International Women’s Day: Middlesex microbiologist Dr Enas Newire champions female scientists with new network

International Women's Day on March 8 celebrates the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women worldwide

A Middlesex academic has launched the UK’s first Women Microbiologists Network, calling for a supportive and informative environment for female researchers in the field.

Dr Enas Newire - a specialist in the emergence, spread of, and approaches to combat anti-microbial resistance - convened a well-attended session at the Microbiology Society's annual conference last year focused on the challenges and opportunities for women microbiologists at different stages of their career. At the end of this event, she invited attendees to share their ideas about setting up a Women Microbiologists Network via an instant-response online forum, which received a flurry of interest including follow-up contributions long after the conference was over.

Enas will hold a second session, on wellbeing and professional development in academia, at the Society’s 2026 Annual Conference in Belfast next month. In response to the call for space for discussion and collaboration, Enas has also led on the creation of the Women Microbiologists Network Basecamp with generous support from the Microbiology Society. This platform allows for the scheduling of regular online meetings and offers chat tools for exchanging ideas and setting up collaborations.

“Academic women microbiologists often follow non-linear career paths - maintaining their own drivers and motivation can be important for long-term success” says Enas. Her own journey took her from working for the US Navy and the CDC - Global Disease Detection Program in Cairo, to studying for her PhD in Microbial Diseases at UCL, and then from postdoctoral research at the University of Liverpool via the University of Essex to Middlesex.=

“Women in academia, especially research microbiologists, often face pressures that contribute to the ‘leaky pipeline’ – the gradual loss of women at each career stage, from entry-level to senior roles. The Women Microbiologists Network aims to create a welcoming and collaborative space where members can share experiences, build professional connections and support one another."

Dr Enas Newire, Lecturer in Medical Microbiology

At Middlesex, Enas has started and co-leads a cross-disciplinary Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR) Research Group, with the aim of raising the profile of the university’s research so it can take a leading role in future projects in this field. She has got undergraduate and postgraduate students involved in AMR public awareness-raising activity, investigating the presence of resistant bacteria in daily objects (e.g. like bags, phone cases and water bottles).

The next sessions offering this are at STEM Festival in the Quad on 11^th March. Engaging people on AMR and making them more hygiene-conscious is crucial, Enas says, because of concerns that AMR may be the next pandemic, a risk government has recognised by formulating a 2025-29 action plan, building on research a decade ago by Lord Jim O’Neill on the economic and social impacts of drug resistance. “AMR is a silent pandemic and we do not know when it will burst,” Enas says. Since the threat of Covid receded, “people have forgotten how bad infection can be”.

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