Women in STEM – earth-blog.esc.cam.ac.uk WordPress

8th March 20228th March 2022

Celebrating International Women’s Day 2022

To mark International Women’s Day (8 March), we reflect on and celebrate the role of women within our organization.

International Women’s Day is a time to reflect on achievements and progress made, recognize challenges and focus greater attention on women’s rights and achieving equal opportunity status in all walks of life.

We look back over a year of research news and blog posts from women in our Department; from graduate students to lecturers and staff at the Sedgwick Museum. Through their stories, and in their own words, we hope to reveal the breadth of research and educational activities that women undertake across our organization.

11th February 202217th February 2022

Celebrating International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2022

Today is International Day of Women and Girls in Science (11 February), a celebration of women and girls in science led by UNESCO and UN-Women.

In this blog post, we bring together stories from women researchers across our Department to highlight the variety of roles within Earth Sciences.

To mark this day, we asked our researchers what pieces of equipment or items they rely on for their everyday research – whether they spend most of their time collecting data in the lab, field or via computer models.

11th January 202211th January 2022

The Sedgwick: Museum on a mission – Part III

In Part III of our blog series, we talk to Sandra Freshney, Museum Archivist, about the work she is doing to bring to light women in the Sedgwick collections.

Sandra authored Women in the Archive, an online exhibition featuring documents and photos depicting the experiences of women studying geology from the 1880s until the end of the First World War. Sandra’s work challenges assumptions about what geology and geologists traditionally look like, whilst allowing quieter voices in the department’s history to be heard.

26th August 202127th August 2021

Emma Perry zooms in on the hidden depths of nuclear waste breakdown

Nuclear energy is a low-cost and reliable source of energy with a very low carbon footprint, and for these reasons is likely to be a key player in the green energy transition. But, in order to include nuclear energy in our investment plans, we need to ensure the small amount of nuclear fuel waste generated can be stored safely. I am halfway through my PhD project, which is looking at how nuclear waste, stored in geological disposal facilities hundreds of metres below the surface, dissolves when groundwater seeps in through multiple barriers of protection.

8th March 20218th March 2021

Celebrating International Women’s Day 2021

Cambridge Earth Sciences is proud to be celebrating International Women’s Day on 8 March 2021. International Women’s Day has occurred for well over a century with the first gathering held in 1911. In addition to celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women, International Women’s Day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity.

11th February 202112th February 2021

Catherine Craston demystifies the role of a Museum Collections Assistant

The roles of museum curators and archivists are often shrouded in mystery – what do they get up to behind the scenes? In this post I lift the lid on the profession and give you an insight into my job as Sedgwick Museum’s Collections Assistant for the intriguingly named, Moving a Mountain project. But first, I’ll start at the beginning – how I first got hooked on museum collections.

20th January 202111th February 2021

Learning from earthquakes, protecting communities

A PhD student from our Department has recently answered a call to join an international mission to improve the understanding of earthquake impacts, response and recovery. Aisling O’Kane was selected as part of a team of volunteer engineers and academics investigating a destructive magnitude 7.0 earthquake and tsunami in the Aegean Sea. She was one of only two geologists selected for the mission and worked alongside structural engineers and response management experts.

11th January 202113th January 2021

Reflections on becoming a climate scientist

I love reading career path stories; seeing how someone’s personality and life circumstances affects their career journey and decisions. As a research scientist, most of the career stories I come across are about a person’s love for science and how they carry that passion through a changing career, in or out of academia.