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She has been described as the woman with the toughest job in Northern Ireland. In Woman’s Hour tomorrow Jenni will be speaking to Kathryn Stone about her new appointment as . What does she hope to achieve over the next four years? What impact will the recent protests and violence have on the work she is doing?

For centuries cosmetics have offered the promise of perfection.ÌýWomen spend thousands of pounds each day on lipstick, eye shadow and concealer in a bid to re-create the way they look, but Western conceptions of beauty in the 16th and 17th century were based on unattainable images of women portrayed in art and poetry.ÌýToday women strive to emulate images of womanly perfection found in magazines and newspapers, but why do we lavish so much money, and time, on beautifying ourselves? And what parallels can we draw between early modern beauty practices and the make-up of today?Ìý Dr Farah Karim-Cooper is Head of Courses and Research at, and Jo Fairley is a beauty editor and author.

Professor Lisa Randall is an American theoretical physicist and a leading expert on particle physics and cosmology. Lisa was the first tenured woman in the Princeton University physics department and the first tenured female theoretical physicist at MIT and Harvard University.Ìý She joins Jenni to discuss her work, recent developments in the field and why so few women choose to study physics.

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She will be engaging with an audience of secondary school children and six formers from around the world at 7pm Thursday 13th December.ÌýYou can watch the event on the .

Our series on feminist interpretations of fairy tales reaches Russia and Baba Yaga – the witch with the iron teeth. A figure in thousands of Slavic folk tales, Baba Yaga is an evil witch who eats Russian women and children for breakfast. But according to Jack Zipes, one of the world’s foremost fairy tale experts, Baba Yaga is a multi-faceted character who can’t be typecast as good or bad.

SwarovskiÌýhas become a leading brand in fashion, costume design and jewellery. For years the family business was run by men until it recently appointed Nadja Swarovski as its first female executive board member.ÌýNadja is credited for turning around the company’s fortunes working with the likes of designers such Zaha Hadid, Alexander McQueen and Philip Treacy. Swarovski crystals are now worn both on and off screen by some of Hollywood’s most famous leading ladies and Nadja is now looking at lighting and has just launched the company’s first fragrance. She joins Jenni to explain how she has risen through the ranks of a predominately male company and how she’s made crystals fashionable again.