WEBINAR: WOMEN IN SCIENCE

On February 11th, it was celebrated the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, and in the TIPAT network we celebrate it with an inspiring webinar entitled “Women in Science”.

My colleague Natalia (ESR11) and I, had the pleasure to organize and chair this webinar where we invited two of the TIPAT supervisors as speakers: Prof. Dr. Isabelle Bekeredjian-Ding (from Paul-Ehrlich-Institut) and Prof. Dr. Lena Friberg (from Uppsala University). Our purpose was to hear all about their scientific career as women but also as mothers. 

On the evening of April 29th, we had the opportunity to hear these two mentors that are very successful women and of course scientists. We heard about their achievements, their desire to start a family, their success, their ambition, and their joy but also about their challenges, obstacles, and struggles. 

In this webinar we talked about gender differences in the research environment and how women are underrepresented in most scientific disciplines and positions of power. We discussed the challenges that a scientist has to face when is also a mother, regarding child care for example. We talked about the scientific opportunities for girls and women and the efforts that are being made nowadays to create them. There was plenty of questions from the ESR and it was also the perfect opportunity to connect with the TIPAT network.

I think I can speak for my colleagues when I say that this webinar was important for us, Early Stage Researches, but especially for female ESRs. Research shows that female role models represent and expand what is possible and they inspire to be more ambitious and aim higher. I was personally surprised to hear that they both didn’t have a role model in their career and I realized how lucky we are to have them. 

As a woman and being at the beginning of my scientific career, at the end of this webinar, I could say that I was inspired, amazed and motivated to continue my journey in science. 

Daniela Nascimento ESR12

Paul-Ehrlich-Institut