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.