Up Front 07/07

Any of us watching our children or grandchildren grow up will have wondered what the world will be like when they try to find work. We wonder about their chances of finding a career that makes them happy and fulfilled, and we inevitably spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to get them the best education and opportunities for success. With television, and much of the tabloid media presenting celebrity in film, music and TV reality shows as the role model, it’s not surprising that an EU-sponsored project is trying to point children in a less erratic direction. EuroWistdom (European Women in Science TV Drama On Message), aims to find new ways of using science and technology as a source of inspiration for themes and characters in popular TV formats. It hopes to develop positive role models for young women rather than the usual clichéd stereotypes. Support packages have been awarded to TV writers to help develop ideas for new TV drama series, or feature length TV films, on a theme involving contemporary science and technology, that also give prominence to women as scientists or engineers. Awards have been made to shows that include a female motor racing engineer, a female biochemist, a female physicist as well as a young female chemist who is keen to preserve old ink documents from previous generations. In this, our 100th issue, I can’t help wondering whether one of my four girls might want to preserve this particular old ink document – or will they also fall victim to celebrity culture.