An engaging scientist...

So it turns out, that after you get engaged, you spend a lot more time thinking about science.

Well, about where to do it and what sort to do. Or whether it will be possible to carry on doing research at all.

Staying in science means mastering the secrets of statistics, understanding the elusive nature of funding grants and turning exciting new ideas into plausible action plans. All of these things are exciting and challenging.

But a future in science now also means finding an interesting position in the same place as my future husband. Who would also like to take on the hurdles of post-doc applications and stay in research.

So more than ever before, I’ve been thinking, how do people manage to stay in the same place? How do they find promising positions? And how does having a family fit into this puzzle?

I recently attended a talk on "Women in Science". Given my interest in this area, I was really looking forward to the talk. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a lot of numbers and not enough stories. And I quite like numbers.

The numbers say that few women stay in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects after the postgraduate level. There are even slick plots like the scissor diagram to demonstrate this. There are multiple surveys (like this EU report) offering different statistics as to why this is. The pay gap, the lack of role models, the lack of support for looking after family.

But this was one case in which I didn’t find scientifically justified explanations to be useful. I wanted inspiring and heartwarming stories. More of an insight into possible futures. Actual role models, not a count of the number of women who felt they lacked them.

So I looked for some.

Here are a couple of stories I found in this paper on women ecologists. I would still like to know more about these women, but even this brief view of their lives was uplifting:

Harriet George Barclay completed her doctorate in 1928 at University of Chicago and married another botany graduate. Unlike many married women of her time, Barclay had children but still taught university students and continued her research on plant ecology. Her ‘infectious enthusiasm’ inspired many undergrad and graduate students, and her extensive collections greatly increased the knowledge of Rocky Mountain and Andean plants. She was also an unstinting leader in conservation, for which she received numerous awards, particularly for her efforts in locating and preserving unique natural areas in Oklahoma, and she was elected to the Oklahoma Hall of Fame.

Margaret Nice with sparrow's nest

Margaret Morse Nice did not have a PhD. However, she obtained a MA in zoology in 1915 and later received honorary doctorates from two different institutions. Her husband and five children enthusiastically supported her field studies and publications. Her work on territoriality in birds and especially her research on the life history of the Song Sparrow gained her recognition as an outstanding ornthilogist. She published more than 250 titles on birds in journal articles, seven of book length, and 3313 reviews of the works of others. She was highly praised by respected scientists including Niko Tinbergen and Ernst Mayr. Konrad Lorenz even referred to her as “the true founder of ethology”.

Both these women became ecologists about 100 years ago. The challenges that they faced were undoubtedly greater than those I am anticipating. C21st female ecologists, at the very least, have the advantage of access to stories about predecessors that successfully made a career in the field they loved. I’m hoping that this blog will help us share those stories.

One small step for a PI, a giant leap for a young female ecologist

"Well done for your question" she said as we waited in line for coffee, "He didn't evade it because he couldn't hear, he didn't know how to answer." "Oh I felt I should have worded it better and thought it through, maybe I was a bit unclear" I found myself excusing. She paused, "No you think that because you are a woman, your question was great."

And so to commemorate my first ever peer-reviewed publication I have gotten round to starting this blog which has been wandering around my mind for quite a while now.

Over the last 10 years I have met some amazing women who have helped me so much along the way. From secondary school Biology teachers who put up with my never ending questions and fostered my initial interest in studying at a higher level through to post-docs who have mentored the first baby steps of my academic career. As some of these women are moving away, and others I have only briefly met at conferences and seminars I thought an online community for sharing ideas and encouragement might be a really good thing and enable me to share the things I am learning with others.

So a little introduction to myself. My name is Emma, I currently work for Oxford University's WildCRU as a research assistant to a project that aims to assess the effects of fragamentation and climate change on temperate woodland animal populations. I hope to start a PhD in African tropical forest ecology in the near future (applications pending) and have a personal interest in interactions and conflicts between human society and wildlife/landscape conservation.

I have undertaken various research projects in Wytham Woods, Oxfordshire (from small mammals, to saproxlyic beetles to trees to carbon flux!) and have spent time at the SAFE project, Borneo collecting dung beetles alongside other short-term projects over the past few years.

I'm interested in talking to women who work in ecology because I like to collect stories as to how different people approach this career and to store the wonderful pieces of advice that are shared with me. Working in ecology has inherent challenges, such as work away from home and for long periods of time, that do not always sit easily, especially for women. And as with any academic career the numbers of women decrease rapidly as you work your way up the ladder and so I want to keep hold of the women I meet along the way, to be informed by their (diverse) life choices and keep inspired and encouraged by their achievements.

I would love this to be a collaborative blog with posts written by other ecologists, describing their work and disseminating pearls from the journey to the rest of us. So please join me if you think this is a good idea by following the blog or commenting on this post.

Publishing a piece of work may be one small step for a male PI (principal investigator) but it can seem like a gigantic leap for a female early career researcher.