News archive 2010

King’s student represents UK’s girls

28 Jun 2010, PR 145/10

Ruby Tabner, a second year undergraduate Development Geography student, recently represented the UK at the inaugural G(irls) 20 Summit in Toronto.



The Summit brought together one girl from each of the G20 countries in Toronto, Canada, ten days before the official G20 Summit.

Ruby (pictured at the top of the picture) comments, ‘My role at the The G(irls)20 Summit was to represent British issues and share my knowledge and experience. My application consisted of a number of mini essays on themes relating to girls' and womens' issues in the UK. I highlighted barriers to employment as an issue, especially since the recession, as employment is increasingly difficult to secure despite our accessible education system; the gender pay gap; the marginalised unemployed populations in the UK and the fact that the UK has the highest teen pregnancy rate of all European countries.’

'Education, Maternal and Child Health and Economic Opportunity'

‘We wrote a set of recommendations to present to the G20 leaders when they arrived and the three themes we focused on were; Education, Maternal and Child Health and Economic Opportunity. We’ve also attended workshops, such as financial bootcamp and workshops with Google to maximise technological tools, to help enable us to implement social change when we all return to our native countries.’
 
‘A highlight of the summit was the sharing of all our experiences and discovering the similarities of situations worldwide. It has also been great to be able to work together to achieve collective goals that can be applied to any country in the world.’

Professor Linda Newson, Head of the Department of Geography, comments, ‘The Department is very proud that Ruby Tabner was selected as the UK’s delegate to The G(irls) 20 Summit in Toronto. Ruby’s success reflects the commitment of the Geography Department to research and teaching on world development and the essential role that women have to play in that process, as well as the desire of many of its students to make a practical difference.’

The G(irls)20 Summit has one representative each from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa , South Korea, Turkey, UK, USA and a representative of the European Union.

The G(irls)20 Summit took place in Toronto, Canada from the 15 to 18 June. For more information see: http://www.girlsandwomen.com/home-1.html



Notes to editors

King's College London
King's College London is one of the top 25 universities in the world (Times Higher Education 2009) and the fourth oldest in England. A research-led university based in the heart of London, King's has nearly 23,000 students (of whom more than 8,600 are graduate students) from nearly 140 countries, and some 5,500 employees. King's is in the second phase of a £1 billion redevelopment programme which is transforming its estate.

King's has an outstanding reputation for providing world-class teaching and cutting-edge research. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise for British universities, 23 departments were ranked in the top quartile of British universities; over half of our academic staff work in departments that are in the top 10 per cent in the UK in their field and can thus be classed as world leading. The College is in the top seven UK universities for research earnings and has an overall annual income of nearly £450 million.

King's has a particularly distinguished reputation in the humanities, law, the sciences (including a wide range of health areas such as psychiatry, medicine and dentistry) and social sciences including international affairs. It has played a major role in many of the advances that have shaped modern life, such as the discovery of the structure of DNA and research that led to the development of radio, television, mobile phones and radar. It is the largest centre for the education of healthcare professionals in Europe; no university has more Medical Research Council Centres.

King's College London and Guy's and St Thomas', King's College Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts are part of King's Health Partners. King's Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre (AHSC) is a pioneering global collaboration between one of the world's leading research-led universities and three of London's most successful NHS Foundation Trusts, including leading teaching hospitals and comprehensive mental health services. For more information, visit: www.kingshealthpartners.org.



Further information
Alex Bevis, Public Relations Department,
Public Relations Department, King's College London
Email: alex.bevis@kcl.ac.uk  Tel: 020 7848 3238

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