In celebration of International Women’s day, Serena joined colleagues at the University of Manchester for a day of celebration and discussion. Serena presented some recent research her group have been part of that has been enabled by close collaboration with diverse teams of researchers: a Leverhulme funded project between Serena, Rachel O’Reilly at the University of Birmingham and Eleanor Schofield at the Mary Rose Trust on nanoparticle-based conservation methods for the Mary Rose and a Faraday Institution funded project on battery degradation that involves research teams from across the UK. This was followed by discussing some of the challenges we face in achieving our goals of equality, diversity and inclusion. Thank you so much to PhD students Rosie Magnall and Lauren Taylor at the University of Manchester for organising such a wonderful event!