Editorial
Several themes stand out in this issue, primarily from contributors
in the Northern Territory and South Australia. One is the number of women who
work at the interface between science and people. Some are concerned with the
implementation of their research while others are science communicators in a
formal sense. Another theme is engagement with indigenous people, where a
number of women have worked with indigenous communities and have developed a
strong sense of social justice. We tried to obtain contributions from
indigenous colleagues too but they are already overcommitted, and unable to
help this time around. We think that the poems of Meg Mooney will provide
another perspective on indigenous culture.
A childhood association with farming or the bush has been another formative experience for a number of women who have gone on to work in the ‘natural’ sciences. While a number of our contributors relate to this area, the engineers and ‘rocket scientists’ are also represented. A report on scientific women suggests that women may find engineering dull but these articles dispel any suggestion of dullness. Nevertheless, it’s interesting to consider Kim Blackmore’s suggestion in this report that women are more often ‘relational’ learners than ‘hierarchical’ learners – would you consider yourself in one category or the other?
Karen Eva-Stirk and Katie Vargo, two of our science communicators, generously gave their time to the production of this issue and they were ably supported by two of our scientists, Vanessa Chewings and Anita Smyth. Many thanks to all our contributors, the editorial team and Haley Jones and Sue Henderson for Journal production. Thanks also to our SA/NT convenor Gillian Lay for keeping the very diverse SA/NT Group connected.
Margaret Friedel