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2020 Vision for Women in STEM

By Charlotte Beloe

Prof Lisa Harvey-Smith Addresses the National Press Club. Source: Inside UNSW

At the end of 2019 Professor Lisa Harvey-Smith, Astronomer and Women in STEM Ambassador, gave an address at the National Press Club of Australia. The focus of this address was on promoting gender equity in STEM and as the first year of the new decade builds momentum, we thought it important to reflect on Lisa’s speech.

Now more than ever is a great time for women in maths and science, with an increasing number of discussions and support networks focused on gender equity and encouraging women in STEM roles. We seem to be on the right track… aren’t we?

Apparently not. “Women make up only 17% of the STEM-qualified population in Australia,” says Lisa. What is more alarming is that over 10 years ago in 2006 it was 15%. “It’s barely inching forward,” she states.

So what is going wrong and more importantly, what can we do about it?

Well, according to Lisa the number of young people getting involved in STEM in Australia is “stagnating and dwindling.” What’s more, by Year 3, young girls have already been profoundly affected by gender bias in the way STEM topics have been introduced to them. This is not only seen in the classroom where girls are more likely to be praised on the appearance of their work rather than the content, but also at home. Lisa mentions one study wherein parents were three times more likely to talk about numbers with boys compared to girls. For example, asking a young boy, “How many flowers are there?” and a young girl, “What colour flowers can you see?”

According to Lisa we can all contribute to the change we want to see through our interactions with younger members in our own families. Unsurprisingly ‘maths anxiety’ affects girls more, and Lisa urges us to approach numbers with a sense of vibrance and positivity which we can impart on younger generations.

Lisa shares her own STEM love story through her new picture book. Source: Twitter

“As adults, the support and encouragement that we can give to young people is the most important thing, the most precious commodity that we can give to our children.” Lisa continues, “to help a young person, to cultivate their sense of wonder and curiosity about the world is an incredible gift that we can give to them.”

On this note Lisa urges us to share our own STEM ‘love stories’, the reasons behind why we are so passionate about what we do. The stories that sparked our own sense of wonder and curiosity in our younger selves. It is our turn to give back and become the role models that inspired us. As our own program founder Prof. Emma Johnston says, “You cannot be what you cannot see.” Words that have become something of a mantra for our champions.

This is something to reflect on and apply in the coming year. To always think how we can be more visible to young girls and spark STEM love stories of their own.

Not sure where to start? Here are a couple of resources recommended by Lisa:

The Girls in STEM Toolkit – A great resource for young women to get involved in STEM.

STEM Women – Find women in STEM who are open to speaking opportunities at schools and events. Or contact us at MathsScienceChampions@unsw.edu.au

Follow Lisa on Twitter.

Hungry eyes: Poppy Watson awarded DECRA grant for her work on attentional distraction

By Charlotte Beloe

Dr Poppy Watson

Only three years out of her PhD, UNSW Women in Maths and Science Champion alumnus Poppy Watson has hit the ground running, being awarded a Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) last month. This prestigious grant aims to provide focused support to early career researchers and is highly competitive, with a success rate of only 16%.

Poppy’s research is centred on understanding how people control their attention, and how much they are influenced by distractions signalling a reward. “A good example is the McDonald’s Golden Arches, it’s just a yellow ‘M’ but to us it signifies some kind of reward.” says Poppy, “Someone may be trying to avoid unhealthy food, but they get distracted by the McDonald’s ‘M’. Is that the end or do they go for the unhealthy food, even though they may not be hungry?”.

It’s something we can all relate to, but why food cues specifically? “With food you can really manipulate people’s preferences and their behaviour; hungry versus not hungry, state to state.” Poppy explains, “Food is also something that it’s easy to manipulate people’s perception of its value, and there is a point where you physically can’t eat anymore, you’re stuffed. We can’t really do this with drugs, alcohol, or money. People always will want more, or the thing itself will drive them to have more, even if they have had too much. The more you drink, the more you may be likely to continue drinking.”

It’s easy to see the clinical applications of Poppy’s research, “We’re all exposed to this constant distraction, and for some people it’s a constant battle to control these cravings and stopping themselves from ‘caving’,” says Poppy, “I want to know why some people are so vulnerable, can we increase their control, and can we understand these automatic processes underpinning their behaviour?”

A participant completing a visual search task whilst neural data is recorded.

It is this research question that recently won Poppy an additional grant from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC). “If we understand the attention processes that underly excessive reward seeking behaviour,” Poppy explains, “perhaps we can spot this behaviour before they’re even exposed to drugs.” The potential to extend her research to a clinical environment is an exciting prospect for Poppy, “It would make for interesting intervention studies.” she says. You can find learn more about Poppy’s research with NDARC here.

So what does receiving a DECRA mean for Poppy? “It’s so fabulous, I’m so happy.” she says, “It means being able to follow my own pursuits while still having the support of my broader team. It gives me more autonomy for picking my own research lines and do something that’s more mine.”

For any early career researchers thinking of applying for a DECRA, Poppy has a few words of advice, “It’s a tough process.” she says, “Get a lot of feedback from people who have a lot of grants, both people in you field like your supervisor and outside of your field. People on grants boards can have more general backgrounds, so it’s important to get feedback from as many people as possible.” Poppy elaborates,” You have to write quite extravagant things about yourself which can be quite uncomfortable. Having someone with experience read your application will help to spot when you are underselling yourself, it’s easy to do.”

Follow Poppy on Twitter