While considering the issue of mental health in academia, it is important to remember that existing societal structures have a significant impact on the lives of researchers and these effects vary from community to community. In this next article in our series on mental health, Nazia discusses how trying to balance the expectations of a patriarchal society with their scientific aspirations affects the mental health of women in science and some possible solutions to this problem.

WiSER 2016 was a one day event held on 2 April 2016 at IISc to confront gender issues in industry and academia.

In a week-long program initiated and funded by the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum and the Department of Science and Technology (DST), India, and held at NIAS, Bangalore, the interactive sessions were run by a grassroots organization called COACh (Committee on the Advancement of Women Chemists). Anjali Vaidya gives us a sneak peek into some of the interactions at the conference and shares some excerpts from her conversations with Geraldine Richmond, the chair and founder of COACh.