Tag: women in science

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Sisters in Science: Dr Liz Dobson

Dr Liz Dobson in her veterinary science research lab

Header image courtesy Zoos Victoria

In answer to the call for posts about ‘Modern Women in Science’, I decided to write about my sister: Dr Elizabeth Dobson BSc (Biology), BSc (Vet. Bio), BVMS (Hons), MSc, Diplomate ACVP.

Why my sister? Well, first because she’s an accomplished scientist in the field of veterinary and wildlife pathology. And second, because she’s had a unique career. It’s an example of how scientists can draw on diverse experiences to shape their future and play an active role in carving out a professional niche that aligns with their goals (and financial needs!).

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Modern Women in Science: Eugenie “The Shark Lady” Clark

“I don’t get philosophical. Love fish. Love sharks. Keep the water and their habitats as clean and protected as possible” – Eugenie “The Shark Lady” Clark, American Ichthyologist

Early life

In the world of Marine Biology, there are two prominent female figures in my mind: Sylvia Earle, aka Her Deepness, and Eugenie Clark, aka the Shark Lady. Anyone who knows me will already know why they are so special to me, simply by reading their nicknames. I am a marine biologist, a shark scientist, and a woman so it feels special to have two such successful figures to look up to and to follow in their footsteps. You can look out for a post about Sylvia Earle very soon, but first let me tell you about her good friend and someone she looked up to since her childhood. Eugenie Clark was born in May 1922 (a Taurus like me!) in New York City to a Japanese mother and an American father. She became passionate about the underwater world when she was very young and wrote most of her school reports about the topic. She visited the Aquarium in NYC weekly and went on to study Zoology at Hunter College.

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Closing the Gap Between Diversity Talk and Diversity Actions

Every day we hear about gender and diversity in science. #WomenInScience tags receive hundreds of tweets and virtual pats-on-the-back. Some might argue that it has become fashionable to talk about women in science. But does all this talk reflect the experience of being part of an under-represented group in science? Continue reading “Closing the Gap Between Diversity Talk and Diversity Actions”

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Gender balanced conferences – we all need to try harder!

gender equal opportunity or representation

Recently a conference on Phylogenetic Comparative Methods was advertised online, and quickly the Twitter community noted that all six of the plenary talks were being given by men. Normally my response to this kind of thing would be some grumpy tweeting and then I’d let it go. However, this time was different; I know one of the organisers, several of the plenary speakers are my collaborators and this is the field I’ve dedicated the last eight years of my career to. Therefore I didn’t think I could let this pass by unchallenged. Continue reading “Gender balanced conferences – we all need to try harder!”

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Are men really better than women?

When you imagine a scientist, what do you imagine? The first image that I see, despite never having seen it in real life (thankfully!), is the traditional “mad scientist”. The white lab-coat, crazy hair, glasses or goggles, holding a flask or test tube containing some dangerous-looking substance. This scientist is, inevitably, male (and white, but that’s a subject for another day). Continue reading “Are men really better than women?”

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Soapbox Science Ireland

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TCDEquality

Are you interested in science?

From nano-materials to Martian landscapes, microbiology to neuroscience, immunology to ecology, chemistry to evolution, Soapbox Science Ireland has something for you.

On the 26th of April (this Saturday!), Soapbox Science will join efforts with Trinity College Dublin’s Equality Fund and WiSER to transform Trinity’s Front Square into a hub of scientific learning and discussion. Some of Ireland’s leading female scientists take to their soapboxes to showcase science to the general public. The aim is to dispel the myth that scientists conform to the “mad (male) scientist” stereotype and to promote the fascinating research led by women in Ireland. Continue reading “Soapbox Science Ireland”

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Bringing our perceptions closer to reality

mmw_womenscience0716This blog post was originally written and published here on the SoapBox Science blog. The Soapbox Science event showcases UK women in science to inspire the next generation of scientists by making science fun and accessible. This year it will take place on Friday 5th July 12-3pm on the Southbank in London. If you’re in the area why not go and take a look?

First a little thought experiment: without over thinking it, list ten top scientists in your field…now, honestly, what percentage of your list are women? Continue reading “Bringing our perceptions closer to reality”

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Academic CVs: Dos, don’ts and maybes

AlCaponemugshotCPD

At a recent session of NERD club, our weekly research group meeting for the Networks in Ecology/Evolution Research Dynamic, we discussed academic CVs. Four academic staff members (including myself) showed their CVs to the group and discussed what was in them. This was interesting because we all had such varied opinions! I thought I’d write a short blog post to highlight some of our main agreements and disagreements. Continue reading “Academic CVs: Dos, don’ts and maybes”

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A vision for the 21st century workplace

I feel a bit of a fraud complaining about the discrimination of women in science because in my current job I’m one of four women in a discipline with only nine faculty members, our head of school is female and so is our head of discipline. I also don’t have any children so I haven’t had to deal with the problems that go along with that. However, I’m not blind; I can see there is a problem! I don’t want to re-hash the problems women in science face in this post; particularly as they’ve been so well covered elsewhere (there have been lots of really cool blog posts about this following the recent Moss-Racusin et al. paper in PNAS). Instead I want to think about potential solutions. Continue reading “A vision for the 21st century workplace”