Innovative women across the North of England will be celebrated as the #NorthInnovationWomen campaign returns for an eighth year.

The Northern Health Science Alliance (NHSA) has once again launched the successful social media campaign, which recognises women who are pushing the boundaries of innovation within their fields.

First launched by the NHSA in 2018, #NorthInnovationWomen has been embraced by people throughout the North of England with hundreds of women included on the annual list which is published on March 8 to mark International Women’s Day.

The NHSA is calling on X and BlueSky users to share their suggestions of women making their mark in the world of innovation who they believe should be included in the 2025 list.

We want to hear about the incredible women achieving great things and inspiring those around them across the North of England, both in a professional or personal capacity.

For this year’s campaign, we will be inspiring suggestions through our Health Equity North Woman of the North (WoTN) work by encouraging the celebration of those working to fight inequalities that affect northern women.

The WoTN report, which was launched last September in Parliament, lays bare the unequal challenges faced by women in our regions. We encourage social media users to use the report’s themes to inspire suggestions of women working to address some of the areas and issues touched upon in the report, which include: poverty; women’s health; education; pregnancy and reproductive health; sexual health; mental health; domestic violence; marginalised women.The suggestions will be collated over the next few weeks with the final #NorthInnovationWomen 2025 list published on International Women’s Day on March 8.

There are no strict criteria or voting systems – #NorthInnovationWomen provides an informal and supportive platform to allow women to be acknowledged and celebrated by friends, family, colleagues or those who would just like to recognise excellence in another.

All we ask is that a few simple guidelines are followed when making suggestions for this year’s list. To tell us about your #NorthInnovationWomen recommendations, you must follow the below steps on X for your suggestion to be counted:

• Use the hashtag #NorthInnovationWomen
• Tag/name the person you want to recommend
• In your post, list their name, role, institution and why you’re suggesting them

All recommendations must be made by Monday March 3, 2025, and the full list will be published on the NHSA’s website on International Women’s Day, on Saturday March 8.

International Women’s Day (IWD) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women – while also marking a call to action for accelerating gender equality. The IWD’s theme of 2025 is #AccelerateAction – showing that together we can forge women’s equality.

Hannah Davies, Chief Executive at the NHSA and Executive Director of Health Equity North, said: “The Woman of the North report highlights the vast disparities women in the North continue to face. The report also details the work that’s being done across our regions to address these inequalities, including the many women fighting hard for better outcomes for themselves and their peers. I hope this acts as an inspiration for people to take part in this year’s campaign.

“North Innovation Women, at the very heart, is about amazing women who deserve recognition for their successes – whether professionally or personally – and I’m very proud to be taking the campaign into its eighth year.”

Read more about #IWD2025 and how to get involved at: https://www.internationalwomensday.com