The research experience: What women want

This paper briefly considers some of the differences between the sexes with respect to task and role performance, in particular highlighting fascinating new research on how and why women connect with other women, and makes the point that, to some extent, what women want from the research experience is driven by their unique physiological, psychological and emotional make up. I then want to spend some time considering what women in my university have said they want from being involved in research that may well be shaped by their uniqueness but which must also be read as being a response to feeling marginal to the “real” research action of the university. Next I want to spend some time outlining some of the means through which the new research centre I head has developed to address what women want from research, before finally considering how the academy itself must address what women need and want now and in the future.