President’s note
Wow! November was a big month for WOMEESA! We had our AGM, where we had the first full committee election in WOMEESAs history. I was absolutely delighted to be elected President and I am thrilled to be working with our new committee, comprised of awesome women who want to make a difference in government, industry and academia. Reading the statements from each of the committee nominees about why they want to be part of the WOMEESA committee, I was struck by their descriptions of what WOMEESA means to them. WOMEESA has had such a huge impact, so it is hard to believe that we have only been around for four years! As many of you know, the co-founder and first President of WOMEESA was Heather Handley. Heather and the committee built WOMEESA from the ground up: every single thing that WOMEESA is or has done was created by their hard work and determination. The list of achievements is incredible and too long to recount in full but some highlights are the edit-a-thons to get more women professors into wikipedia, the WOMEESA seminar series, our 2020 journal article about gender equity in geoscience, and the WOMEESA database of women in Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental science. However, I think the most important contribution made by the people behind WOMEESA is that they created a place where women can feel welcomed, supported, and that they belong.
I want to take this opportunity to thank our outgoing committee members, who have departed to take on new challenges or to create space and opportunity for new additions. We say a huge thank-you to Sandra McLaren, Anna Petts, Clare Firth, Siyumini Perera, Sarah Kachovich, Kliti Grice, and April Foote. Your imprint on WOMEESA will remain for a long time.
Finally, we would like to thank the incomparable Heather Handley, without whom WOMEESA would simply not exist. Heather, we are so thankful for your vision for this organisation and the incredible amount of hard work, determination, late nights, stress, care and love you have put into it. Your leadership has made WOMEESA the brilliant organisation that it is and we will work hard to build on what you have created. Heather is putting her incredible drive into a brand new initiative, the Earth Futures Festival, which is an international film festival about the role of geoscience in our sustainable future. With the Earth Futures Festival she will change the way the world views our science, which we know is a change that is desperately needed.
The WOMEESA newsletter will take a break over the holidays and be back in January. Until then, I hope you all have a safe, restful and happy end of year break.
— Melanie Finch
WOMEESA News
Our AGM was on 23 November and we elected a brand new committee of enthusiastic Earth and Environmental scientists. We have some returning committee members including President Melanie Finch, Vice President Teresa Ubide, Treasurer Mardi O’Neil and our New Zealand rep., blog and member spotlight editor, Jess Hillman. New in the secretary role we have Erin Martin, currently in a postdoc position at Monash University, and soon to be returning to industry in WA. Also new to the team as ordinary committee members we have Caroline Tiddy, Lorna Strachan, Emily Conn, Alanis Olesch-Byrne, Jess Walsh, Rachelle Kernen and Fernanda Alvarado Neves. This committee gives us a mix of academics, students, postdocs, industry and government from Earth and Environmental science in New Zealand and Australia. We are thrilled to have so many new committee members and we’re all looking forward to getting started on a strategic plan for WOMEESAs future.
The WOMEESA resilience workshop was held before the AGM. We had a brilliant discussion with our panellists Verity Normington, Sandra McLaren, Jill Gabo-Ratio and Susan McGinty, who shared their tips for increasing resilience and embracing change. Susan then led a short resilience-building activity and we concluded with some top tips for resilience in women leaders. What WOMEESA workshop would you like to see in 2021? Please get in touch with your requests and ideas.
Huge congratulations to Sandy Villacorta who was recently awarded the 2021 Geoethics Medal by the IAPG. The medal rewards scientists who have distinguished themselves in applying/favouring/assuring ethical approaches in geoscience research and practice. You can read about her amazing work and the many reasons she was awarded this medal here.
We are absolutely delighted for Steph McLennen who was named a 2021 Australian Institute of Policy & Science Young Tall Poppy Award winner! Steph is an Antarctic geoscientist at Geoscience Australia and 2019/2020 Superstar of STEM. ICYMI and want to know more about Steph, she recorded a podcast with Avid Research about her career and work, listen in here.
The newsletter team and the “shut up and write” team are on holiday for December but we’ll be back in January 2022. After our December seminar from Caroline Tiddy, our seminar series will take a break in January, and return in February with our first 2022 speaker, Dr Hannah Power.
Online Seminar Series
Each month we host a seminar via zoom from a WOMEESA member. Our seminar series aims to increase the visibility of women in science and provide inspiring role models. All are welcome, including non-members.
Details of upcoming seminars on posted the seminar webpage here, and past seminars are posted on our YouTube channel here. We’re also compiling a list of talks by women in earth and environmental sciences in the region which you can find on the seminars webpage.
The November WOMEESA seminar was presented by Emily Leyden from the University of Adelaide about her career and research in soil science. You can watch it here.
Don’t miss the next WOMEESA Seminar:
Wednesday 8 December, 2pm AEDT (Sydney time/1:30pm Adelaide)
Associate Professor Caroline Tiddy, University of South Australia
“What could inclusion in geoscience look like?”
See our website for more information and registration
Future seminars:
Wednesday 9 February 2022, 2pm AEDT (Sydney time)
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR HANNAH POWER
UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE
Member spotlights
Our member spotlights are helping increasing the visibility of women working in earth and environmental sciences in the region and share experiences. If you would like to feature on a member spotlight page or write an article for our blog page please get in touch with Jess (j.hillman@gns.cri.nz)
Take a look at the most recent spotlights here
Other WOMEESA News
Best Australian Science Writing
The Best Australian Science Writing anthology has just been released. We were delighted to see that an article by WOMEESA member Julie Hollis made it into the collection. She recounts the fortuitous discovery of the Yarrabubba impact in WA and the exciting process of scientific discovery. You can read it here. There are lots of other fascinating pieces including one by Ceridwen Dovey, who is a freelance science journalist and has now won the UNSW Bragg Press Prize for Science writing two years in a row. Her article this year highlights the danger of space junk and the effects of SpaceX launching satellites en masse. Can you imagine not being able to see the stars due to thousands of satellites, reflecting light and blurring astronomical images? It sounds awful but it might actually happen. You can listen(!) to that article here. The Runner up for this year's Bragg prize was a heart-breaking article by Jo Chandler about climate change and COVID. You can read that here. I highly recommend it.
People of Earth Science
I often hear students say that they aren’t sure where a degree in Earth Science can take them. In response, I start to reel off the names of jobs and organisations that other students have ended up in. But an ad hoc list is not a great way to provide career advice and students also want to know what different jobs are like - is it stressful to be a science journalist? How do you get a job at a geological survey? Does working in environmental science companies involve field work? Answering all these questions and many more is a new website called People of Earth Science. It is the creation of WOMEESA member Emily Finch from the Australian synchrotron. Emily recounts her experience of never knowing exactly what she wanted to do with her career, even after she finished her PhD. She knew there must be lots of jobs out there for Earth scientists, but it was really hard to find out exactly what they are. She realised that what she needed, and what lots of Earth Science grads need, is a place they can go to that gives you an idea of what these jobs are and what it's like to work in them. So, future-Emily made the website past-Emily always wanted. Emily interviewed a stack of people from a huge range of jobs - from CEOs to people who work in government to science journalists and more. All of them started in Earth and/or environmental science and they have ended up in the most exciting and unpredictable places. Seriously, you've got to check this website out, it's super cool. She is going to keep adding profiles as time goes on, so this will be a website to add to your bookmarks. You can also follow the website on twitter (@EarthSciPeople) and insta (peopleofearthscience).
New Zealand scientists in antarctic first
Antarctic Earth and Environmental science has historically been heavily dominated by men. However, it is beginning to feel like significant change is happening, with the first all-women research team heading to Antarctica this season. They are from New Zealand and they working on ice sheets and determination of rates of flow - important work for understanding the effects of climate change on ice sheet mobility. You can read more about their work and their hopes for the future of women in Antarctic science here.
While this is very exciting, Antarctica still lies beyond the reach of many, including those with disabilities. Improving access to polar research is the aim of the new ‘Accessibility in Polar Research Network’, which launched earlier this week. You can check out their brand new Twitter account @accesspolar.
“Of course we fly unmanned - we’re women!”
WOMEESA member Karen Joyce and colleagues recently edited a special issue of the journal Drones. The special issue was titled ‘She Maps’ and included articles led by women on a huge range of topics including imaging coral reefs, animal habitats, agriculture and more. They also included an editorial that focuses on the history and usage of the word ‘unmanned’ as in ‘Unmanned Aerial Vehicle’ and show how gendered language like this decreases the inclusivity of drone science. It’s a very interesting article and includes a call to action for all those working in this field.
New research on women in science and equity
New research has found something that many of us have long thought: the career trajectories of male and female academics are very different, with men more often experiencing a relatively clear road to success while women face many more obstacles. One of the most significant barriers that women reported is the time spent doing service work in university departments. The authors recommend that university departments distribute this load more equitably to give women more time for research and other activities that are more commonly interpreted as markers of success. You can read the original research here or this article about it in the Conversation. Another reason women don’t rise through the ranks as readily as men may be sexism in the assessment of leadership potential, as highlighted by this new research out of Yale University recently.
On the topic of women’s career obstacles, a recent article in the Conversation from researchers at the University of Sydney highlighted the importance of reproductive leave in the modern workplace, which is intended to be leave for anyone who is managing some of the complex needs of our bodies. This would include leave for IVF treatments, menopause and painful periods and it aims to help make life easier for people at difficult times in their lives.
Petition sees PhD stipend increase
A petition signed by academics in New Zealand to raise the Marsden Fund PhD stipend to minimum wage was successful this month. This graph posted by Dr Lucy Stewart shows the huge leap in the payrate, which will have an enormous impact on the lives of students. The PhD stipend of students on New Zealand University scholarships has not yet increased (see bar chart insert), and a new petition has been launched to help those students. You can take a look at that here.
Survey of Volcanic Hazards and Risk in Australia - Participants needed!
Heather Handley is conducting a survey to find out what Australians think about volcanic hazards and risk and is looking for members of the general public to complete a 10-12 minute, ethics approved, anonymous survey. So if you have family or friends that are over 18 and live in Australia, and have a bit of time to spare while taking public transport, waiting for the kettle to boil or that would just like to help out a research study for our Inaugural President, please send them to the survey link here or direct them to the QR code on the flyer below. The survey will be open until the end of the year. Thanks!
WOMEESA members on Avid Research Podcast
This month the Avid Research podcast spoke to Hannah Power from the University of Newcastle about her research in coastal science. You can listen in here. We are very excited that Hannah will be the first 2022 WOMEESA seminar speaker in February.
Opportunities
Jobs:
There are 8(!) postdocs going at UNSW working on oceans, ice sheets and climate change. The job ads are here and here.
PhD opportunities:
PhD opportunity developing AI-powered automated digital microscopy techniques for the Earth Sciences at the University of Melbourne
Have an opportunity you’d like to share then let us know!
Newsletter Editor-in-Chief
Melanie Finch
Melanie is President of WOMEESA and a geoscience lecturer at Monash University. Please contact Melanie if you see something to include in next month’s newsletter Melanie.Finch@monash.edu.
Newsletter Contributors
Heather Handley
Heather Handley is the Co-Founder and first President of WOMEESA (2018-2021), co-founder of Earth Futures Festival, Adjunct Assoc. Prof. at Monash University and Honorary Assoc. Prof. at Macquarie University.