Gender representation within radiology conferences in the UK in 2021

To examine the gender representation and equality within academic meetings and society conferences within the UK radiology conferences.

UK-based subspecialty radiology meetings organised by major radiological associations and societies (online and in-person) from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2021 were included. Speakers and chairs were documented with reference to their gender, years on General Medical Council (GMC) register, academic publications, and h-index. Data were analysed using SPSS v27 (IBM, Armonk, NY, USA).

Of 298 sessional chairs, 105 were female (35.2%). Of 639 speakers, 212 (33.2%) were female. Three subspecialties (interventional radiology, uro-radiology, and nuclear medicine) had a higher proportion of female speakers than the percentage of female consultants with specialist interest. Of the 71 invited international speakers, 28.2% (20/71) were female. Online conferences had a significantly greater proportion of female speakers (43.2% versus 24.1%, p<0.001) and chairs (48.7% versus 20.4%, p<0.001) compared to in person. Male speakers had a higher median number of publications (31 versus 12, p<0.0001) and median h-index (11 versus 4, p<0.001).

This study demonstrates that women are under-represented in radiology society meetings, particularly within certain subspecialty groups. Radiological societies should actively encourage a more balanced gender representation at conferences with online conference shown to improve female representation.