President’s note
The month ahead is an exciting one for us here at WOMEESA because we will have two very special events. The first will be on World Ocean’s Day, June 8, and will celebrate Australian women who shaped Marine Science through an online exhibition with the National Portrait Gallery. We will be unveiling new portraits of three inspirational Australian marine scientists: Prof. Leanne Armand, Prof. Emma Johnston and Mibu Fischer and telling their stories through black and white linocut portraits. Huge thanks to WOMEESA member Sarah Kachovich for developing this wonderful initiative.
This month we are also launching our peer mentoring program: WOMEESA-PM. We have been thinking about developing a mentoring program for a long time, but we wanted something a little different from one-on-one mentoring. I know that a lot of people have had wonderful experiences in one-on-one mentoring, but I personally have found that I have not always been matched with someone who gets me and what its like to be at my career stage, with my life demands, in the current geoscience climate.
We wanted something that gave our members the opportunity to receive the benefits of both being a mentee as well as a mentor, and helped members form networks with each other across different regions and organisations. That’s why we have developed a peer mentoring system, where people at similar career stages are grouped together and meet up as often as they like to talk about their current, future or past career challenges and successes. The brilliance of this program is that the advice given will be by those in similar positions who have faced similar issues in the current Earth and Environmental science climate.
We have had a wonderful response so far and there is still time to sign up, you just need to visit our website before the end of May. I’m taking part in it and I can’t wait.
All the best for the month ahead,
Melanie
WOMEESA News
Launching WOMEESA-Pm
WOMEESA-PM will launch on the 17th of June at 12 pm (Sydney time). In this online launch event, we will have three outstanding WOMEESA members sharing their experiences in other mentoring and peer-mentoring programs. Clare Firth (Specialist Strategy & Planning, External Affairs at BHP), Emily Finch (Beamline Scientist at ANSTO), and Marissa Betts (Lecturer in Earth Sciences at UNE) will talk about the challenges they have faced and the positive impacts the mentoring programs have had on their career and personal life. Find out more on our website and register for the program and our launch event.
Australians who shaped marine science
Join us on World Oceans Day to celebrate and recognise three trailblazing women of Australian marine science in this special online exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery.
Join artists Dr Sarah Kachovich, Megan Cope and Jiani Sheng in conversation with NPG Exhibitions Curator Penny Grist, as they explore three inspirational Australian marine scientists: Prof. Leanne Armand, Prof. Emma Johnston and Mibu Fischer and tell their stories through black and white linocut portraits. There will also be a live cross to the famous floating laboratory, the vessel JOIDES Resolution, which is currently undertaking marine research on the other side of the world in the Atlantic Ocean.
Portraiture has been a strong motif for the Women in Earth and Environmental Sciences in Australasia (WOMEESA) network, where they have been used for more than just pure representation. WOMEESA have repeatedly used portraiture in their community to raise awareness of the trailblazers in the Earth and environmental sciences, while also portraying what the subject and artist stand for. Portraits have the power to show a global perspective of the real-world, while advocating societal issues such as gender equality.
The event will be on June 8 at 12:30-1:30pm and attendance is free but booking (here) is essential in order to receive the zoom details.
Local meet ups
WOMEESA organizes bi-monthly local meetups in our major centres, which are a great opportunity to meet other members in your local area and to build a stronger community. This month we met in Townsville, Melbourne, and Brisbane! And if you are an ACT member, you can join us on Saturday 28th for cafe in the park.
The next local meetups will be in July. If you would like to organise a meetup in your local area, contact our events coordinator Fernanda.AlvaradoNeves@monash.edu before July to get help or to let WOMEESA know your plans so we can help you with publicity.
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. Attendance is open to everyone, 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 May WOMEESA seminar was presented by Juliet Sefton from Tufts University. You can watch it here.
Don’t miss the next WOMEESA Seminar:
Wednesday 8 June 2022, 2pm AEST (Sydney time)
Dr Coralie Siegel, CSIRO
“Reflection on a journey into geology: from geode hunting to mineral exploration”
See our website for more information
Talk summary: Deciding on a career path is often challenging with many having difficulty choosing a path and/or having self-doubts at some point in their career. In this talk, Coralie reflects on her own career path using the Japanese concept Ikigai. By doing so, she hopes to instill some thoughts on one’s journey and ways to help younger generations confidently become the person they would like to be.
Bio: Coralie Siegel is a research scientist at CSIRO. Her current research focuses on investigating the behaviour of metals in both magmatic and hydrothermal systems and utilising this knowledge to constrain mineralisation targets. She uses a range of multidisciplinary techniques from rock samples characterisation across scales to fluid-rock interaction thermodynamic models. Coralie received a PhD from Queensland University of Technology in 2015 where she studied the igneous processes behind U, Th, and K-enrichment in some granitic rocks in Queensland. She moved to CSIRO, Perth in late 2017 and has since worked on a variety of commodities, including battery and critical metals, elements that are most needed for the green energy transition.
WOMEESA #SUAW session
On the last Friday of the month we hold an online Shut Up and Write #SUAW session via zoom. We get together and talk briefly about what we want to achieve in the session, then write for about 50 minutes.
It’s a great opportunity to connect with other members and get some uninterrupted writing done. Even if you don’t have anything to write, you can just come along and say hi.
Next event will be Friday 27 May, 12 pm (Sydney time) and you can register for the zoom link here.
New WOMEESA sub-committees
We are launching two new sub-committees to help us achieve our 2022-23 goals. If you are interested in being involved in either one, please get in touch womeesa.network@gmail.com
Sponsorship sub-committee: This subcommittee will be led by Jessica Walsh and will help WOMEESA obtain sponsors to fund our future initiatives. People in this subcommittee will help Jess determine who we should approach for sponsorship and help formulate our relationships with sponsors.
Awards sub-committee: This subcommittee will be led by Mardi McNeil and aims to increase the number of women in Earth and Environmental science who are nominated for awards. Women receive a disproportionately low number of awards in Australasia each year, and we would love to help turn that around by helping women nominate themselves, and putting together nominations for some of the brilliant women in our community.
Postgraduate July
To celebrate and support our postgraduate members, we are holding a series of workshops and seminars designed for postgraduate student members in our #PostGradJuly
We will have two Career Pathways workshops: one for Environmental and Climate Scientists on July 6 (register here) and another for Earth Scientists on July 20 (register here). Each panel includes three speakers from academia, industry and government who will talk about their career pathway and then answer your questions about jobs after your postgraduate degree.
We are also going to hold an online Postgraduate Research Showcase on July 13. We will have three postgraduate students presenting their work in 15 minutes each, with questions afterwards. If you are a postgrad and would like to be involved please email a talk title and 100 word abstract to womeesa.network@gmail.com.
WOMEESA South Australian Chapter events
The SA team have been busy planning some local events. To keep up to date with SA chapter activities follow them on LinkedIn.
Here are all the links to register for their upcoming events:
June 16th Virtual Trivia: https://lnkd.in/gzUAMs8S
July 15th F2F: https://lnkd.in/dCXYmBv9
August 11th Virtual Trivia: https://lnkd.in/gtUZwMxt
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)
Our most recent member spotlight is about Neethu Madhukumar. You can read all about her here and see all our member spotlights here.
Other WOMEESA news
why women stay in geology
Earlier this month there was a new study published on why women students stay in geology. They found that students’ personal interests and introductory geology programs got them into geology in the first place, but once they were studying geology the most important factors to get them to stay were their relationships with staff in the department and the presence of female role models. That is probably no surprise to those working the the EDI space - there have been lots of previous studies that show how important women role models are for our students.
Federal election in Australia
Ahead of tomorrow’s federal election in Australia the Conversation has been doing a wonderful job of bringing together experts from different fields to analyse how the policies of the different political parties rate on issues that people care about. Joelle Gergis wrote this article about the importance of the outcome of this election for climate change. There was also an article about how the major parties rate in their policies on the establishment of a First Nations voice to parliament. And there was an incisive article by Michelle Arrow about how the different parties appeal to women voters and the rise of the teal independents. The Saturday Paper has also just announced that they’re bringing down their paywall until after the election, giving everyone free access to the work of their amazing team of journalists. And of course there is the wonderful Annabel Crabb who is posting political analysis frequently through the election and has a knack for cutting to the heart of an issue.
Geospatial and surveying careers
Seminar series: Women advancing river research
The Women Advancing River Research seminar series features talks by women all over the world on a diverse range of topics to do with river research. It is live online and seminars are also recorded and posted on their website, which you can find here. They have scheduled seminars all the way to Jan 2023, and you can see the full program and register here.
New research on Moon soil
Professor Monica Grady from Open University recently published an article on growing plants on the Moon! She got samples of lunar soil from the Apollo missions and grew plants in them to investigate whether it was possible and what some of the challenges could be. The plants grew, but it wasn’t easy… You can read more in her original article or in this summary published in the Conversation.
Opportunities
PhD and masters opportunities:
MSc opportunity working with Auckland Council & DOC to eradicate Darwin's ants from Aotea/Great Barrier Is. Research needed on ant behaviour, monitoring & detection. More info here: https://stanleylab.blogs.auckland.ac.nz/opportunities/
Two new School of Geosciences PhD scholarships in Sustainable Futures at the University of Sydney.
PhD at Massey University on hydrothermal alteration mapping at Whaakari/White and Tuhua/Mayor Islands, more info here
The Indigenous Knowledge Institute at the University of Melbourne is seeking applications from Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars who wish to undertake a PhD on a topic related to Indigenous knowledges. Applications close May 27 unless allocated earlier.
PhD position on Paleointensity research at Curtin University
Two PhD scholarships are available to study the Mount Weld carbonatite-hosted Rare Earth Element (REE) deposit based at Murdoch University or Curtin University
Fully Funded PhD Project on new approaches for rapid analysis and tracing of fluids and their ligands in regional mineral systems in Adelaide.
Jobs:
Research scientist in hydrogeology at CSIRO Brisbane (9 June)
Critical minerals researcher at the University of Adelaide and the Museum of South Australia.
Other opportunities:
CSIRO are offering student internships in mineral exploration research. Previous interns have gone on to great things, including full-time careers at CSIRO. More info, here.
Applied Earth Science (Transactions of the Institutions of Mining and Metallurgy B) is seeking a co-Editor to join the editorial team, ideally from May or June 2022 onwards. There are more details available here: https://think.taylorandfrancis.com/call-for-co-editor-applied-earth-science/ (ignore the April 2022 start date listed in the advert and the May deadline - they will welcome applicants until they get a suitable candidate). The position comes with a small honorarium, and the workload is not hugely onerous.
Have an opportunity you’d like to share? Let us know: womeesa.network@gmail.com.
Newsletter Editor-in-Chief
Melanie Finch
Melanie is President of WOMEESA and a geoscience lecturer at JCU. Email her at womeesa.network@gmail.com if you have news or opportunities to include in the next newsletter.
Newsletter Contributors
Alanis Olesch-Byrne
Alanis is part of the WOMEESA committee and the postgraduate representative. She is a PhD student in structural and metamorphic geology at James Cook University and she writes the postgraduate student news section in each newsletter. You can email her with your news: alanis.oleschbyrne@my.jcu.edu.au