flora Philip Fellowships honour the pioneering achievements of Flora Philip who was the first female member of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society and one of the first women to graduate from the University of Edinburgh in 1893.
Born in 1863 in Tobermory on the Isle of Mull, Flora Philip studied at Tain Academy on the north east coast of Scotland, before moving to Edinburgh in 1883 to study with the Edinburgh Association for the University Education of Women (EAUEW).
The mathematics courses provided by EAUEW included an advanced course introduced by teacher, reformer and one of the founders of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society, George Chrystal. Flora clearly excelled and impressed as, in December 1886, she became the Society’s first female member; a significant achievement considering the prevailing attitudes of the day and Flora’s then lack of a university degree.
In 1885, the Principal of Edinburgh University, Sir William Muir, presented Flora Philip the Edinburgh University Certificate in Arts. She had taken courses in English literature, moral philosophy, mathematics, and physiology. With the 1889 Universities Act (Scotland) allowing women into Scottish universities, and the University of Edinburgh allowing women in 1892, Flora graduated in 1893 along with seven other pioneering female students, her prior certificates replacing exams.
Before marrying solicitor George Stewart in 1893, Flora taught at St George's High School for Girls. After marriage, she stepped away from academic life. In 1943, she returned to the University for a special ceremony marking her fiftieth graduation anniversary along with Maude Newbigin and Amelia Stirling, two of her fellow graduates from 1893. Later in 1943, Flora passed away at an Edinburgh nursing home and was laid to rest at Dean Cemetery.
You can find more information on Flora Philip here:
Alumni in History: Flora Philip
References
Flora Philip biography (2008) by J J O'Connor and E F Robertson, University of St Andrews.
Marit Hartveit (2009) How Flora got her cap: the higher education of women in Edinburgh, BSHM Bulletin: Journal of the British Society for the History of Mathematics, 24:3, 147-158, DOI: 10.1080/17498430903008391.