Welcome to RAUK & Octopus Energy International Women's Day 2026

Sethina is a Consultant Anaesthetist based at the Royal United Hospital Bath NHS Trust, with clinical interests including obstetric and regional anaesthesia, and pre-hospital emergency medicine. She trained in medicine after a career in communications and writing. Dr Watson is an active advocate for equity and inclusion in medicine and has shared her perspectives on diversity and representation in national forums and podcasts. She has published work on topics such as workforce diversity, anaesthetic practice and equality in medicine and enjoys bringing groups together in active online communities.  

Dame Jane, President of the MWF, and has been appointed to lead the Phase 2 NHS Education and Training Review. She  is Emeritus Professor of Medical Education at UCL,  the President of the Medical Protection Society and the Royal Medical Benevolent Fund, and a specialist advisor to parliament on the Health and Care Committee, where she chairs an Expert Panel, responsible for evaluation Government Pledges. She was the lead for the Department of Health and Social Care review of the Gender Pay Gap in Medicine, with Professor Carol Woodhams from Surrey University Business School. This review ‘Mend the Gap: The Independent Review into Gender Pay Gaps in Medicine in England’ was published in December 2020 and she now chairs the DHSC gender pay gap implementation advisory group. She was the co- chair of the Commission on Professional Leadership in Pharmacy, published in 2023 and led an independent review into the Prescribing Skills Assessment for the Medical Schools Council. This year, she completed an Independent review of the Healthcare Scientist and Genetics Education programmes for NHSE. She is a Commissioner for international medical schools for the Accreditation Council for Colleges of Medicine (ACCM).
Jane is the former Director of UCL Medical School and an honorary consultant physician and rheumatologist, at Whittington Health in London. She is past president of the Royal College of Physicians of London, only the third woman to hold that position in the College’s 500 year history and has also been vice chair of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, medical director of MRCPUK examination, academic vice president of the RCP and a GMC council member. Her research is in medical education, assessment, gender, gender pay gaps and equality in healthcare. 

Fiona is the founder and director of Octopus Electric Vehicles, who joined the Octopus Energy Group in 2017 with a simple mission; to make the transition to electric vehicles (EVs) easier.

 

The Octopus Electric Vehicles proposition has grown to fill the gaps at every stage of taking up an EV, both for consumers and businesses. Their fast-growing expert team, led by Fiona, has secured excellent leasing rates on leading EVs, designed a first-of-its-kind EV salary sacrifice scheme, created energy tariffs designed specifically for EV drivers, and have partnered with smart charging tech companies to enable customers to access cheap, green energy with ease. 

 

Before setting up Octopus Electric Vehicles, Fiona was launching market-leading connected home products - firstly at British start-up Alert Me, who became part of the leading smart home provider Hive at British Gas. She has also held positions at the Department for the Energy & Climate Change (DECC) and BMW. Fiona studied Engineering, Economics and Management at Oxford University.

Dr Jenny Ferry is a Consultant Anaesthetist working in South Wales, UK. Her clinical interests include regional anaesthesia (RA) and acute pain, serving as clinical lead for acute pain at her Health Board.

 

In 2023, she was elected to the Board of Regional Anaesthesia UK (RA-UK), where she has led the organisation’s work on Equity, Diversity and Inclusivity. Her key achievements include driving gender balance across Approved Courses and RA-UK events, embedding EDI principles into RA-UK events, and establishing a support network to help clinicians with caring responsibilities participate as course faculty.

 

Jenny is a regular speaker at national conferences, including those hosted by the Association of Anaesthetists,  RA-UK, the British Association for Day Surgery and the British Society of Orthopaedic Anaesthetists,  where she presents on regional anaesthesia, acute pain, and approaches to medical education. She is part of the team behind FUSIC blocks, a workstream of the Intensive Care Society, aiming to train clinicians to provide regional anaesthesia to intensive care patients across the UK.

 

She authored the international Research Priority Setting Project in regional anaesthesia—a global collaboration to define future research priorities in the field. She has also co-authored multiple publications on topics including artificial intelligence in regional anaesthesia and minimum standards for ultrasound imaging in RA.

 

Outside of work, she is a mother to two amazing children. She is a slow runner, and an average boulderer. She enjoys knitting – proving it’s not just block needles that she’s handy with!

Ola Kriks is a senior anaesthetic registrar in the Oxford deanery. Her interests include regional anaesthesia, anaesthesia for vascular surgery, teaching, and educational governance. She has recently finished Regional Anaesthesia Fellowship (2024-25) at Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust.

 
She has developed teaching materials on behalf of Regional Anaesthesia UK, served as associate faculty at the RA-UK 2025 Annual Conference, and was a speaker at the Royal College of Anaesthetist Anaesthetic Updates conference.