Women in Science in Australia, Workshop
|
|
|
|
Comment
Parliament House: 17 September 2009
I attended the breakfast of the workshop
held in Parliament House (Canberra) on
17 September 2009.
I was very impressed with the initiatives presented by the new Director of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI), Professor Doug Hilton, who took up the position on 1 July 2009.
Professor Hilton mentioned that the Institute is aware of the difficulties confronting women as they make the transition from post-doctoral scientist to laboratory head and, from there, to more senior roles. He stated that: ‘Nearly 60 per cent of our undergraduate and PhD students are women and about half of our post-doctoral scientists are women. At the laboratory head and division head level, the situation is much more sobering: 27 per cent of our lab heads are women, but none of our 10 division heads and only one of our 16 professors is a woman.’
Professor Hilton established a $1.25 million, five-year fellowship, the Cory Fellowship, which is open to Australian women wanting their first opportunity to lead a laboratory at the WEHI.
To redress the gender imbalance, the institute is also piloting a number of initiatives, such as:
Childcare support. Support packages of up to $15,000 per year are available to outstanding female postdoctoral fellows and female laboratory heads to assist with the cost of childcare for pre-school-age children.
Meeting and travel support. Support is available to enable outstanding female postdoctoral fellows and female laboratory heads with preschool-age children to join peer-review committees, speak at scientific conferences and accept invitations to participate in other academic activities.
Technical support while on maternity leave. Female post-doctoral researchers who are facing a period of potentially reduced productivity while on maternity leave can discuss arrangements for additional technical support while on maternity leave.
Additional time for contract renewal. The period between an initial five-year appointment as a laboratory head and renewal of this position often coincides with bearing and raising children. The institute will therefore afford such women an additional 12 months (per child) before they will be assessed for renewal of their appointment.
These are the type of changes that we can bring to our workplaces. It will be interesting to see the practical results of schemes such as these in addressing gender imbalance.
*******************************
Ines Carin
Currently I am assistant manager at Plant Biosecurity in the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. I spent 5.5 years with IP Australia as a biotechnology patent examiner. My prior appointments were as a biotechnology consultant in Argentina for the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry for Health. My university studies were carried out in Australia and the UK. I completed a BSc at the University of Sydney, with 1st Class honours earned at Macquarie University. As a Rutherford scholar I completed my PhD in the Laboratory of Molecular Biology, MRC Unit, Cambridge UK, followed by a Post doctoral fellowship in Princeton (both in developmental biology) and two further post docs in Australia (plant biotechnology).
