International Women’s Day

This March 8th, the ‘Constructing a Digital Environment’ programme is proud to support the International Women’s Day, and to celebrate this we wanted to capture the achievements and inspirational stories of the women in the CDE Expert Network. With thanks to those who have agreed to share with us, here are their inspiring stories. #IWD2021

Why did you chose your current career? What has been your greatest achievement so far?
I was always interested in the “outdoors” and hill walking, so wanted to study Physical Geography at University, and realised that Glaciers (and past glaciated environments) captured my imagination, and so went on to a PhD and an academic career in this field. My greatest achievement was being involved in the development of the first ever wireless in situ probe. We were able to study the subglacial environment “live” for the first time, and this research was published in Nature.

What advice would you give your teenage self, knowing your career so far?
Question everything! Don’t believe people telling you (directly or indirectly) that science/adventure/creativity isn’t a career for women. Question the current paradigm, whether it’s in science or politics. Believe in yourself and be yourself. Be a rebel … and on a practical note, try and network and find sympathetic mentors.

What is your biggest hope for women in your field for the next 10 years?
I dream of a gender free world, where everyone is judged on their ideas in science rather than immediately being underrated for being a women. There have been important advances in the last 30 years, but there is still a very long way to go.

Which female role model has positively impacted your career? What difference did they make?
About 15 years ago I joined a Women in Science and Technology group (WiSET) at the University, which gave me the opportunity to meet other women from the other Science departments. This network gave me incredible confidence, as I quickly discovered that we were all experiencing the same problems, and by working together we could make small, but important steps towards equality.

Jane’s personal web page is linked here

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Why did you chose your current career? What has been your greatest achievement so far?
I would say that rather than choosing my career, it chose me. Through previous work on projects for a UK water utility company I almost ‘fell’ into my current role as founder and CEO of IMGeospatial, our brand that we have been building for five years to create Automated Business Intelligence. Embarking on this career therefore wasn’t a specific choice, it came through identifying and opportunistically addressing gaps in the market through which we’ve followed wherever the data landscape takes us.
I have been fortunate enough to have enjoyed several highlights over the past few years, with one of my proudest moments being accepting the Geospatial World Start Up of the Year Award 2019 at a ceremony in Amsterdam. I was also honoured to be asked to be on the expert panel for NERC in 2019 and I was delighted to be able to implement a diversity of thought policy through my work with the UK Water Partnership. However, I feel my greatest achievement has been to be able to assemble and work with a team of diverse individuals all dedicated to helping solve the world’s social and environmental problems.

What advice would you give your teenage self, knowing your career so far?
To my cost, I’ve found that when people perceive disruption, they naturally push back against it, fearing change. I would therefore say to my teenage self not to take failure personally, as it’s relatively easy to achieve success- anyone who tries hard enough can do it. The hardest challenge is to deal with failure. You have to pick yourself up and keep going, no matter what happens, because it will all be alright in the end, and if it’s not alright, then it isn’t the end.

What is your biggest hope for women in your field for the next 10 years?
My greatest hope would be that all types of women are treated equally and that we shouldn’t have to work twice as hard to achieve recognition and results as other members of society.

Which female role model has positively impacted your career? What difference did they make?
I would prefer not to be specific here as I’ve encountered many women who’ve had a much harder path to navigate than mine on their way to achieving their goals, and this has given me hope that although we as women in society have still a long way to go, we are at least on the correct trajectory.
Problems still need to be solved but the strength I’ve observed in my female colleagues and acquaintances gives me great hope for the future. I still believe that women are too often valued for their physical appearance and good nature, not for their ability to make decisions that can shape the landscape. I hope that through my efforts, and those of my female counterparts worldwide, we can permanently change the current paradigm. 

Alexis’ personal web page is linked here

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Why did you chose your current career? What has been your greatest achievement so far?
I originally trained as a mechanical engineer because I enjoyed maths and science. I specialised in understanding fluid flow and this led into developing computer models of how water flows through soil to crop roots – as the daughter of a farmer and a computer scientist, it felt right to bringing these two things together. It’s hard to say one greatest achievement, but I’m always happy when my work leads to action; For example, hearing kids talk about reducing their own water and food waste after I’ve been demonstrating my research at events like Open Farm Sunday. I’m also very proud of my current work predicting the impact of climate change on sweet potato production in Uganda to improve food security, which will be presented at the UN Climate Change Conference COP26.

What advice would you give your teenage self, knowing your career so far?
I was unsure about doing a PhD because I thought there were other people who are cleverer than me so would do it better. I’ve come to realise that ever individual brings such a unique mix of skills and experience to a research project that the outcomes will always be different and will always add to our understanding of beautifully complex world around us. In other words, don’t let the fear of not being good enough hold you back.

What is your biggest hope for women in your field for the next 10 years?
My biggest hope is that there will be equal numbers of women in STEM careers as men. I also hope that more kids in general and girls in particular stop deciding that they’re not good at maths and computing too soon. I’m good at maths, but it doesn’t mean that I understand an equation immediately when someone puts it in front of me – some things take time to think through and understand. And maths is a really important tool to understand the world around us and help humankind make better decisions about our planet.

Which female role model has positively impacted your career? What difference did they make?
There are lots of women who have had a positive impact on my career. One particularly important one for me was Dr Elizabeth Acton, who was my director of studies during my undergraduate degree. She helped me learn to think more critically about current scientific understanding so that we can push the boundaries. She also gave me confidence that I have valuable contributions to make. 

Lindsay’s personal web page is linked here

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Why did you chose your current career? What has been your greatest achievement so far?
Growing up on the Isle of Wight I always wanted to work with the sea. I didn’t realise oceanography was a real thing until I looked into university courses. I can’t believe I now work in the development of new monitoring systems to support coastal hazard management. 

What advice would you give your teenage self, knowing your career so far?
My advice to myself if I were a teenager again would be – follow your instinct and everything will work out just fine.
I always used to worry that I wasn’t that good with IT at school. But that really didn’t matter. I was coding with matlab in my second year of uni, progressed to a PhD in sediment transport modelling and my first postdoc position involved running ocean models in parallel on the UK’s supercomputing facilities.
Considering universities with a good canoe club was also a smart move. Keeping a work-life balance is important! Although, I have since learnt work is a large part of life so really it’s a work-home balance that’s important to maintain to enjoy all aspects of life.

What is your biggest hope for women in your field for the next 10 years?
After being the only girl in maths lessons during A-levels, I’m always pleased to see more females being recruited into physical oceanography. I’ve been very lucky never coming across any barriers in my career and continue to frequently receive lots of support from colleagues at the National Oceanography Centre. I hope my experience is the same for others who are just starting out in their careers in science and technology. 

Which female role model has positively impacted your career? What difference did they make?
Many people have had an impact on my career, I can’t really single anyone out. People who show drive and passion motivate me the most. I enjoy learning from those with more research experience than me – as they often provide inspiration to keep going as research doesn’t always go to Plan A, or even B!

Jenny’s personal web page is linked here

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What advice would you give your teenage self, knowing your career so far?
There’s no need to plan the next 5+ yrs of your life exactly, things rarely go to plan but unexpected twists & turns take you to great, unexpected places. Maintain your strength & fierce independence always but don’t be afraid to ask for help!

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What advice would you give your teenage self, knowing your career so far?
Be brave and don’t be afraid to stand up for yourself! It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you put your fears aside. Take advantage of every new opportunity/adventure – it’s often where the best memories are made.

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What advice would you give your teenage self, knowing your career so far?
My advice to a ‘younger me’ would be to “be yourself and don’t feel you need to meet the expectations of those around you”. I’d say don’t worry, you will grow into your ‘own skin’ – i.e. know the extent of your own abilities, be able to pinpoint your weaknesses and you will uncover that strength and determination you didn’t think you had.

Which female role model has positively impacted your career? What difference did they make?

I have encountered so many inspiring female role models that I can’t pinpoint just one. What has impressed me most in ‘our evolution as women’ is our success and continued determination to overcome the age-old barriers to gender roles. This is fully captured in a quote by Ruth Ross, which has served as a source of inspiration to me on many occasions. She said:
“This is a New Age – the age of prospering women. Every day we are breaking more role barriers, allowing ourselves to think independently about who we are and what success means to us. …Prosperity means experiencing balance in life, attaining what we want on mental, physical, emotional, spiritual and financial levels. Prosperity is the natural result of opening our minds to our creative imaginations and being willing to act on our ideas”.

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