A group of women in a meeting room, laughing together. One of the women is looking at her laptop screen while laughing.

The WHEN network: a national network uniting all women beyond institutions, disciplines and professions.

We’re home to the first and only cross-sector network for women in higher education.

Our community has grown to over 9,500 women and non-binary people who value a female-centred space to connect, share, and thrive.

Right now, we’re enhancing the membership experience to make it even more valuable. You can still join today — and you’ll be among the first to benefit from what’s coming next.

Want to shape the future membership experience with us? We’d love your input. Get in touch with [email protected] for an informal chat.

Become a member

Network aims:

To create a safe, welcoming environment so that women can open up and share their voices and stories
To connect women who otherwise wouldn’t meet
To amplify voices, stories, supportiveness and positivity
To encourage women to know what their story is and how to articulate it in many different ways, such as: blogs, videos, webinars, interviews, conferences, LinkedIn

Benefits of joining:

Boost your knowledge, skills, confidence and connections
Advance your personal, professional and career aspirations
Uncover opportunities for collaboration, ideation and exploration
Get support and advice as you work through issues and challenges

Membership criteria and benefits

Free membership is open to all women and non-binary people who:

work in higher education institutions or sector-specific organisations
are comfortable in a female-centred community

As a member, you will receive:

access to our welcoming community
invitations to our bespoke webinar series
access to our searchable membership directory
access to active discussion forums
opportunities to amplify your voice through our blog and speaking events
exclusive first access to in-person events

Join the network now

Our in-person events during 2024-2025 academic year...

Open Programme

Our sought after Career Accelerator programme opens its doors for the first time as an open enrolment experience for women in different roles and levels to experience together at Henley Business School, Reading.

7 & 8 May 2025

Annual Conference

Join us in person at University of Manchester as we unite around being bold! We can't wait to explore what that means for each of us personally and what steps we could take to go further, together.

26 June 2025

Annual Summit

The summit, hosted by Birmingham City University, is an exciting moment to unite around systemic change as we celebrate the progress and impact of the 100 Black Women Professors NOW programme.

10 July 2025