Beth Montague-Hellen

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Elizabeth H. B. Montague-Hellen is the Head of Library & Information Services at the Francis Crick Institute, London known for her work supporting researchers and with the LGBTQ+ STEM organisation.

Contents

Education

Montague-Hellen received a BSc in Molecular Biology with Industrial Experience at the University of Manchester in 2004. She then went on to receive an MRes Bioinformatics at the University of York in 2005. Montague-Hellen completed a Ph.D. in bioinformatics at the Brighton & Sussex Medical School. Her thesis was titled Identification of co-regulated candidate genes by promoter analysis. [1] She later earned an MSc in Digital Library Management from the University of Sheffield in 2017. [2]

Career

Montague-Hellen worked in bioinformatics and evolution before switching into the field of Digital Library Management. She has worked as a Research Services Librarian at the University of Sheffield, a Systems Librarian at Bishop Grosseteste University, and a Senior Research Librarian at the University of Nottingham. [3] In 2014 she did a year of postdoctoral research at Rutgers University. [4] She is currently the Head of Library & Information Systems at the Francis Crick Institute.

Beth has spent much of her career supporting efforts to ensure researchers are fully supported in their work and in their work-life balance. Between 2013 and 2015 she co-convened a twitter based global support group for early career researchers called #ECRChat [5]

When she was a postdoc at the University of Sheffield, Montague-Hellen organized a group of LGBT scientists she knew through Twitter together for networking. [6] That group had its first LGBT STEMinar in 2016 and a second in 2017. [7]

Awards

Montague-Hellen is the co-founder, with Alex Bond, of LGBTQ+STEM. In 2020, Montague-Hellen and Bond were jointly awarded the Royal Society Athena Prize for their work with LGBTQ+STEM, a project "that helps LGBTQ+ researchers to find their place within science." [8]

In 2023 Montague-Hellen was named as one of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) 125 award recipients, honoring the next generation of leaders in Libraries. [9]

Personal life

Montague-Hellen lives in Sheffield with her wife, Kate Montague-Hellen. She is the grand-niece of Ruth and Charles Cranfield. [2]

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References

  1. Hellen, Elizabeth H. B. (2010). "Identification of co-regulated candidate genes by promoter analysis". University of Brighton. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
  2. 1 2 Mackinlay, Rob. "The need for need". CILIP News. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  3. Montague-Hellen, Beth; Montague-Hellen, Kate (2023). "Publishers, funders and institutions: who is supporting UKRI-funded researchers to share data?". Insights: The UKSG Journal. Ubiquity Press, Ltd. 36. doi: 10.1629/uksg.602 . ISSN   2048-7754. S2CID   256882085.
  4. "Lincoln librarian shortlisted for Gay Times honours". Scene Magazine - From the heart of LGBTQ+ Life. 2017-09-22. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
  5. Ferguson, H (2017). "Building Online Academic Community: Reputation Work on Twitter". M/C Journal. 20 (2). doi: 10.5204/mcj.1196 . Retrieved 2023-04-28.
  6. Gewin, Virginia (March 10, 2016). "TURNING POINT Out for chemistry". Nature. 531 (7593): 265. doi: 10.1038/nj7593-265a . S2CID   100754400 . Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  7. "Out in STEM 2017". Royal Society. 2017-02-28. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
  8. "Royal Society Athena Prize". Royal Society. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
  9. "CILIP 125: The next generation of leaders". CILIP.org.uk. Retrieved 2023-07-14.