A NORTH-EAST student has posed for a 2013 calendar to promote women in science.

Alison Auld, a PhD student at Durham University, features in the ScienceGrrl calendar, aimed at breaking gender stereotypes and encouraging young women to go into science.

She said: “The real strength of ScienceGrrl is that it is driven by passionate and inspirational women scientists.

We are real women doing real science and want to show how exciting it is.”

The calendar will be sold to raise money for initiatives to help girls and women get involved in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) at school and in the workplace.

ScienceGrrl founder Heather Williams said: “The 13 images in the ScienceGrrl calendar 2013 can only showcase a small part of the fascinating and valuable work undertaken by the diverse range of women in STEM, but it’s a beautiful introduction to the female face of science.”