WOMEESA Newsletter August 2023

WOMEESA news

 

gsa awards sandra mclaren

A huge congratulations to Sandra McLaren for winning two awards from the Geological Society of Australia: the GSA Outreach and Community Award and the Beryl Nashar Award. These incredible achievements are in recognition of Sandra’s outstanding work in the community, including on the WOMEESA committee and as President of AUGEN, as well as her exceptional teaching and research performance over many years. We are thrilled to see Sandra’s hard work formally recognised in this way.

 

Local meet-ups

WOMEESA organizes bi-monthly local meetups, which are a great opportunity to network with members in your local area and build a stronger community. The next meetups will be held in September and October. If you have moved cities recently please email us to update your address as we use this to find and email WOMEESA members directly about meetups in their local area (womeesa.network@gmail.com).

You don’t need to be in a capital city to organise a local meetup, WOMEESA members are everywhere! If you would like to organise a meetup in your local area, contact our events coordinator Fernanda.AlvaradoNeves@monash.edu to get help or to let WOMEESA know your plans so we can help you with publicity.

 

Women in STEM careers fair

The Women in STEM Careers Fair is run by iSTEM Co and aims to bring together talented individuals and forward-thinking companies in a dynamic environment where potential employees can explore various career opportunities. It provides an excellent platform for networking, recruitment, and the opportunity to speak directly with STEM companies and secure potential employment. iSTEM Co. has extended an invitation to WOMEESA members to participate in our upcoming Women in STEM Careers Fair, taking place on the 6th of September at the Australia Computer Society (ACS)  City Bay Labs, located at 839 Collins Street, Docklands. They are offering 10 FREE ‘Pay It Forward’  tickets to WOMEESA members to attend using the code: WOMEESA23 at the checkout using this link: https://events.humanitix.com/2023-istem-co-women-in-stem-careers-fair. 

Beyond the free tickets, regular tickets are available for purchase at $50 with lunch and refreshments provided.

 

Other WOMEESA news

 

New zealand conferences

The abstract submission deadline for the GSNZ conference has been extended to the 1st of September: https://confer.eventsair.com/gsnz2023/call--for--abstracts as has the deadline for award nominations for the GSNZ awards. Details of these, along with the nomination forms can be found here: https://gsnz.org.nz/awards-and-recognition/award-applications-and-nominations/.

The INCISE (International Network for Submarine Canyon investigation and Scientific Exchange) Symposium is also being held in New Zealand this year, and the abstract submission deadline is also the 1st of September: https://www.incisenet.org/2023-incise-symposium/. INCISE aims to bring together participants from all disciplines from submarine canyon research.

 

Reflections on a career in science: Gill Jolly

Gill Jolly is a volcanologist at GNS and was recently appointed as the new Chief Science Advisor for the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) in Aotearoa. She recently penned an article ‘Reflections on a career in science: some lessons learned’ where she talks about her career trajectory within a male-dominated field. You can read it at this link.

 

Gender bias in high school textbooks

Figure 2. Percentage of men (light shade) and women (dark shade) named in STEM curricula for states and territories across Australia.

Some rather shocking statistics were revealed this week from research into the inclusion of female scientists in Australian high school text books used in years 11 and 12 STEM subjects. The research by Ross et al (2023) found that there was only one mention of a female scientist in Qld, SA and NT textbooks (Rosalind Franklin), and no mention in the text books used in any other state or territory. The authors highlight how this contributes to the lack of role models for female students, which are vital for engaging and retaining women in science. You can read the study at this link.

 

Inclusivity during field trips

PhD students exploring volcanic exposures in Eastern Iceland. Image from VIPS https://vipscommission.org/guidelines-for-inclusive-field-trips-in-geology-and-volcanology/

The Volcanic and Igneous Plumbing Systems committee recently put together a set of guidelines for inclusive field trips in Geology and Volcanology. They believe that field trips should be a safe and inclusive environment for everyone and have carefully thought through how the design of each stage of a field trip can be designed to maximise inclusivity. More information and the guidlines themselves are available on their website at this link.

 

India lands on the Moon

Kalpana Kalahasti, deputy project director for the Chandrayaan 3 mission.

In a spectacular leap forward for space science in India, this month the Indian Space Research Organisation successfully landed a spacecraft on the Moon in the Chandrayaan-3 mission, becoming the fourth country ever to do so. This landing is the closer to the south pole of the Moon than any previous missions. They have now deployed a rover, which will sample rocks and soil to determine their chemistry.

 

the future of ocean drilling exploration

There is currently an open letter to the NSF Division of Ocean Science (OCE) Director regarding the future of ocean drilling exploration, and in particular the impacts to early career researchers. You can take a look at this link.

 

Jobs and opportunities

If you have an opportunity available and want to get word out to WOMEESA members send us an email womeesa.network@gmail.com

 
 

© Copyright 2021. WOMEESA Incorporated. All rights reserved.