The RPS Woman Science Photographer of the Year

The UN General Assembly declared February 11th as the International Day of Women and Girls in Science to inspire progress towards gender equality in science and technology.

To celebrate and support this initiative, the RPS Women in Photography group are launching their first annual Woman Science Photographer of the Year competition.

Our culture cannot be imagined without science. And in our visual world, it’s not enough to just speak about science; we must also show it. For this, we need photographers to capture it and to share it.

The competition is open to any female and female-identifying photographers, regardless of age or photographic experience. Student or researcher, amateur or professional photographer, scientist or person interested in the world; anyone can take part in the competition.

The winning photographer and shortlisted images will be announced at a ceremony at the RPS in Bristol on 11 February, 2023 to coincide with International Day of Women and Girls in Science. These images will be exhibited on a rolling feed at the RPS through the end of March on a big screen inside the building.

Tentacles by Irina Petrova Adamatzky — **CREDIT:** Irina Petrova Adamatzky

How to enter

Limit two images per photographer, entry is free
All submitted files must be named with title of the work and photographer's name. Correct file naming looks like this: image-title-by-firstname-lastname.jpg.
Images can be landscape, portrait or square format.
You must include a brief description of up to 50 words about your image.
Files should be under 5MB in size, submitted as JPEG files, in sRGB colour space and no larger than 4,500 pixels on the longest edge.

The RPS Women in Photography Group reserves the right not to display work. Please read the Terms and Conditions for the 'fine print'

Open call will run from 1 Nov - 31 Dec 2022

Terms and Conditions

Copyright remains with the originator and each photographer shall be deemed to warrant that they own the entire copyright in the work.

The RPS Women in Photography Group reserves the right to display, reproduce and publish in any media any entry, without payment, for the purpose of promotion, publicity and exhibition of Woman Science Photographer of the Year and could be used to display on the RPS Women in Photography's website.

If we do so, we will credit the image using the file name that is provided by the photographer when submitting (image-title-by-firstname-lastname).

At the end of the Online Exhibition period, all of the selected images will be archived on the RPS Women in Photography website under a 'Woman Science Photographer of the Year' page, where they may continue to be viewed by the public.

Please ensure that you read and agree with the above information before you submit your application.

By submitting your application, you are agreeing to abide by the terms and conditions and the information set out above.

If you have any issues submitting your images please contact wipweb@rps.org

Reinventing the Union Jack by Irina Petrova Adamatzky — **CREDIT:** Irina Petrova Adamatzky

Enter here

My practice combines emerging and established research and art symbolism to provide pertinent photographs that will inspire and/or support the work of others. As a former forensic scientist, (I was a fingerprint expert) I get a real buzz from the detail.

To achieve my goals, I design and build complex studio sets and lighting rigs and create bubble solutions that can sometimes take months to reach a good working consistency.

In December 2014, I was made a Visiting Research Assistant to Prof. Stefan Hutzler, Leader of the Foams & Complex Systems Group, School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, (not that I’ve done much ‘visiting’ since the first lockdown!). Contracted Image Contributor to the London based Science Photo Library and its affiliated agencies worldwide. Artist Collaborator for Elegant Clutter, specialists in creating, curating and installing bespoke artwork for the global hospitality, commercial and marine and care sectors.

Yas Crawford is an internationally awarded Art Photographer who has exhibited in the UK and Europe. Crawford was born in Pembrokeshire, Wales where the landscape and biological make-up have subliminally influenced her artwork and she now works in ‘The Grey Space’ in-between disciplines.

Crawford held her first solo exhibition ‘Cellular Flow, I’ve been thinking’ in Turin 2022, she was awarded the Art of Neuroscience Award in 2021 for ‘Cognition IX’ and was a finalist of the RPS SPTY in 2019 for ‘Oxygen Ib’. Collaborations include designing a video animation with an MSc graduate from The University of Art, Tehran, front cover images for John Curtin School of Medicine Neuronal Signalling Group, Canberra and visually mapping neurons for The Erasmus Medical Centre in the Netherlands. Her research continues to map evolutionary change and the impact it has on mankind.

Gigi has been a professional photographer for over 30 years. She is a Fellow and Accredited Senior Imaging Scientist of the Royal Photographic Society; a Fellow of the BioCommunications Association (BCA) in the USA, and of the Australian Institute of Medical & Biological Illustration.

She has been the recipient of many awards for her medical and scientific photography including the top honour of the BCA, the Louis Schmidt Award.  In 2016 she left her role as the Director of a large creative department at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, to concentrate on her personal work. Since then she has been recognized with over 80 international awards for her landscape photography and is an example of a photographer working across the scientific – artistic spectrum. She is a judge for the International BioImages competition.

I have always had an interest in art and photography and dabbled in both over the years. I purchased one of the first Canon DSLR’s that came out and spent many years happily snapping family and travel pics - relying heavily on the ‘Auto’ setting as I hadn’t had the time to learn more. In 2019, I left the corporate world and ‘retired’ in Somerset. Finally having time to dedicate to learning more about photography, I enrolled in an Open University course run in partnership with the Royal Photographic Society. I was hooked!

I took over as the Chair of the RPS Women in Photography group in October, 2021. We are building our programmes and exploring new projects that our Members can participate in while also trying to encourage others to join up. It’s an amazing opportunity to meet so many talented women from all walks of life.

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