tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/science-careers-9836/articlesScience careers – The Conversation2022-05-26T13:22:12Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1829062022-05-26T13:22:12Z2022-05-26T13:22:12ZMy job is full of fossilised poop, but there’s nothing icky about ichnology<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464983/original/file-20220524-18-yvmvxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The author and a colleague on the hunt for fossil traces.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Morena Nava</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you had told 18-year-old me that I would, one day, be an ichnologist I wouldn’t have believed you – or even known what that was. But, more than 15 years later, I get to introduce <a href="https://www.jurassica.ch/fr/Recherche-Formation/Equipe-scientifique/Postdoctorants/Dr-Lara-Sciscio/Dr-Lara-Sciscio.html">myself as an ichnologist</a>.</p>
<p>Like my teenage self, many people outside the discipline don’t know, or have a limited understanding of, what ichnology is. It’s the study of the tracks and traces made by animals and plants in the fossil record, also called trace fossils. These can range from animal footprints (tracks/trackways), invertebrate trails, feeding traces on fossil leaves, fossilised faeces (coprolites), tooth traces (gnaw/bite marks) on bone/wood, to burrows and borings all preserved in the sedimentary rock record. When someone mentions seeing a “dinosaur footprint” they are talking about ichnology.</p>
<p>It may seem strange to spend so much time looking at fossils from the distant past. But doing so doesn’t just help scientists to understand animals and plants that existed long ago: it also informs our understanding of the environments they occupied and other aspects of the past world like extinction events or climate change. That can help us understand how things might shift in future.</p>
<h2>A rich information source</h2>
<p>Maybe this all sounds rather dry; fossil bones tend to grab people’s imagination far more. But ichnology is a very rich source of information about an animal that could not be deduced from the bones alone. A once living animal is leaving a clue about what it was doing, the way it was doing it, and the conditions around it. </p>
<p>Trace fossils even preserve moulds and casts of body parts – for instance, a fossil footprint can be thought of as a partial 3D mould of the animal’s foot, its flesh and bone. </p>
<p>My current work in ichnology deals with fossil footprints (tracks) of one of the largest animals to have walked the earth: <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2022.805442/full">the sauropod</a>. These dinosaurs of the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods (~200 and 150 million years ago) are like nothing we know today.</p>
<p>Some, like the <a href="https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/orientation-center/the-titanosaur">Titanosaurs</a>, were colossal. <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/Europasaurus">Others</a> were the size of a cow or smaller. Our knowledge about sauropods is collated from their body and trace fossil records. Sauropod tracks tell us the morphology of the feet, anatomical details such as toes and claws, and occasionally, with exceptional preservation, the texture of the skin via <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00241160410002162">skin impressions</a>. </p>
<p>Tracks can reveal how the animal gripped the substrate as it walked, how fast it was moving, or simply show that it was there, especially if no body fossils are available. In northern Zimbabwe, for example, sauropod body fossils are very rare but sauropod tracks have been found and indicate enormous animals with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00241160410002162">feet 94 cm long and 54 cm wide</a>. By comparison, an African elephant has a footprint length of between 30-40 cm. Collections of tracks and trackways can act as indirect evidence of sauropods moving together in a herd, something harder to deduce from their body fossils alone. </p>
<p>Where fossil footprints may indicate the movement of an animal and other associated behavioural characteristics, a fossil burrow is another type of trace fossil and provides evidence for the excavation of a dwelling, a refuge, or even a trap for prey (to name a few). South Africa’s Karoo Basin preserves some of the world’s <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130622154602.htm">finest and most unusual fossil burrows</a>. Burrows’ walls, lining and infill can preserve evidence of excavation with scratch marks from claws and teeth and even the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0031018212003811">animal’s butt imprint</a> being preserved. These are crucial in helping identify a possible burrow-maker and its behaviour. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464984/original/file-20220524-13-7ahlu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464984/original/file-20220524-13-7ahlu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464984/original/file-20220524-13-7ahlu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464984/original/file-20220524-13-7ahlu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464984/original/file-20220524-13-7ahlu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464984/original/file-20220524-13-7ahlu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464984/original/file-20220524-13-7ahlu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Ichnologists examining an area with trace fossils - a way to reconstruct ancient life even in the absence of body fossils.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jurassica Museum</span></span>
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<p>And while the idea of fossilised faeces might gross you out, coprolites reveal what that animal ate and may preserve in it fragments of fossil bone, insects, and plant matter. A coprolite might even show evidence of other trace fossils, like traces related to beetle’s borings – insects eating and digesting the coprolite while it was still fresh. It can even show that it was stepped on by another animal. One incredible example was <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1871174X22000105">recently discovered</a> in Vietnam. It shows evidence of being produced and stepped on by a crocodilian; a fossil footprint and fossil dung all wrapped up in one.</p>
<p>Collectively, this evidence helps to paint a picture of long-gone landscapes and the creatures and plants that populated those spaces.</p>
<p>Another branch of ichnology, neoichnology, studies the modern traces and tracks of animals. It’s a highly relevant field of study because knowing how and why modern animals move and interact with different substrates informs us about how extant animals may have done so. </p>
<p>For centuries, humans have examined the tracks and traces of animals and plants. Today, only a few people worldwide have this specialised knowledge and skill. In Botswana, trackers from the indigenous !Xo and /Gwi nations, for instance, use their superior tracking neoichnological knowledge as citizen-scientists in the management and conservation of wildlife. From tracks, scat (dung) and other evidence of animal behaviour, these neoichnologists know and interpret the movement, sex, species, timing, and speed of animals passing through an area.</p>
<h2>Carving out a career</h2>
<p>So, how do you go from high school to a career in ichnology like I did? There isn’t always one single, linear route.</p>
<p>Ichnology often requires a good understanding of biological and abiotic (related to the sedimentary processes that lead to preservation) processes in the spheres of geology, zoology (biology), and botany – as well as in chemistry, physics, and maths. There’s a wide scope of subjects you could study to pursue a career in ichnology and you certainly don’t need to be an expert in all of them. You just need to be curious!</p>
<p>As an example, I studied sedimentary geology, which is used in teasing apart trace fossil information as it is often preserved in sedimentary rocks. Sedimentary geology can help explain how sediment and animals interact and what processes were involved in the shaping and preservation of a trace like a footprint or burrow. Geology will assist in reading the rocks in which the trace fossils are preserved. Biology and zoology will assist in understanding the behaviour of animals making and leaving those traces in the sedimentary rock record.</p>
<p>Altogether, ichnology is an important area of study that helps us investigate our near or distant past to learn from it. A trace fossil is a little secret snapshot of an animal’s day: a private view into who it was and what it was up to.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182906/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lara Sciscio receives funding from Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).</span></em></p>Collectively, the evidence studied by ichnologists helps to paint a picture of long-gone landscapes and the creatures and plants that populated those spaces.Lara Sciscio, Postdoctoral research fellow, Jurassica MuseumLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1650962021-07-30T04:47:41Z2021-07-30T04:47:41ZWe must include more women in physics — it would help the whole of humanity<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413680/original/file-20210729-13-1swsyd4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=29%2C107%2C4000%2C2143&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Prajval Shastri</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>All around the world, there is an extreme gender imbalance in physics, in both academia and industry.</p>
<p>Examples are all too easy to find. In Burkina Faso’s largest university, the University of Ouagadougou, 99% of physics students are men. In Germany, women comprise only 24% of physics PhD graduates — creeping up from 21% in 2017. No women graduated in physical sciences at the University of El Salvador between 2017 and 2020.</p>
<p>Australia fares little better. Australian National University Professor Lisa Kewley <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-021-01341-z">forecasts</a> that on current settings, it will take <a href="https://theconversation.com/looking-at-the-stars-or-falling-by-the-wayside-how-astronomy-is-failing-female-scientists-159139">60 years</a> for women to comprise just a third of professional astronomers.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/looking-at-the-stars-or-falling-by-the-wayside-how-astronomy-is-failing-female-scientists-159139">Looking at the stars, or falling by the wayside? How astronomy is failing female scientists</a>
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<p>And the hits keep coming. A survey by the UK Royal Astronomical Society, <a href="https://ras.ac.uk/news-and-press/news/survey-finds-bullying-and-harassment-systemic-astronomy-and-geophysics">published last week</a>, found women and non-binary people in the field are 50% more likely than men to be bullied and harassed, and that 50% of LGBQ astronomers have suffered bullying in the past 12 months.</p>
<p>There are occasional glimmers in the gloom. In India, for instance, women now comprise 43% of those with a degree in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM). But that figure is much lower in physics and in the higher echelons of academia.</p>
<p>Clearly, this gender imbalance urgently needs to be fixed. This is not simply a matter of principle: around the world, many of our best and brightest minds are excluded, to everyone’s detriment.</p>
<p>This month, the <a href="https://iupap.org/">International Union of Pure and Applied Physics</a> held its <a href="https://whova.com/web/icwip_202109/">seventh conference</a> focused on the roles and prospects of women in the discipline. Held online, but hubbed in Melbourne, the five-day event was attended by more than 300 scientists from more than 50 countries.</p>
<p>We met many women who showed strength, leadership and commitment to progress physics in their countries, sometimes under very difficult circumstances. As the conference progressed, some <a href="https://www.scienceinpublic.com.au/category/iupap-women">distinct targets for action</a> emerged.</p>
<h2>Dissolving barriers</h2>
<p>One priority is the need to overcome the barriers that prompt many women to leave physics before reaching its most senior levels. This happens for many reasons, including uncertainty in gaining long-term employment and the associated doubts about ever achieving senior positions, but research shows the effect is felt disproportionately by women.</p>
<p>Kewley’s analysis <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-021-01341-z">found</a> that in Australian astronomy, 62% of women, compared with 17% of men, leave between postdoc and assistant professor level. A further 48% of women (and 28% of men) leave before the associate professor level.</p>
<p>Similar results are found in the UK, where the Royal Astronomical Society <a href="https://ras.ac.uk/news-and-press/news/survey-finds-bullying-and-harassment-systemic-astronomy-and-geophysics">reported</a> that women make up 29% of astronomy lecturers but only 12% of astronomy professors.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-keep-more-women-in-science-technology-engineering-and-mathematics-stem-61664">How to keep more women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)</a>
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<h2>Collaborating with industry</h2>
<p>Mentoring women to become entrepreneurs and commercial leaders is a key strategy for underpinning independence, well-being and social standing for women physicists.</p>
<p>“Entrepreneurship isn’t common in many developing countries, particularly not among women physicists, where social and economic conditions impede innovation and collaboration with industry,” Associate Professor Rayda Gammag, from Mapúa University in the Philippines, told the conference.</p>
<p>Another participant, Professor Mmantsae Moche Diale, a senior physicist at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, reflected that many people don’t know how to translate their research ideas into business.</p>
<p>“It is important that you get guidance on how to navigate challenging situations to translate your research into a product you can sell,” she said.</p>
<h2>Helping women physicists in developing countries</h2>
<p>In some countries, social, cultural, economic and religious norms mean there is little support for women physicists. This can be deep-rooted, with discrimination at the earliest levels of education. University-educated women often find themselves blocked from research funding or leadership positions.</p>
<p>IUPAP has an important role to play here, through connecting women physicists in developing countries with their global colleagues, developing codes of conduct to combat discrimination and aggression, and reaching out through our regional chapters.</p>
<p>“Some countries have so few women that they’d benefit from joining a network with others in a similar situation,” Adjunct Professor Igle Gledhill from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa told the conference.</p>
<h2>Showing the way</h2>
<p>Despite the deeply ingrained challenges, there are some signs of progress. Two standout nations are Iran and India. </p>
<p>In Iran, women make up 55% of physics PhD candidates and high-school science teachers, Azam Iraji zad of the Physics Society of Iran told the conference. It was also revealed that the proportion of women in STEM education in India is larger than in the UK, the United States or France.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, the conference heard stark evidence that action to remove gender barriers in physics around the world will often be met not just with resistance but sometimes violence.</p>
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<img alt="Prajval Shastri sitting at her desk" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413681/original/file-20210729-21-1obz0ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413681/original/file-20210729-21-1obz0ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413681/original/file-20210729-21-1obz0ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413681/original/file-20210729-21-1obz0ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413681/original/file-20210729-21-1obz0ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413681/original/file-20210729-21-1obz0ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413681/original/file-20210729-21-1obz0ag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Prajval Shastri at work.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>One of us (Prajval Shastri) led a workshop that delivered powerful and practical recommendations on how to ensure no one is left behind. Physicists have multiple identities beyond gender, such as race, class, caste and abled-ness, creating a complex pattern of disadvantage and privilege. </p>
<p>Ultimately, the physics enterprise should learn from the gender gap but go beyond it and aim to centre itself on the interests of its most vulnerable members. That way, it will emerge as a better and more inclusive profession for everybody. </p>
<p>This needs to happen everywhere from the classroom to the lab, to conferences, industry networking and public science communication. Boys and girls alike deserve to see more role models from all marginalised groups doing physics.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/isaac-newton-invented-calculus-in-self-isolation-during-the-great-plague-he-didnt-have-kids-to-look-after-137076">Isaac Newton invented calculus in self-isolation during the Great Plague. He didn't have kids to look after</a>
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<p>The conference generated a <a href="https://www.scienceinpublic.com.au/category/iupap-women">series of recommendations</a>, which we will now share with the wider physics community. We welcome the debate that will follow.</p>
<p>Excluding, silencing and discouraging so many brilliant minds carries a very heavy cost, not just to the women directly impacted, but to all of humanity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165096/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Prajval Shastri is founder and past chair of the Gender in Physics Working Group of the Indian Physics Association, and in her capacity as chair, she was the PI on a grant from the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, that funded a national conference on gender equity in physics called Pressing for Progress 2019 (<a href="https://progress2019.tifrh.res.in">https://progress2019.tifrh.res.in</a>).
Prajval Shastri is a member of the Working Group 5 for Women in Physics of the International Union for Pure and Applied Physics, and perforce on the international Organising Committee of the 7th IUPAP ICWIP conference.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cathy Foley and Sarah Maddison do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Excluding, silencing and discouraging so many brilliant minds carries a very heavy cost, not just to the women directly impacted, but to all of humanity.Cathy Foley, Australia's Chief Scientist, Office of the Chief ScientistPrajval Shastri, ProfessorSarah Maddison, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Academic Innovation & Change), Professor of Astrophysics, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1647782021-07-21T20:11:03Z2021-07-21T20:11:03ZThinking of choosing a science subject in years 11 and 12? Here’s what you need to know<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412084/original/file-20210720-23-17n7gzi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/beautiful-high-school-student-microscope-laboratory-701387218">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This article is part of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/senior-subjects-series-107516">series</a> providing school students with evidence-based advice for choosing subjects in their senior years.</em> </p>
<p>Studying science helps you make sense of the world and opens the door to a wide range of careers.</p>
<p>If you’ve decided to be a doctor or engineer then you will already know you need to do a science. But if you’re in the <a href="https://growingupinaustralia.gov.au/sites/default/files/publication-documents/lsac-asr-2018-chap9-subject_choices.pdf">45% of students</a> who don’t know what career they’ll end up in, you may want to study a range of different subject types to keep your options open. Science could be one of them.</p>
<h2>Who takes science?</h2>
<p>In Australia, science is compulsory until year 10 – after that, it’s a choice.
The Australian Curriculum groups <a href="https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/senior-secondary-curriculum/science/">science</a> into four areas:</p>
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<li><p>biology — the study of life</p></li>
<li><p>chemistry – the study of materials and substances </p></li>
<li><p>earth and environmental science — a broad subject about the interactions between the Earth and its water, air and living organisms</p></li>
<li><p>physics — the study of the nature and the properties of matter and energy. </p></li>
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<p>The specific science subjects you can choose depends on where you live and what your school offers but they will fall into these areas, or a combination.</p>
<p>Just over <a href="https://www.acara.edu.au/reporting/national-report-on-schooling-in-australia/national-report-on-schooling-in-australia-data-portal/year-12-subject-enrolments#view1">half</a> of all students choose to continue with science into year 12. In 2010, 53.1% of girls in Australia took a year 12 science subject. This had increased to 56.2% by 2019. In contrast, the proportion of boys taking science actually dropped – from 49.6% to 46.9% in the same period.</p>
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<p>Biology was the <a href="https://growingupinaustralia.gov.au/sites/default/files/publication-documents/lsac-asr-2018-chap9-subject_choices.pdf">most popular</a> science subject among both boys and girls – 32.4% of all students who took a science subject in 2016 took biology. This was compared to 21% taking chemistry and 15% taking physics.</p>
<p>But more girls (40%) chose biology than boys (24%). And more boys (21%) chose physics than girls (8%). Similar proportions of girls and boys chose to study chemistry and life and earth sciences (such as geology and agriculture).</p>
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<p>There are <a href="https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/handle/10453/134514">several</a> theories for this difference. Some research shows girls consistently show a less positive attitude to science than boys and don’t feel they are as good at it. This is interesting because girls get <a href="https://theconversation.com/girls-score-the-same-in-maths-and-science-as-boys-but-higher-in-arts-this-may-be-why-they-are-less-likely-to-pick-stem-careers-131563">similar</a> marks to boys in science. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/girls-score-the-same-in-maths-and-science-as-boys-but-higher-in-arts-this-may-be-why-they-are-less-likely-to-pick-stem-careers-131563">Girls score the same in maths and science as boys, but higher in arts – this may be why they are less likely to pick STEM careers</a>
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<p>Girls tend to have better language skills than boys, so another suggestion is they are more likely to choose subjects that require those skills, such as humanities. </p>
<p>There are no clear answers but your gender shouldn’t matter when it comes to choosing science.</p>
<h2>Careers in science</h2>
<p>Back in the 1990s, 85% of students in year 12 took at least one science <a href="https://research.acer.edu.au/acer_monographs/4/">subject</a>. Enrolments started to fall around 1992 and <a href="http://eprints.qut.edu.au/73153/1/Continuing_decline_of_science_proof.pdf">settled</a> around where they are now. The <a href="https://eprints.qut.edu.au/68725/1/Choosing_Science.pdf">reason</a> for the fall continues to be debated but popular theories include a wider range of subject choices, and the perception science is too hard and not worth the effort. </p>
<p>Many experts <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-it-matters-that-student-participation-in-maths-and-science-is-declining-47559">consider the current enrolment levels</a> too low and this is confusing in light of <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/newsroom/articles/stem-jobs-growing-almost-twice-fast-other-jobs">evidence</a> that the demand for science, or more broadly STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), skills is increasing. </p>
<p>A recent <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/newsroom/articles/stem-jobs-growing-almost-twice-fast-other-jobs">government report</a> showed STEM jobs are growing almost twice as fast as other jobs. </p>
<p>Many <a href="https://www.uts.edu.au/sites/default/files/2020-11/sci-science-careers-guide-Nov-2020.pdf">roles</a> are available inside and outside the lab. These are in areas such as climate change, materials science (anything involving how things are made and how they work — from nanoparticles to concrete), health, food technology, drug manufacturing and education. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412086/original/file-20210720-27-13vqf4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Climate scientists studying images of hurricanes as a consequence of climate change." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412086/original/file-20210720-27-13vqf4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412086/original/file-20210720-27-13vqf4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412086/original/file-20210720-27-13vqf4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412086/original/file-20210720-27-13vqf4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412086/original/file-20210720-27-13vqf4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412086/original/file-20210720-27-13vqf4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412086/original/file-20210720-27-13vqf4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Climate science is among the many and varied areas science graduates could work in.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/group-scientists-investigating-hurricane-consequence-global-755538235">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Of course it’s unlikely you’ll go straight out of school into a science job. You’d have to do a university or another type of course – such as vocational education and training – first. It will be far easier to do one of these courses if you did a science in your final years. Although, there are still pathways into them even if you didn’t.</p>
<p>The reverse is true too — you may change your mind about wanting to pursue science after studying it at school (or uni). In fact, about <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/download/2777/stem-leaf-where-are-australians-science-technology-engineering-mathematics-stem-students-heading/3792/document/pdf">two-thirds of students</a> who do a STEM subject at school or university actually end up with jobs outside of STEM. </p>
<h2>What else can science teach you?</h2>
<p>In my <a href="https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/handle/10453/98701">research</a> into how students chose their subjects, most students thought science was only useful for traditional science careers such as medicine or engineering. That’s not the case.</p>
<p>Studying science helps build <a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docserver/f30da688-en.pdf?expires=1626174177&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=33B57670770AFD3CE540B84797A486EE">scientific literacy</a>, which means being able to engage with and reflect on science topics in your daily life. Good scientific literacy gives you skills to see fake science for what it is and talk meaningfully about issues like climate change or COVID vaccines. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/teach-questions-not-answers-science-literacy-is-a-crucial-skill-144731">Teach questions, not answers: science literacy is a crucial skill</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Studying science also helps students <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/49285411_Science_Teaching_and_Learning_in_Australian_Schools_Results_of_a_National_Study">understand their world</a> and be interested in what is happening around them. Knowing how science works means you can make up your own mind about evidence. You can decide if getting solar panels makes sense or if kale really is a wonder food.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412315/original/file-20210721-15-ci5d3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Woman buying kale at the market." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412315/original/file-20210721-15-ci5d3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412315/original/file-20210721-15-ci5d3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412315/original/file-20210721-15-ci5d3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412315/original/file-20210721-15-ci5d3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412315/original/file-20210721-15-ci5d3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412315/original/file-20210721-15-ci5d3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412315/original/file-20210721-15-ci5d3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Scientific literacy can help you determine things like whether kale is in fact a superfood.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/beautiful-woman-buying-kale-farmers-market-1182084073">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Today’s <a href="https://www.fya.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/The-New-Work-Mindset.pdf">15 year olds are predicted to</a> have five different careers and 17 changes of employer in their lifetime. So it makes sense to choose a range of subjects that build skills which are portable across a range of roles. </p>
<p>Including a science subject in the mix, even if you’re not planning for a scientifically related career, can provide a good balance. But only, of course, if you’re interested.</p>
<h2>Don’t choose it for the ATAR</h2>
<p>You may hear science subjects are great because the marks are scaled up when your ATAR is calculated. That’s not quite right.</p>
<p>As you probably know, the ATAR is your rank compared to other students and it’s one factor in how universities select students. </p>
<p>Historically science subjects have been favourably scaled because the average academic ability of students doing science has been higher than the average student. <a href="https://www.uac.edu.au/assets/documents/scaling-reports/scaling-report-2020-nsw-hsc.pdf">Scaling</a> happens after the marks are in and aims to even the playing field between subjects. You have a far better chance of getting a good mark if you do a subject because you enjoy it, or are good at it.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/choosing-your-senior-school-subjects-doesnt-have-to-be-scary-here-are-6-things-to-keep-in-mind-160257">Choosing your senior school subjects doesn't have to be scary. Here are 6 things to keep in mind</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In my <a href="https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/bitstream/10453/134514/1/ESERA-2017-eProceedings%2520Palmer%25202018.pdf">research</a> I found both girls and boys ranked finding a subject interesting and enjoyable as the most important influences when deciding to choose or reject a subject for year 11. Next came needing a subject for a career and then their expectation of getting a good mark. </p>
<p>You will need to weigh this up for all your subject choices, not just science. In the words of a year 10 student from my research</p>
<blockquote>
<p>if you choose everything that you love, you might not necessarily be doing very well and it might bring your marks down, but if you choose things that you are doing really well in, but you might not necessarily love them, you are not going to have the motivation to keep doing well.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>You don’t have to love science but you do need to like it and think you can do the work. </p>
<p><em>Read the other articles in our series on choosing senior subjects, <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/senior-subjects-series-107516">here</a>.</em></p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1417399025930698752"}"></div></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164778/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tracey-Ann Palmer received funding from the Australian Government. This work was supported by an Australian Postgraduate Award.</span></em></p>Science teaches you many skills. Even if you don’t plan for a science related career, including a science subject in your senior years can provide a good balance. But only if you’re interested.Tracey-Ann Palmer, Lecturer, Initial Teacher Education, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1552162021-03-15T01:00:46Z2021-03-15T01:00:46ZIt’s not lack of confidence that’s holding back women in STEM<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389162/original/file-20210311-13-hyxovu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5380%2C3583&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/two-female-college-students-building-machine-1339572893">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) professions are still heavily male-dominated. Across all sectors, just over <a href="http://www.professionalsaustralia.org.au/professional-women/wp-content/uploads/sites/48/2018/08/2018-Women-in-STEM-Survey-Report_web.pdf">one in four STEM workers are women</a>. </p>
<p>The gender gap is even wider among students in post-secondary STEM courses. The <a href="https://www.industry.gov.au/data-and-publications/stem-equity-monitor/higher-education">STEM Equity Monitor</a> reports:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>When considering university and VET together, in 2018 women comprised only 21% of total STEM course enrolments and 23% of total STEM course completions. In comparison, women comprised 60% of total non-STEM course enrolments and 61% of total non-STEM course completions in 2018.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389194/original/file-20210312-21-1f85lie.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="chart showing proportions of female students in STEM courses" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389194/original/file-20210312-21-1f85lie.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389194/original/file-20210312-21-1f85lie.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=287&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389194/original/file-20210312-21-1f85lie.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=287&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389194/original/file-20210312-21-1f85lie.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=287&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389194/original/file-20210312-21-1f85lie.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389194/original/file-20210312-21-1f85lie.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389194/original/file-20210312-21-1f85lie.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.industry.gov.au/data-and-publications/stem-equity-monitor/higher-education">STEM Equity Monitor/DISER</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One explanation commonly offered for this gender gap is a lack of confidence among girls and women in their technical skills and STEM career prospects. However, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13603108.2020.1871090?journalCode=tpsp20">our research</a>, including a survey of thousands of Australian university students, has found women in STEM courses are often more confident than men. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348582877_Gendered_differences_in_perceived_employability_among_higher_education_students_in_STEM_and_non-STEM_disciplines">Our findings</a> counter assumptions that STEM women lack confidence and that this translates into limited career success.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/chief-scientist-women-in-stem-are-still-far-short-of-workplace-equity-covid-19-risks-undoing-even-these-modest-gains-143092">Chief Scientist: women in STEM are still far short of workplace equity. COVID-19 risks undoing even these modest gains</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We need to look for other reasons for the failure to attract and retain more women in STEM professions, despite many attempts to do so. A succession of Australian government <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/women-stem-cadetships-and-advanced-apprenticeships">policies</a> and <a href="https://www.voced.edu.au/content/ngv%3A32134">reviews</a> have aimed to increase the number of STEM-qualified people to meet <a href="https://www.chiefscientist.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-07/australias_stem_workforce_-_final.pdf">increasing demand</a> for their skills.</p>
<p>STEM skills are considered <a href="https://www.minister.industry.gov.au/ministers/karenandrews/media-releases/vision-gender-equity-australia">critical</a> for creating a <a href="https://www.wa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-10/2019-20_-annual-report-web-small.pdf">stronger Australian economy</a>. There are <a href="https://acola.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/saf02-stem-country-comparisons.pdf">skills shortages</a> in Australia and other countries such as the <a href="https://stem.ucdavis.edu/stem-and-us-job-market/">United States</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman engineer working with technical drawings on a computer screen" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389165/original/file-20210311-22-4rzwno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389165/original/file-20210311-22-4rzwno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389165/original/file-20210311-22-4rzwno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389165/original/file-20210311-22-4rzwno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389165/original/file-20210311-22-4rzwno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389165/original/file-20210311-22-4rzwno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389165/original/file-20210311-22-4rzwno.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">To overcome the STEM skills shortage, Australia needs to close the gender gap.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/factory-female-mechanical-engineer-designs-3d-1335833930">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/industry-cadetships-a-good-but-small-step-to-tap-the-talents-of-women-in-stem-148170">Industry cadetships: a good but small step to tap the talents of women in STEM</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What did the research find?</h2>
<p>The gender gap in STEM has often been associated with <a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7430030">low technical confidence among women</a>. Female school students have been shown to <a href="https://www.ypulse.com/article/2018/04/12/teen-girls-are-less-confident-than-boys-its-affecting-their-futures/">lack confidence</a> about their prospects in fields such as maths and sciences. In the professions, STEM women are more likely to <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1964782">underestimate their abilities</a> despite performing as well as men.</p>
<p>We wanted to find out whether Australian female STEM students are more or less confident in their study and career thinking. We used Bennett’s <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03075079.2021.1888079">employABILITY</a> measure to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13603108.2020.1871090?journalCode=tpsp20">assess the confidence</a> of 12,708 STEM and non-STEM students at an Australian university.</p>
<p>We found the women students in STEM are equally if not more confident than men in their problem-solving and decision-making, goal-directed behaviour, self-esteem, career exploration and career awareness. They were also more likely to have a “plan B” for their careers. </p>
<p>The women in STEM also reported higher confidence than women in non-STEM courses. The female STEM students were more confident in their problem-solving and decision-making, goal-directed behaviour and occupational mobility.</p>
<p>Further to our reported study, we discussed the findings with four final-year STEM and non-STEM students. They voiced what we had suspected: STEM women’s confidence as students could be the result of the challenges they had overcome in choosing a traditionally male profession.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>“Women are more confident […] especially in STEM as they know what they are getting into and what they want from the choice they have made.”</em> – Female student</p>
<p><em>“To be a woman in STEM, they have to be quite strong. There is a special something about them and they believe they are destined to do great things.”</em> – Male student</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Key is to maintain confidence into career</h2>
<p>Our finding that women in STEM are no less confident than men has implications for education and policy. </p>
<p>Policies such as the <a href="https://www.science.org.au/files/userfiles/support/reports-and-plans/2019/gender-diversity-stem/women-in-STEM-decadal-plan-final.pdf">Women in STEM Decadal Plan</a> and <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/australian-curriculum/support-science-technology-engineering-and-mathematics-stem/national-stem-school-education-strategy-2016-2026">National STEM School Education Strategy</a> have focused on attracting women into STEM through programs in schools. These programs have increased female enrolments, with the notable <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03043797.2017.1397604">exception of engineering</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/girls-score-the-same-in-maths-and-science-as-boys-but-higher-in-arts-this-may-be-why-they-are-less-likely-to-pick-stem-careers-131563">Girls score the same in maths and science as boys, but higher in arts – this may be why they are less likely to pick STEM careers</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Our study suggests women enter STEM programs with a great deal of confidence. And yet neither increased enrolments nor their confidence as students is carried through into the STEM professions. </p>
<p>The fact remains that in addition to men dominating STEM professions such as <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320932778_Investigation_of_students'_experiences_of_gendered_cultures_in_engineering_workplaces">engineering</a>, many <a href="http://www.professionalsaustralia.org.au/professional-women/wp-content/uploads/sites/48/2018/08/2018-Women-in-STEM-Survey-Report_web.pdf">women working in these industries</a> enjoy <a href="https://bcec.edu.au/assets/2019/06/AJLE212dockery.pdf">less career success</a>. Their <a href="https://www.chiefscientist.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-07/australias_stem_workforce_-_final.pdf">attrition rate</a> far outweighs that of men.</p>
<p>It is important to understand what happens in these professions and to consider how <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03043797.2017.1397604">gendered behaviour</a> and the <a href="http://www.professionalsaustralia.org.au/professional-women/wp-content/uploads/sites/48/2014/03/2015-Women-in-the-STEM-Professions-Survey-Report.pdf">inflexibility of work</a> might be overcome.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Older male engineer and young male and female engineers discuss a project" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389168/original/file-20210312-19-lcw2he.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389168/original/file-20210312-19-lcw2he.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389168/original/file-20210312-19-lcw2he.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389168/original/file-20210312-19-lcw2he.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389168/original/file-20210312-19-lcw2he.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389168/original/file-20210312-19-lcw2he.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389168/original/file-20210312-19-lcw2he.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The confidence women have as STEM students isn’t translating into progress in the workplace.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/instructor-young-people-engineering-training-1022251501">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<blockquote>
<p><em>“What drives those women towards STEM industries? They have passion for it, a motivation to go against the odds.”</em> – Female student</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://doi.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fcou0000119">Career theory</a> can help <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0001879109001249">inform</a> the solutions. In particular, self-esteem and self-efficacy predict resilience, goal-setting and persistence. These traits are critical for workers in competitive and gendered environments, and women STEM students are confident in both.</p>
<p>Positive educational and professional experiences, including gender-neutral experiences and role models, bolster students’ motivation and their commitment to study and career. </p>
<p>More student and graduate programs in industry, providing industry experience in each year of study, might reduce gendered attrition. It might also help to explain attrition among students and new professionals. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-has-hundreds-of-programs-to-get-women-into-science-but-are-they-working-time-to-find-out-133061">Australia has hundreds of programs to get women into science, but are they working? Time to find out</a>
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<p>Raising awareness of gendered behaviour and gender-neutral workplaces among all students can foster generational change. Increased flexibility within science workplaces could help to retain talented women. </p>
<p>The higher education sector also needs to monitor the confidence of STEM women across their studies. The focus should be on <a href="https://doi.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fcou0000119">social cognitive changes</a> caused by any <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1115817.pdf">gender stereotyping and discrimination</a>.</p>
<p>The gender gap in STEM careers, the high rate of attrition among STEM career women and the difficulty of attracting women to STEM courses are all well documented. Reducing the gender gap requires a concerted effort from governments, education systems and industry. We emphasise the need to focus on career transition and support prior to, during and beyond the student life cycle so early career confidence translates into longer-term career success.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/155216/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Subramaniam Ananthram receives funding from the Australia Business Dean's Council (ABDC) for research into employability of university students.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dawn Bennett has received funding from state and federal governments, industry peak bodies and competitive funding bodies including the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sherry Bawa has received funding from state and federal governments in the past. </span></em></p>Women enrolled in STEM courses are often more confident than men, but it hasn’t translated into career success and they are still very much a minority. More needs to be done in workplaces and schools.Subramaniam Ananthram, Associate Professor, International Business, Curtin UniversityDawn Bennett, Incoming Assistant Provost and Director, Transformation CoLab, Bond UniversitySherry Bawa, Senior Lecturer in Economics, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1140912019-03-26T14:04:49Z2019-03-26T14:04:49ZAfrican science needs more leaders. Here’s how to develop them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/265290/original/file-20190322-36273-1wduaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Scientists need leadership skills if they're to guide solutions in African countries.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">ProStockPhoto/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It is widely accepted that the future of scientific development lies in <a href="https://www.nature.com/news/why-interdisciplinary-research-matters-1.18370">enabling teams</a> made up of people from different countries and disciplines. To do really great work, these often need to be quite big teams.</p>
<p>But training programmes for scientists don’t typically include the types of leadership skills needed to pull this off. The kinds of skills needed to lead projects with diverse, multidisciplinary teams include reflective practice, strategic planning, engagement with a host of stakeholders, effective communication, and the ability to foster a culture of collaboration.</p>
<p>These kinds of skills in research programmes are <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/519414c">especially important</a> in the developing world. But it’s also where programmes for their development are in shortest supply.</p>
<p>But there are some glimmers of hope. One of these is the Africa Science Leadership Programme, which was launched in 2015 and is coordinated by <a href="http://www.futureafrica.science/">Future Africa</a>. </p>
<p>In this programme we are grappling with questions around science leadership, such as how to be more intentional in providing the support base and skills for young African researchers to lead initiatives. We aim to inspire the best talent to enter and stay in the system; to expand investment in their careers; and to simultaneously grow the quality of research outputs. </p>
<p>By training young scientists on the continent to step into leadership roles and guide major projects, we hope to transform the system to more effectively contribute to solving Africa’s challenges.</p>
<h2>Capacity gaps</h2>
<p>It is clear that the speed and quality of the development of science capacity in Africa depends not only on infrastructure and the technical training of people.</p>
<p>It’s also intimately linked to the quality of people who are able to inspire and lead change. </p>
<p>Countries in Africa lag behind the developed world in terms of <a href="http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/237371468204551128/pdf/910160WP0P126900disclose09026020140.pdf">scientific capacity and output</a>. And the situation is not improving fast enough. Despite substantial investment over the past decades, developing countries – with the exception of Brazil and China – appear to be losing ground in research. Many of their brightest scholars have been trained around the world. Those who return home <a href="https://globalyoungacademy.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/GYA_GloSYS-report_webversion.pdf">battle</a> with poor infrastructure and a lack of support. Others <a href="https://globalyoungacademy.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/GYA_GloSYS-report_webversion.pdf">emigrate for good</a>.</p>
<p>Across the continent the bulk of the responsibility of developing science falls to scientists who are currently at an early stage of their career, or sometimes mid-career. Very few are <a href="https://globalyoungacademy.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/GYA_GloSYS-report_webversion.pdf">supported or equipped for this task</a>.</p>
<p>Africa’s science capacity needs to expand by more than 10 times to have half the number of scientists per population that the UK has. For some countries it needs to expand by as much as <a href="http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/237371468204551128/pdf/910160WP0P126900disclose09026020140.pdf">100 times to reach that level</a>. </p>
<p>It’s a huge challenge to build this capacity given that resources are low, support systems are weak and competition is strong. </p>
<p>One way to fast track the process is to focus on raising leaders. That’s because they have a greater <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0031721715579040">multiplying effect</a>: they are equipped to inspire and lead the transformation of their environment. </p>
<h2>A tough journey</h2>
<p>It’s worth sharing one of our inaugural fellows’ stories to illustrate how tough the continent can be for young researchers who are expected to step up as leaders.</p>
<p>When <a href="https://www.futureafrica.science/index.php/leadership-programmes/aslp/steering-committee/connie-nshemereirwe-48">Connie Nshemereirwe</a> returned home after her PhD in Education Science in the Netherlands, she resumed work at Uganda Martyrs University. It’s a small and relatively isolated rural university. </p>
<p>She could identify only two women in the whole country who worked in the same domain of educational measurement. Both had moved out of academia. She also lacked the high-performance computing power needed for her analyses. Although talented and highly motivated, she didn’t see a way to move forward: she had no community, <a href="https://theconversation.com/mentoring-the-next-generation-of-scientists-in-africa-46899">no mentors</a>, and no infrastructure.</p>
<p>Through a stroke of luck, in 2015 Dr Nshemereirwe heard of the <a href="https://www.futureafrica.science/index.php/leadership-programmes/aslp">Africa Science Leadership Programme</a>. As one of its inaugural fellows, she was able to develop her leadership skills and find a network of peers. Importantly, the programme helped to clarify her vision on the role she could play as a scientist in her society. </p>
<p>Today Dr Nshemereirwe is the elected co-chair of the <a href="https://globalyoungacademy.net/">Global Young Academy</a>. With a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-07179-2">prominent voice</a>, she is facilitating science capacity development in every region of the world, with an emphasis on Africa. </p>
<p>Our programme and others need to support more people like Dr Nshemereirwe if we’re to develop the science leaders African countries need. So far, we’ve trained 104 researchers from over 60 institutions in 19 countries on the continent. Taking the multiplier effect into account, this means we’ve reached many hundreds of people – but more is needed.</p>
<h2>Lessons learned</h2>
<p>Over the five rounds of fellows the Africa Science Leadership Programme has worked with, we have seen the value of being intentional about science leadership development. This allows us to refine the visions, grow the networks and develop the skills that young researchers need to transform our world. </p>
<p>Unfortunately there are too few programmes like ours and they cannot service all the continent’s needs. For example, we had more than 650 applications for the 20 spaces available on the programme this year. </p>
<p>Fortunately, our model can be applied in various other contexts: in <a href="https://www.futureafrica.science/index.php/leadership-programmes/ecrlf">research programmes</a>, as well as at <a href="https://www.futureafrica.science/index.php/leadership-programmes/tyrlp">institutional</a>, <a href="https://globalyoungacademy.net/activities/asean-science-leadership-programme/">regional</a> and <a href="https://globalyoungacademy.net/activities/strategic-project-science-leadership/">global</a> levels. All the resources we develop and use are available via the programme’s fellows and organisers.</p>
<p>Our hope is that an increased focus on science leadership development will provide support and networks for young African researchers who feel isolated and unsure of how to become the scientific leaders the continent so urgently needs.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/114091/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bernard Slippers receives funding from the Robert Bosch Foundation. He is affiliated with the University of Pretoria, Future Africa and the Africa Science Leadership Programme. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eva Alisic is a former co-chair of the Global Young Academy and member of the steering committee of the Africa Science Leadership Programme. </span></em></p>Science development in Africa is intimately linked to the quality of people who are able to lead change.Bernard Slippers, Director of the Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute and Future Africa, University of PretoriaEva Alisic, Associate Professor, Child Trauma and Recovery, and Associate Director, Jack Brockhoff Child Health & Wellbeing Program, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1128712019-03-07T19:07:14Z2019-03-07T19:07:14ZMy CV is gender biased. Here’s what I plan to do about it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262303/original/file-20190306-48432-k5inz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Most of us make daily decisions about who we choose to work and collaborate with. So what if we used that to improve professional diversity? </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/-y50q8pdtcg">rawpixel / unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As a woman working in the environmental sciences, it was always obvious to me that most of my colleagues are men. This tended to focus my attention on surviving in a field in which I automatically contribute to diversity just by being there.</p>
<p>Recently though I stopped to consider what I could do to support diversity. For the first time, I thought seriously about how my own choices were influencing gender balance. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/gender-inequalities-in-science-wont-self-correct-its-time-for-action-99452">Gender inequalities in science won't self-correct: it's time for action</a>
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<p>I decided to take a critical look at the gender representation within my own academic portfolio, paying particular attention to projects I led. These are the ones where I had substantial agency in selecting who would be invited to join a research project. </p>
<p>I then asked a simple question: how many women have I invited to work with me? The answer is: not many. </p>
<h2>My CV has a gender bias</h2>
<p>My gender-biased CV is, frankly, embarrassing. I can count on a single hand the number of women I have invited to collaborate with me on publications and grants.</p>
<p>Of my peer-reviewed publications in which I was lead author, 96% of my co-authors are men. On publications in which I was co-author, 77% are men. </p>
<p>The first woman I invited to co-author a publication was in 2015, four years after completing my PhD, and eight years after publishing my first manuscript. Since then, I have published with only two other women.</p>
<p>All of the co-investigators on my research grants are men. Yup, I actually haven’t shared a single research dollar with a female colleague. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-i-joined-500queerscientists-98314">Why I joined #500queerscientists</a>
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<h2>How could this have happened?</h2>
<p>The answer, I believe, lies with awareness and concern for others. It simply did not occur to me that I could or should play an active role in shaping my professional community. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencegenderequity.org.au/gender-equity-in-stem/">My discipline (environment) is clearly male-biased</a>, as is my research field (ecology of large carnivores). A quick search on Google Scholar for the keywords of my research area brings up publications almost exclusively written by men. So it’s no surprise that my immediate community of collaborators are men. To create a more diverse community, I would need to actively reach out.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262312/original/file-20190306-48438-l7nvqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262312/original/file-20190306-48438-l7nvqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262312/original/file-20190306-48438-l7nvqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262312/original/file-20190306-48438-l7nvqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262312/original/file-20190306-48438-l7nvqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262312/original/file-20190306-48438-l7nvqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262312/original/file-20190306-48438-l7nvqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Gendered network of top co-authors, with women in pink and men in blue. Starting with myself at the centre, and my top-10 co-authors in the first layer; followed by their top ten co-authors; and ending with their single top author in the outer layer. Total population: 24♀ (21%) and 89♂ (79%) (1st layer – 0♀:10♂; 2nd layer – 17♀:52♂; 3rd layer - 6♀:27♂). Data from Research Gate (February 2019).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Arian Wallach</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<h2>Making a personal commitment to diversity</h2>
<p>Success in science is about more than the individual. Science is a highly collaborative field. Academic careers are made, not only by the projects we lead, but also by the projects we are invited to collaborate on. </p>
<p>In this way, the work of science lends itself to a feminist ethic which appropriately highlights the importance of community and relationships. </p>
<p>I believe in institutional targets and quotas. I also believe in individual commitments. </p>
<p>I am committed to increasing the diversity of my personal academic community. To do this, I have begun the slow journey of bringing more academic women into my community. I am pleased the gender balance in my peer-reviewed publications is starting to show signs of change. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262313/original/file-20190306-48435-19r1zlu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262313/original/file-20190306-48435-19r1zlu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262313/original/file-20190306-48435-19r1zlu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262313/original/file-20190306-48435-19r1zlu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262313/original/file-20190306-48435-19r1zlu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262313/original/file-20190306-48435-19r1zlu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262313/original/file-20190306-48435-19r1zlu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Commitment to increasing gender equity in my peer-reviewed publications is starting to show signs of improvement. Proportion of women co-authors (excluding me) in publications I have led and co-coauthored, and manuscripts expected to be published in the near future.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Arian Wallach</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Of course, there are other important forms of inclusion and diversity to be mindful of, including race, ethnicity, nationality, identity, and religion. </p>
<p>Inviting women, and other <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-fewer-kenyan-women-are-choosing-or-completing-stem-courses-91706">underrepresented peoples</a>, to participate in research projects and scholarly activities is something all academics can do, whether as PhD students or professors. As another way to improve diversity, academics based in rich countries can reach out to academics from countries that have less access to research funds, or forge new international relationships. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-what-do-we-want-to-be-when-we-grow-up-103443">Friday essay: what do we want to be when we grow up?</a>
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<p>Even in less collaborative fields and projects, we can pay attention to who we are citing in scholarly publications. This is important because citation counts are an important measure of academic success. </p>
<p>Incorporating marginalised peoples in our professional communities may feel risky, particularly for early career researchers. After all, it is often necessary to work with well-established academics to develop, and at this point in time most in this category are men. </p>
<p>In order to enhance diversity in our professional communities we need not exclude existing colleagues and experts, we need only start to actively expand our network to be more inclusive. </p>
<h2>A richer scholarly life</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/308/5722/601">benefits for institutions and for science</a> in having diverse views, experiences, cultures, and backgrounds is well known. It is similarly <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/114/8/1740">valuable for individual creativity</a>, critical thinking, and innovation. <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/330/6004/686">Teams with more women are collectively smarter</a>.</p>
<p>I cannot say whether my CV is uniquely lacking in diversity. Some areas of science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM) are more male-biased than others. But I suspect I am not unusual.</p>
<p>There is a long way to go before science becomes a project that truly belongs to all of humanity. But it seems to me that if we all pay more attention to how we form our professional communities, in a way that is attentive to structural inequities, we can change things a lot more quickly.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112871/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Arian Wallach receives funding from the Australia Research Council. </span></em></p>A confession: I can count on a single hand the number of women I have invited to collaborate with me on publications and grants.Arian Wallach, Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for Compassionate Conservation, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/930602018-03-09T02:48:39Z2018-03-09T02:48:39ZTake it from us: here’s what we need in an ambassador for women in science<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209514/original/file-20180308-30969-uuimqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Computer scientist and Computing Education Specialist Dr Nicky Ringland meets with Burwood Girls students. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nicky Ringland</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The federal government announced yesterday that it will appoint a “<a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/women-in-science-ambassador-will-be-appointed-to-inspire-schoolgirls">Women in Science ambassador</a>” to travel to schools around Australia and encourage young girls to pursue careers in science and technology.</p>
<p>It sounds like a good idea – but talking to teens is not enough. </p>
<p>We argue that an ambassador needs to do more than just encourage interest. Such a person should address structure and culture, and remove barriers that impede women’s progress in science and technology, which are still in place even in 2018. That person should also promote existing role models across science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM).</p>
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<p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/step-by-step-were-tackling-gender-equity-in-australian-astronomy-80813">Step by step, we're tackling gender equity in Australian astronomy</a>
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<h2>Few women at the top</h2>
<p>Women remain poorly represented in STEMM – <a href="http://www.chiefscientist.gov.au/2016/03/report-australias-stem-workforce/">just 16%</a> of top-level science and technology researchers and professionals are women. </p>
<p>Australia’s higher education and research institutions have a “leaky pipeline” in STEMM. More than half of all undergraduate and PhD students are women, and around <a href="http://www.sciencegenderequity.org.au/gender-equity-in-stem/">50% of junior science lecturers are women</a>.</p>
<p>However, by the time women reach Senior Lecturer (roughly equivalent to a middle management position), this percentage falls dramatically, resulting in just <a href="http://www.sciencegenderequity.org.au/gender-equity-in-stem/">21% of professorial positions</a> (senior management) held by women. </p>
<p>But why this marked difference in the fate of men and women in STEMM? </p>
<p>One might think the difference in gender representation can be explained by women choosing family over a career. But it’s not all down to having and caring for children. Relative to men, women without children have <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/438559c">similar disparity in career progression</a> to women with children. So what is the true cause? </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209497/original/file-20180308-30954-182856o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209497/original/file-20180308-30954-182856o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209497/original/file-20180308-30954-182856o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209497/original/file-20180308-30954-182856o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209497/original/file-20180308-30954-182856o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209497/original/file-20180308-30954-182856o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209497/original/file-20180308-30954-182856o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Australian of the Year and physicist Michelle Simmons with high school students.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dr Nicky Ringland</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<h2>Structure and culture</h2>
<p>Until the <a href="https://herstoria.com/womens-access-to-higher-education-an-overview-1860-1948/">mid-late nineteenth century</a> women were unwelcome at universities, and not allowed to study subjects or work in fields like maths and physics, which were reserved exclusively for men. The legacy of this deliberately biased beginning is alive and well in the structure and culture of modern STEMM disciplines. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/calling-all-parents-australias-future-female-scientists-need-your-support-now-89025">Calling all parents – Australia's future female scientists need your support now</a>
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<p>The short-termism in STEMM job contracts – highlighted by Professor Emma Johnston, President of Science Technology Australia, in her <a href="https://scienceandtechnologyaustralia.org.au/national-press-club-address-9-10-australians-profess-their-love-for-science-this-valentines-day/">National Press Club address</a> – and the expectation that researchers are highly mobile and able to relocate anywhere in the world is based on the traditional “male breadwinner” model. According to this model, a man’s family will follow him to a job. </p>
<p>The pressure to consistently produce research publications, attend conferences, mentor students, and work increasingly long overtime hours is not amenable to people in caring roles, which are most often taken up by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/grogonomics/2017/dec/12/no-more-nappy-valley-but-childcare-still-an-issue-for-working-women">women</a>. Consequently women are excluded from critical networking opportunities and have reduced research output, resulting in competitive disadvantage. </p>
<p>In addition, sexual harassment, assault, non-inclusive behaviour, and unchecked unconscious bias in <a href="https://theconversation.com/unconscious-bias-is-keeping-women-out-of-senior-roles-but-we-can-get-around-it-73518">hiring</a> and <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1348/014466600164480/full">promotion</a> practices remain common.</p>
<p>We argue that an effort to get girls and women interested in STEMM is misplaced – they are already naturally interested. Rather than attracting more girls and women into STEMM, or focusing on initiatives that <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/its-not-women-who-need-to-change-but-the-world-of-work-20170227-gumjkh.html">“fix” women</a> so they are forced to adapt to the existing model, we have other ideas. </p>
<p>Our new ambassador for women in science needs to promote social and cultural change to ensure it is equally possible for women and men to succeed. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209612/original/file-20180308-30975-rzouby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209612/original/file-20180308-30975-rzouby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209612/original/file-20180308-30975-rzouby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209612/original/file-20180308-30975-rzouby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209612/original/file-20180308-30975-rzouby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209612/original/file-20180308-30975-rzouby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=586&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209612/original/file-20180308-30975-rzouby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=586&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209612/original/file-20180308-30975-rzouby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=586&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The leaky pipeline in academia sees women pushed out of the system at the middle-management level. Data adapted from the Department of Education and Training, Higher Education Research Data, 2014.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Here are five areas in which an ambassador for women in science could make a real impact on the current and future careers of Australian women in STEMM disciplines:</p>
<p><strong>1. Promote role models</strong> </p>
<p>Visibility matters in achieving equality – you cannot be what you cannot see. A <a href="https://news.microsoft.com/europe/features/dont-european-girls-like-science-technology/">recent study</a> of 11,000 high school students across Europe found that most girls become interested in STEMM under the age of 11, but that their interest wanes by 15. The lack of visible and accessible role models was identified as a key factor that influenced the girls in the study. </p>
<p>Girls need to see STEMM as a viable career option for themselves, and have access to authentic, honest, diverse and relatable role models. Responsibility lies with the government and media to ensure the voices of diverse women in STEMM are heard, and in science itself for supporting women within the system. </p>
<p>Science and Technology Australia’s <a href="https://scienceandtechnologyaustralia.org.au/what-we-do/superstars-of-stem/">Superstars of STEM program</a> was designed to help address this.</p>
<p><strong>2. Take a discipline-by-discipline approach</strong></p>
<p>Across STEMM disciplines, there is enormous variation in the point at which gender inequity strikes. For example, 72% of of medical and health science graduates <a href="http://www.sciencegenderequity.org.au/gender-equity-in-stem/">are women</a>, suggesting that feeding more women into the pipeline will have minimal influence on numbers at senior levels. </p>
<p>On the other hand, women in engineering and physics make up only around <a href="http://www.sciencegenderequity.org.au/gender-equity-in-stem/">15% of graduates</a>, and there is a clear need for encouraging more young women to pursue these paths if we are to reach true gender equity. </p>
<p>Evidence from China, Malaysia and the former Soviet Union proves that this is possible in a <a href="http://www.chiefscientist.gov.au/2016/11/occasional-paper-busting-myths-about-women-in-stem/">conducive cultural environment</a>.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/to-achieve-gender-equality-we-must-first-tackle-our-unconscious-biases-92848">To achieve gender equality, we must first tackle our unconscious biases</a>
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</em>
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<p><strong>3. Engage senior men</strong> </p>
<p><a href="https://www.wgea.gov.au/sites/default/files/Stats_at_a_Glance.pdf">Up</a> <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-08/fewer-women-ceos-than-men-named-john/8327938">to</a> <a href="http://www.sciencegenderequity.org.au/gender-equity-in-stem/">80%</a> of the individuals in positions of power in STEMM disciplines are men. </p>
<p>To accelerate cultural change, we need to mobilise a great proportion of these men to recognise the barriers facing women in STEMM, recruit their peers to the cause, and lead by example to facilitate and enact positive reform. </p>
<p>One such example is the <a href="http://malechampionsofchange.com/">Male Champions of Change</a> program, which could be expanded to see continual recruitment of new champions, use of concrete diversity targets, and compulsory reporting of outcomes to measure success. </p>
<p><strong>4. Be a watchdog</strong></p>
<p>We need the ambassador for women in science to act as or appoint an independent ombudsman for confidential complaints of <a href="http://www.capa.edu.au/2017-sexual-assault-sexual-harassment-survey-universities-australia-australian-human-rights-commission/">sexual harassment, assault and bullying in STEMM</a>. </p>
<p>Institutes and universities often <a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/sex-discrimination/publications/change-course-national-report-sexual-assault-and-sexual">fail survivors</a> – the reasons are complex, but one factor is because they have a vested interest in <a href="https://www.nature.com/news/harassment-victims-deserve-better-1.19190">protecting their reputation</a>. An independent ombudsman bypasses this conflict, and creates an avenue for reporting abuse without fear of reprisal. </p>
<p>It is essential that the new ambassador has the agency to directly enact change and to force compliance by guilty parties when necessary – for example, by withholding funding, barring access on campus, or instigating disciplinary action, including termination of employment. </p>
<p><strong>5. Advocate for carers</strong> </p>
<p>In STEMM, grants, promotions and award systems all depend on research output – and this can be significantly interrupted by caring duties. </p>
<p>In general, women are the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/grogonomics/2017/dec/12/no-more-nappy-valley-but-childcare-still-an-issue-for-working-women">primary caregivers for children</a> and shoulder <a href="http://whv.org.au/static/files/assets/2aaa851d/Women_and_informal_caregiving_GIA.pdf">71% of the responsibility</a> for informal care of family and friends with disabilities, mental illness, chronic conditions or terminal illness. </p>
<p>The ambassador for women in science needs to advocate for national guidelines that support carers. The guidelines must include support for the maintenance of research momentum while on leave and when returning from leave, the right to pause fixed term contracts during career breaks, and that these be adjusted to part-time work. We need tailored guidelines for measuring research output from people who have taken career breaks. </p>
<p>Although women take on the bulk of caring responsibilities, it is essential to promote and encourage schemes and attitudes that are neutral to the gender of the carer to ensure everyone can share these important roles.</p>
<p>Why is gender equity in STEMM a worthwhile pursuit? For the same reason that diversity of all kinds is to be promoted and celebrated. The great global humanitarian and environmental problems of our time have solutions in STEMM, and STEMM practitioners are the world’s problem solvers. Diversity brings unique perspectives to STEMM, increasing the probability of creative, innovative solutions to the world’s grand challenges.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/93060/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amy L Heffernan is an NHMRC-ARC Dementia Development Research Fellow, is funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council and the Australian Research Council, and is affiliated with the Royal Australian Chemical Institute and STA's Superstars of STEM program. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kate Umbers is an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow, is funded by the Hermon Slade Foundation and Western Sydney University, is involved in Invertebrate Conservation not-for-profit initiatives, and is affiliated with the International Society for Behavioural Ecology, the Ecological Society of Australia and STA's Superstars of STEM program.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sanam Mustafa is an Australian Research Council Fellow at the Centre for Nanoscale BioPhotonics at the University of Adelaide and a participant of STA's Superstars of STEM program.</span></em></p>An ambassador needs to do more than just encourage young girls to enter STEMM, the role must address structural and cultural issues that push women out of the pipeline mid-career.Amy L Heffernan, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, The University of MelbourneKate Umbers, Lecturer in Zoology, Western Sydney UniversitySanam Mustafa, ARC Research Associate (Molecular Pharmacologist), University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/894582018-01-10T13:59:15Z2018-01-10T13:59:15ZAfrican mothers in science need more support. Providing it is actually easy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200149/original/file-20171220-4954-686vq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mothers need support to manage the demands of a scientific career with their family responsibilities.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There are a number of discussions to be had about women scientists in Africa: why there are <a href="https://theconversation.com/africa-has-a-long-way-to-go-to-get-more-women-into-the-sciences-42590">so few</a>, for instance; or how more can be <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-africa-can-empower-more-women-to-become-leaders-in-science-60570">drawn into</a> science, technology, engineering and maths careers. And, crucially, how can existing women researchers be retained once they’ve embarked on scientific careers – particularly when they have become mothers?</p>
<p>Women may often leave the workforce entirely once their child is born. The <a href="http://fortune.com/2015/10/06/childcare-rent-women-workforce/">cost of childcare</a> may outweigh the financial benefit of working, or women simply want to spend <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/12/opting-out/500018/">most of their time</a> with their child. <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/12/opting-out/500018/">Inflexible jobs</a> that don’t accommodate the realities of parenting are another issue. Some women will stop working temporarily, but the return to work is not always smooth. </p>
<p>Women may find that they miss out on potentially life-changing career opportunities because of their maternal obligations. That in turn deepens the gender gap. </p>
<p>In the case of science in Africa, the <a href="http://www.who.int/tdr/research/gender/Women_overview_piece.pdf">World Health Organisation</a> and <a href="http://www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences/science-technology/sti-policy/africa/promoting-women-in-science-in-africa/">UNESCO</a> have done a great deal of work to close this gap. But not much attention has been given to how mothers who want to attend workshops, conferences and similar networking opportunities are supported. This simple intervention can boost the presence of women in science.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.futureafrica.science/index.php/leadership-programmes/aslp">Africa Science Leadership Programme</a> set about finding out how the demands and realities of motherhood are affecting women scientists on the continent. We conducted a survey of 118 African women researchers from a range of institutions to find out about their career goals and barriers to success. </p>
<p>Many talked about how hard it was to balance family life and career. A number said their obligations as mothers kept them from attending workshops or similarly useful meetings.</p>
<p>The survey responses, along with the experiences of a new mother who’d been selected as a programme fellow, have offered new insights into how organisations and institutions can create supportive spaces for women researchers. </p>
<h2>A mother’s experience</h2>
<p>Dr <a href="http://www.futureafrica.science/index.php/profile/Dalia%20-Saad%20-101">Dalia Saad</a> is a Sudanese researcher who focuses on environmental chemistry. She was selected as a fellow for 2017, the third year of the Africa Science Leadership Programme. But she had just given birth. </p>
<p>The programme aims to grow mid-career African academics. Part of the fellowship involves a week-long meeting, a valuable opportunity for networking and career development.</p>
<p>Dr Saad said she wanted to take up the fellowship, but would need to travel to South Africa with her mother and would require a baby cot and extra space in her room. This turned out to be easy to arrange, and meant that an excellent scientist did not have to miss out. Reflecting on the experience, she said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I was able to bring my baby along with someone to take care of her, so I had peace of mind to effectively participate in the programme while checking on my baby during breaks. This was a special experience for me and I wish that such arrangements were always made to accommodate women researchers’ needs to support their career progression.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Dr Saad suggests that institutions and organisations should consider in-house creches, flexible working hours and more flexible funding time frames to support new mothers who want to continue pursuing their scientific careers. This is borne out by <a href="https://theprofessorisin.com/2014/12/05/taking-baby-to-conference-a-crowdsource-project/">women’s experiences</a> elsewhere in the world. </p>
<p>There are some organisations in the US, London and Canada which offer such support, among them the <a href="http://www.smbe.org/smbe/HOME/TabId/37/ArtMID/1395/ArticleID/25/SMBE-Childcare-Travel-Awards.aspx">Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution</a>, the <a href="https://www.lms.ac.uk/grants/caring-supplementary-grants">London Mathematical Society</a> and the <a href="https://www.aarweb.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/Annual_Meeting/2016/2016AMBrochure.pdf">American Academy of Religion</a>. The <a href="http://cartafrica.org">Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa</a> fully supports women who are pregnant or breast feeding to ensure they can take advantage of opportunities within that programme.</p>
<p>This shows that the challenges for new mothers attending workshops are starting to be recognised on the continent. But spreading this support more widely could potentially help to close the gender gap.</p>
<p>Our interaction with Dr Saad and feedback from the survey have presented an opportunity for the Africa Science Leadership Programme to restructure its support systems. We’re committed to allocating resources towards supporting women who would like to attend our workshops with a newborn and a caregiver. This support will be explicitly announced in all future calls, and on our online and social media pages, so that women know it’s available.</p>
<p>We believe this is an approach that other organisations, institutions and fellowship programmes should consider adopting to encourage more women scientists to stay the course despite the demands of motherhood.</p>
<h2>A worthwhile investment</h2>
<p>The cost implications involved with these suggestions may worry some, since different organisations work with different budget constraints. In our experience, we were able to arrange a cot and a double room for Dr Saad at no extra cost. This suggests it is worth negotiating requirements like room space, baby facilities or even a local, trusted caretaker – some hotels or venues may offer childcare facilities at little or no extra cost.</p>
<p>But, we’d argue that any cost is a small investment with a potentially high output: institutions and organisations will be able to offer truly inclusive programmes for young mothers and an opportunity for more women to remain in science in Africa.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89458/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The Robert Bosch Foundation and the University of Pretoria fund the Africa Science Leadership Programme. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Smeetha Singh does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Not much attention has been given to how mothers who want to attend workshops and conferences are supported. This simple intervention can boost the presence of women in science.Bernard Slippers, Director of the Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute, University of PretoriaSmeetha Singh, Founder at Look-Sci: Helping Academics Promote ResearchLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/800792017-06-26T12:09:39Z2017-06-26T12:09:39ZWhy I disagree with Nobel Laureates when it comes to career advice for scientists<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175613/original/file-20170626-12696-1lne0tj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A successful science career is founded in a solid publication track record. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/blur-image-picture-library-background-resources-604328939?src=qPj0vTRi0ancc1ZsVM9T1w-3-88">Thiranun Kunatum/www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The measures by which we judge scientists are always under intense scrutiny. For those who hit the peak of their field, there’s the <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/">Nobel Prize</a>. But across all levels of career progression, we publish research papers in journals whose importance or rank can be communicated via a number known as the <a href="http://researchguides.uic.edu/if/impact">Journal Impact Factor</a>. </p>
<p>The much respected Nobel Prize Twitter site <a href="https://twitter.com/NobelPrize">@NobelPrize</a> recently tweeted an impressive video with four Nobel Laureates speaking out against Journal Impact Factors. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"877804020345262080"}"></div></p>
<p>My view is that the Nobel Laureates are right in theory. But I cannot advise the junior researchers I mentor to ignore Impact Factors. </p>
<p>Although imperfect, Impact Factors retain some validity. But more importantly, deep down, I know that as the world of research expands and as people become increasingly specialised, the use of proxy metrics, like Journal Impact Factors and citations, will increase not decrease.</p>
<h2>Criticism of Journal Impact Factors</h2>
<p>Nobel Laureates Peter Doherty, Bruce Beutler, Joseph Goldstein and Paul Nurse aren’t alone in their criticism of Journal Impact Factors. </p>
<p>The widely supported <a href="http://www.ascb.org/files/SFDeclarationFINAL.pdf">San Francisco Declaration</a> makes the same point – you can’t judge the quality of research by just looking at the Journal Impact Factor.</p>
<p>Australia’s major medical research funding body, the National Health and Medical Research Council is also officially opposed to Impact Factors and has essentially <a href="https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/_files_nhmrc/file/grants/peer/impact%20factors%20in%20peer%20review_1.pdf">outlawed reporting them</a> in grant applications. </p>
<p>The Australian Research Council once had a list of A star, A, B and C ratings for journals in its Excellence in Research Australia research assessment exercise but has <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/end-of-an-era-journal-rankings-dropped/news-story/923b52a699c02a659bad88c20157fc0d">now abandoned that list</a> and recommends against institutions continuing to use it.</p>
<p>In theory all these august bodies are correct. Impact Factors represent the average number of citations for each paper in the journal over a two year period. They are unreliable. They can be gamed in various ways, such as including a lot of reviews in a journal, and they can be heavily influenced by one or two “jackpot” papers.</p>
<p>In summary, Journal Impact Factors are a crude short cut to the proper job of estimating quality – they are a type of pre-judgement, a prejudice.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175560/original/file-20170626-304-r7wnip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175560/original/file-20170626-304-r7wnip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175560/original/file-20170626-304-r7wnip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175560/original/file-20170626-304-r7wnip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175560/original/file-20170626-304-r7wnip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175560/original/file-20170626-304-r7wnip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175560/original/file-20170626-304-r7wnip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175560/original/file-20170626-304-r7wnip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">You don’t have to be tall to be good at basketball. But it certainly helps.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/520431253?src=ULmZ2z27FofFnjPl4jICmQ-2-62&size=medium_jpg">from www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<p>Picking a researcher or a grant application on the basis of Impact Factors is like selecting a basketball team on the basis of one single metric – like the height of the players.</p>
<p>It’s ridiculous.</p>
<p>But hold on – have you ever looked at the heights of players in any professional basketball team?</p>
<p>Nearly all the players are giants.</p>
<h2>Standing tall among giants</h2>
<p>I would love to take the Laureates’ advice, and read the papers and judge the science on its own merits. But sadly I am only expert in a very small area. I am not capable of critically analysing most of the research I come across.</p>
<p>It is not that peer review doesn’t work. It works for publications. I only review papers in the small field where I truly am an expert. But when it comes to grant review or making academic appointments I am often out of my field.</p>
<p>So I confess. I do look at Impact Factors. I look at citation metrics. I even count papers.</p>
<p>I regret to say that in reviewing perhaps a hundred grants or job applications and trying to find the ten grants to fund or one person to employ, I do not read every paper in the bibliography and assess the research on the basis of my limited understanding. I just don’t have the time or expertise to read and judge all the papers.</p>
<p>I pick my basketball team in part based on the player’s height and past match statistics. I want the people I appoint to get grants in the future and I suspect other grant reviewers also look at metrics too, so I can’t ignore them.</p>
<h2>What is the best advice for young researchers?</h2>
<p>In their video the Nobel Laureates said that doing sustained, solid, research was the best way to build a reputation. But with grant <a href="https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/grants-funding/outcomes-funding-rounds">success rates</a> <a href="http://www.arc.gov.au/selection-report-discovery-projects-2016">falling to less than 20%</a>, it is not clear solid research alone will be enough to sustain a lab. So while the advice to downplay Impact Factors is good for established researchers, this is not always feasible for junior researchers.</p>
<p>When I was starting out I also lamented the fact that those in authority seemed to want everything – lots of papers, and papers in journals with high Impact Factors, as well as preliminary data prior to the grant even being funded.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175565/original/file-20170626-32731-1adnu5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175565/original/file-20170626-32731-1adnu5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/175565/original/file-20170626-32731-1adnu5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175565/original/file-20170626-32731-1adnu5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175565/original/file-20170626-32731-1adnu5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175565/original/file-20170626-32731-1adnu5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175565/original/file-20170626-32731-1adnu5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/175565/original/file-20170626-32731-1adnu5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Young scientists need resilience to keep their careers moving forwards.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/86083886@N02/20782393286/in/photolist-xEtctC-xGCwEn-UiRpbP-xHq1hx-wKMtU3-xGNooT-wKVMFD-xGMQqK-tFas7p-ukypoR-uBz1L1-ukqrVG-uBz1iN-ukyoma-uC1yQ4-uni9Kk-tEZwUw-tFaoqg-uC1qbF-tFarpH-tFanxz-ukpUzy-uC1vUp-tFaqnc-uzFNZs-uByWYm-tEZgvq-uzFNTW-ukq8HN-ukykTe-uQWdpa-ukym8H-qrALKa-GqbJsA-uye6GP-uBz2zq-uCeuRx-qHT9vi-tYzHak-tYzHuD-xEtXJG-tYzHp8-uQMu4D-xqcrNN-HDhCp2-tEZsMJ-xq8dHZ-wE9wib-uT7f4A-wKCg3j">86083886@N02/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A wise colleague looked at me with raised eyebrows and said,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I thought you were meant to be smart. You’re meant to work it out. </p>
<p>You’re meant to balance your research so you deliver some solid work, and some high impact papers, and to manage your resources to produce preliminary data for new applications, while simultaneously delivering on the main research goals of your current grant or start up funding.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I think this was good advice. It is up to each of us to optimise our output. Aim as high as you can but don’t be silly and waste your career trying to lodge one paper in <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html">Nature</a> at all costs.</p>
<p>Those in academic management do not want to make the wrong decisions and only use Impact Factors and other metrics as one indicator and often as a last resort. They, and you, should consider your whole portfolio. Concentrate on these things:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Produce a number of first author papers in any Impact Factor journal. New journals such as PLoSONE will publish solid work that isn’t world shattering in its significance. The ability to initiate and wrap up multiple projects is highly valued</p></li>
<li><p>Establish a focus and academic reputation for being an expert in one area or technique, especially in something that is on the up</p></li>
<li><p>Collaborate with one or perhaps two leading labs but do not spread yourself too thinly</p></li>
<li><p>Do aim for high Impact Factor papers but know when to give up – knowing when to give up is actually more important than clinging to your dreams and never saying die (something that is dangerously over-rated in my view!)</p></li>
<li><p>Most importantly, ask yourself whether you are enjoying it and whether you can handle the hard knocks that research delivers – others can sense this, and tend to support people who have resilience in their DNA.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Impact Factors and citations aren’t perfect, but nor are they worthless. Metrics are simply indicators or messengers; in themselves, they are not really the problem. </p>
<p>The problem is the rapidly escalating level of competition for grants and jobs. In our world, as it exists, one has to take many measures into account and my expectation is that hard, cold, imperfect numbers will continue to be important in science.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80079/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Merlin Crossley receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the National Health and Medical Research Council. He is on the Editorial Board of The Conversation, and of BioEssays, and on the Board of the Australian Science Media Centre (AusSMC) and the Trust of the Australian Museum.</span></em></p>Journal Impact Factors are unreliable and may be gamed. But can they still offer value?Merlin Crossley, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Education and Professor of Molecular Biology, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/728122017-02-19T08:10:16Z2017-02-19T08:10:16ZAfrica must bust the myth that girls aren’t good at maths and science<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156358/original/image-20170210-23358-1dsft65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It's often self-doubt and gender stereotyping that holds girls back from pursuing science careers.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Corinne Dufka</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Children’s ideas about what their gender means for their intellectual capacity are formed before they have <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6323/389.full">even turned six</a>. One idea that’s particularly pervasive and dangerous is that, <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0270467616655951">only boys</a> are good at maths and science.</p>
<p>Popular media only exacerbates the problem. Research <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0093650210384988">has shown</a> that girls hardly ever see adult women doing jobs that involve science, technology, engineering and maths on television programmes. Children’s programmes also rarely feature women doing anything scientific.</p>
<p>These early stereotypes may lead to young girls developing a “fear” of these subjects throughout their schooling. This ultimately limits their career aspirations. They become afraid to enter into fields that are based on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Statistics compiled by UNESCO reveal that, globally, women make up <a href="http://uis.unesco.org/sites/default/files/documents/fs34-women-in-science-2015-en.pdf">less than 30%</a> of the people working in STEM careers. The situation is worse in some countries in <a href="http://www.uis.unesco.org/_LAYOUTS/UNESCO/women-in-science/index.html#!lang=EN">sub-Saharan Africa</a>. </p>
<p>In South Africa, where I live and work, the problem is worsened by the country’s apartheid history. Today, black women are still <a href="http://waset.org/publications/10124/the-experiences-of-south-african-high-school-girls-in-a-fab-lab-environment">struggling</a> to access scientific careers at all. Those who do may fall victim to the “leaky pipeline” syndrome: they start degrees in science, but don’t continue to postgraduate level or go on to work in STEM fields. There are many reasons for this, including gender bias. </p>
<p>It’s a complex problem. So, how can it be tackled? For starters, there should be a concerted effort to raise girls in a way that encourages them to ignore stereotypical norms. The country’s basic education system also needs massive improvement when it comes to teaching maths and science so that they become attractive subject choices for more pupils. </p>
<p>But it will also require funding for bursaries, improved science communication and, linked to this, boosting scientists’ visibility so that young people – and especially girls – realise that they, too, could become scientists. Interventions with just this aim have been successful <a href="http://blogs.nature.com/ofschemesandmemes/2011/01/31/women-in-science-where-are-we-now">elsewhere in the world</a>, and there’s no reason they can’t work in Africa too.</p>
<h2>History and the present</h2>
<p>There have been some positive steps towards getting more young people, particularly women, involved in studying STEM subjects. </p>
<p>In recent years, South Africa has unveiled a number of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes to encourage women to enrol for STEM subjects. For example, <a href="http://www.nrf.ac.za/sites/default/files/documents/NRF%20Strategy%20Implementation.pdf">black women</a> held the largest share of National Research Foundation (NRF) bursary support in 2016 overall. In the areas of engineering and computer sciences, NRF funding was increased more for women though men still get the lion’s share of funding in these important subjects. The funders are trying, but because of the leaky pipeline, among other factors, there aren’t always women to take up these opportunities. </p>
<p>So while money is important, it’s not enough. Retention levels <a href="https://blogs.sjsu.edu/sciencepolicy/files/2014/07/thumb-pipeline_sci-155jw4q.jpg">are low</a>. </p>
<p>Almost <a href="https://en.unesco.org/node/252168">equal numbers</a> of males to females are entering undergraduate science based degrees. At the postgraduate levels, though, the number of men is <a href="https://en.unesco.org/node/252168">higher</a> in many science based degrees, suggesting that their female peers have left the system.</p>
<p>This isn’t a uniquely South African problem, but what drives it is different – the fact that apartheid, for the most part, kept black people out of universities. </p>
<p>As elsewhere, patriarchy is a common global factor in holding girls (and especially black girls) back. In many cultures, women are expected to be subservient to “show respect” for men and the idea that a “woman’s place is in the kitchen” persists. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156964/original/image-20170215-27402-13hhik8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156964/original/image-20170215-27402-13hhik8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156964/original/image-20170215-27402-13hhik8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156964/original/image-20170215-27402-13hhik8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156964/original/image-20170215-27402-13hhik8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156964/original/image-20170215-27402-13hhik8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=727&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156964/original/image-20170215-27402-13hhik8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=727&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156964/original/image-20170215-27402-13hhik8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=727&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gender imbalances in STEM subjects and careers are a global phenomenon.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UNESCO Science Report, Towards 2030</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There’s another issue at play: young people in Africa very rarely know any scientists. They don’t see scientists at work, learn about local scientists in school or, often, understand what it is that scientists do. The role of scientists is still a mystery to many even though there have been a <a href="http://fondationloreal.com/categories/for-women-in-science/lang/en">number</a> of great <a href="http://africanwomeninmath.org/">initiatives</a>, both global and regional, to improve science communication and engagement.</p>
<p>To fix this problem more science communication and public engagement of society in science is needed. </p>
<h2>Possible solutions</h2>
<p>All media, whether it’s print, radio, television or social platforms, should be geared towards breaking stereotypes linked to science and technology. With clever campaigns, girls will realise that they can become scientists and work in technology and innovation environments – and thrive.</p>
<p>The lack of role models is often a resounding theme for young women entering STEM careers. STEM-based content, whether it’s on TV fiction series or contained in non-fictional journalistic articles, is urgently needed. This can be developed to reach all South Africans, ideally through the SA Broadcasting Corporation’s radio and TV channels because these have incredible reach and represent all 11 of the country’s official languages.</p>
<p>Mentorship is another possible approach. Research has shown just how <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2372732214549471">valuable</a> it is for women in STEM to work with mentors. <a href="http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/7797859/?reload=true">Doing so</a> increases their access to role models, helps them to acquire and refine career development skills, allows them to set goals more effectively and provides a supportive network. All of this wards off women’s feelings of being isolated and under represented in their STEM fields. </p>
<p>A word of caution, though: individuals shouldn’t feel forced into mentorship. It must be a matter of personal choice. If universities offer mandatory mentorship programmes, these might do more harm than good by suggesting that women need more help than men to succeed.</p>
<p>Finally, society needs more messages that counter stereotypes. Schools, for instance, could teach pupils about the <a href="http://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/writing-women-back-into-science-history/">important contributions</a> made by women scientists, especially those <a href="http://ayibamagazine.com/five-african-female-scientists-you-should-definitely-know-about/">in Africa</a>, in all fields. This would improve the visibility of women in STEM – a good way to start untangling age-old stereotypes so that Africa’s future women in science don’t remain forever hidden.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/72812/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nox Makunga receives funding from the National Research Foundation (NRF), Stellenbosch University's Division of Research Development and the Technology Innovation Agency. </span></em></p>Society, parents, schools and popular media all perpetuate the myth that girls don’t have the brains or ability to be scientists. Of course, that simply isn’t true.Nox Makunga, Associate Professor: Medicinal plant biotechnology, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/702882017-01-17T17:10:41Z2017-01-17T17:10:41ZScience must grow young advocates if it wants to connect with the real world<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152413/original/image-20170111-4604-1at7o4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Children need to learn that science is worth getting excited about.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mike Hutchings/Reuters</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Science needs more “<a href="http://www.nature.com/news/let-researchers-try-new-paths-1.20857">academic hybrids</a>”: scientists who buck the stereotype of working in silos. This way of thinking must be broken if the narrative around the reality of science’s role in improving society for future generations is to change.</p>
<p>Education will be the key to smashing this stereotype, as will the creation of advocates – ordinary people who grasp just how important science is and how it can be used to change their own and their neighbours’ lives.</p>
<p>For science to have an impact there must be a genuine will to harness and implement its advances. This requires promoting a greater understanding of science in broader society: to equip people to act as advocates and place pressure on their governments to implement advances that could improve their quality of life. </p>
<p>Scientists can help create these advocates and get young people especially thinking differently about what science can be and what its many practical applications are in their own lives and countries.</p>
<p>Education is key. </p>
<h2>Helping kids think differently about science</h2>
<p>Countries need to rethink how science is taught and how to introduce children to its relevance in society and in their own daily lives.</p>
<p>This might involve connecting the fundamentals of science to everyday examples of how they have been applied, or presenting examples that are relevant to their particular society and that address its challenges. Children could learn about famous scientists who came from their countries or communities, and about the amazing discoveries they made.</p>
<p>Pupils shouldn’t just learn about the positive side of science. What’s needed is a generation of advocates who understand science’s benefits, appreciate its pitfalls and can help bring it to life for ordinary people. </p>
<p>So how do working scientists find and nurture these advocates? Sometimes all it takes is inviting pupils along to a meeting that might traditionally only feature scientists, policy makers and journalists. This was the lesson I took away from the 2015 South African Young Academy of Science Science and Society in Africa <a href="http://fact-fiction-media-science.tumblr.com/final-programme">symposium</a>, where high school pupils made thoughtful, important contributions.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152522/original/image-20170112-25870-1dnn8k5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152522/original/image-20170112-25870-1dnn8k5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152522/original/image-20170112-25870-1dnn8k5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152522/original/image-20170112-25870-1dnn8k5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152522/original/image-20170112-25870-1dnn8k5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152522/original/image-20170112-25870-1dnn8k5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152522/original/image-20170112-25870-1dnn8k5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152522/original/image-20170112-25870-1dnn8k5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">COSAT pupils Kuhle Speelman, Khanyisile Ngcolo, Jabulile Thwala and Thokozani Nqwili put scientists through their paces.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ed Young</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One was a young man who attended a Cape Town high school that <a href="http://www.cosat.co.za/">specialises in science</a>. His classmates were at the symposium and had prerecorded interviews with their peers addressing the question: “What is science’s contribution to society?” </p>
<p>Here’s what the young man said in response to that vexing question:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I don’t see any solutions from science to society’s problems because science is about theory and not practice; and society’s problems are practical.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>His response was played during a panel discussion involving working scientists and pupils. The pupils agreed with that assessment. The scientists, meanwhile, unanimously agreed that science can improve lives in areas as diverse as renewable energy and health care. But, they warned, this potential can only be realised when in the hands of people interested in advancing the common good for society and in applying science as a tool to solve societal problems. </p>
<p>The symposium aimed to promote meaningful engagement between scientists and broader society. I found it striking that pupils at a high school dedicated to science still perceive scientists as sitting in silos while everyone else gets on with real life. </p>
<h2>Making science matter to many</h2>
<p>I was reminded of that discussion – and what it tells us about society’s views of science – while attending the <a href="http://www.sfsa.co.za/">Science Forum South Africa</a> meeting at the end of 2016 in Pretoria. The forum was organised by the country’s Department of Science and Technology and its theme was “Igniting conversations about science”. </p>
<p>It was a valuable opportunity to reflect on how so many people think about science. It was also a chance to push a very important endeavour: encouraging Africa’s scientists to ensure that their research is able to genuinely address society’s issues, then to communicate it in such a way that ordinary people grasp what science really means to them. </p>
<p>But beyond these spaces, scientists have a lot of work to do to repair the disconnect between what the next generation understands to be the potential for science to contribute to African development and the perceived reality of what science does. Now, more than ever, my colleagues and I need to continue to strive to break those academic stereotypes if we are to change the narrative around the role of science for society.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70288/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tolullah Oni receives funding from the South African National Research Foundation </span></em></p>For science to have an impact there must be a genuine will to implement its advances. This requires promoting a greater understanding of science in broader society.Tolullah Oni, Associate Professor at the School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/656192016-09-21T00:01:46Z2016-09-21T00:01:46ZWhy isn’t science better? Look at career incentives<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138450/original/image-20160920-11131-1alomb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=49%2C65%2C5289%2C3660&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Experiment design affects the quality of the results.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/iaea_imagebank/8147632150">IAEA Seibersdorf Historical Images</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>There are often substantial gaps between the idealized and actual versions of those people whose work involves providing a social good. Government officials are supposed to work for their constituents. Journalists are supposed to provide unbiased reporting and penetrating analysis. And scientists are supposed to relentlessly probe the fabric of reality with the most rigorous and skeptical of methods. </p>
<p>All too often, however, what should be just isn’t so. In a number of scientific fields, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/08/28/no-sciences-reproducibility-problem-is-not-limited-to-psychology/">published findings turn out not to replicate</a>, or to have smaller effects than, what was initially purported. Plenty of science does replicate – meaning the experiments turn out the same way when you repeat them – but the amount that doesn’t is too much for comfort.</p>
<p>Much of science is about identifying relationships between variables. For example, how might certain genes increase the risk of acquiring certain diseases, or how might certain parenting styles influence children’s emotional development? To our disappointment, there are no tests that allow us to perfectly sort true associations from spurious ones. Sometimes we get it wrong, even with the most rigorous methods.</p>
<p>But there are also ways in which scientists increase their chances of getting it wrong. Running studies with small samples, mining data for correlations and forming hypotheses to fit an experiment’s results after the fact are <a href="http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/science-isnt-broken/">just some of the ways</a> to <a href="http://doi.org/10.1038/526182a">increase the number of false discoveries</a>. </p>
<p>It’s not like we don’t know how to do better. Scientists who study scientific methods have known about <a href="http://doi.org/10.1086/288135">feasible remedies for decades</a>. Unfortunately, their advice often falls on deaf ears. Why? Why aren’t scientific methods better than they are? In a word: incentives. But perhaps not in the way you think. </p>
<h2>Incentives for ‘good’ behavior</h2>
<p>In the 1970s, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campbell%27s_law">psychologists</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart%27s_law">economists</a> began to point out the danger in relying on quantitative measures for social decision-making. For example, when public schools are evaluated by students’ performance on standardized tests, teachers respond by teaching “to the test” – at the expense of broader material more important for critical thinking. In turn, the test serves largely as a measure of how well the school can prepare students for the test.</p>
<p>We can see this principle – often summarized as “when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure” – playing out in the realm of research. Science is a competitive enterprise. There are <a href="http://doi.org/10.1038/520144a">far more credentialed scholars and researchers</a> than there are university professorships or comparably prestigious research positions. Once someone acquires a research position, there is additional competition for tenure, grant funding, and support and placement for graduate students. Due to this competition for resources, scientists must be evaluated and compared. How do you tell if someone is a good scientist?</p>
<p>An oft-used metric is the number of publications one has in peer-reviewed journals, as well as the status of those journals (along with related metrics, such as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-index"><em>h</em>-index</a>, which purports to measure the rate at which a researcher’s work is cited by others). Metrics like these make it straightforward to compare researchers whose work may otherwise be quite different. Unfortunately, this also makes these numbers susceptible to exploitation. </p>
<p>If scientists are motivated to publish often and in high-impact journals, we might expect them to actively try to game the system. And certainly, some do – as seen in recent high-profile cases of scientific fraud (including in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sch%C3%B6n_scandal">physics</a>, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/28/magazine/diederik-stapels-audacious-academic-fraud.html">social psychology</a> and <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bcp.12992/full">clinical pharmacology</a>). If malicious fraud is the prime concern, then perhaps the solution is simply heightened vigilance.</p>
<p>However, most scientists are, I believe, genuinely interested in learning about the world, and honest. The problem with incentives is they can shape cultural norms without any intention on the part of individuals. </p>
<h2>Cultural evolution of scientific practices</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138454/original/image-20160920-11090-684nc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138454/original/image-20160920-11090-684nc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138454/original/image-20160920-11090-684nc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=784&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138454/original/image-20160920-11090-684nc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=784&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138454/original/image-20160920-11090-684nc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=784&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138454/original/image-20160920-11090-684nc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=986&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138454/original/image-20160920-11090-684nc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=986&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138454/original/image-20160920-11090-684nc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=986&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Scientists work within a culture of research.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/iaea_imagebank/8199500456">IAEA</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In a <a href="http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/lookup/doi/10.1098/rsos.160384">recent paper</a>, anthropologist <a href="http://xcelab.net/rm/">Richard McElreath</a> and I considered the incentives in science through the lens of <a href="http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199766567/obo-9780199766567-0038.xml">cultural evolution</a>, an emerging field that draws on ideas and models from evolutionary biology, epidemiology, psychology and the social sciences to understand cultural organization and change.</p>
<p>In our analysis, we assumed that methods associated with greater success in academic careers will, all else equal, tend to spread. The spread of more successful methods requires no conscious evaluation of how scientists do or do not “game the system.” </p>
<p>Recall that publications, particularly in high-impact journals, are the currency used to evaluate decisions related to hiring, promotions and funding. Studies that show large and surprising associations tend to be favored for publication in top journals, while small, unsurprising or complicated results are more difficult to publish.</p>
<p>But <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0020124">most hypotheses are probably wrong</a>, and performing rigorous tests of novel hypotheses (as well as coming up with good hypotheses in the first place) takes time and effort. Methods that boost false positives (incorrectly identifying a relationship where none exists) and overestimate effect sizes will, on average, allow their users to publish more often. In other words, when novel results are incentivized, methods that produce them – by whatever means – at the fastest pace will become implicitly or explicitly encouraged.</p>
<p>Over time, those shoddy methods will become associated with success, and they will tend to spread. The argument can extend beyond norms of questionable research practices to norms of misunderstanding, if those misunderstandings lead to success. For example, despite over a century of common usage, the <em>p</em>-value, a standard measure of statistical significance, is still <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00031305.2016.1154108">widely misunderstood</a>.</p>
<p>The cultural evolution of shoddy science in response to publication incentives requires no conscious strategizing, cheating or loafing on the part of individual researchers. There will always be researchers committed to rigorous methods and scientific integrity. But as long as institutional incentives reward positive, novel results at the expense of rigor, the rate of bad science, on average, will increase. </p>
<h2>Simulating scientists and their incentives</h2>
<p>There is ample evidence suggesting that publication incentives have been negatively shaping scientific research for decades. The frequency of the words <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.h6467">“innovative,” “groundbreaking” and “novel”</a> in biomedical abstracts increased by 2,500 percent or more over the past 40 years. Moreover, researchers often <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1255484">don’t report when hypotheses fail to generate positive results</a>, lest reporting such failures hinders publication.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138455/original/image-20160920-11127-ntmb9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138455/original/image-20160920-11127-ntmb9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138455/original/image-20160920-11127-ntmb9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=736&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138455/original/image-20160920-11127-ntmb9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=736&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138455/original/image-20160920-11127-ntmb9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=736&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138455/original/image-20160920-11127-ntmb9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138455/original/image-20160920-11127-ntmb9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138455/original/image-20160920-11127-ntmb9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=925&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There doesn’t need to be anything nefarious going on for scientists to stick with the suboptimal methods that help them get ahead.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/iaea_imagebank/8198415199">IAEA</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We reviewed <a href="http://www.statisticsdonewrong.com/power.html">statistical power</a> in the social and behavioral science literature. Statistical power is a quantitative measurement of a research design’s ability to identify a true association when present. The simplest way to increase statistical power is to increase one’s sample size – which also lengthens the time needed to collect data. Beginning in the 1960s, there have been <a href="http://datacolada.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/3416-Sedlmeier-Gigerenzer-Psych-Bull-1989-Do-studies-of-statistical-power-have-an-effect-on-the-power-of-studies.pdf">repeated outcries that statistical power is far too low</a>. Nevertheless, we found that statistical power, on average, <a href="http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/lookup/doi/10.1098/rsos.160384">has not increased</a>.</p>
<p>The evidence is suggestive, but it is not conclusive. To more systematically demonstrate the logic of our argument, we built a computer model in which a population of research labs studied hypotheses, only some of which were true, and attempted to publish their results.</p>
<p>As part of our analysis, we assumed that each lab exerted a characteristic level of “effort.” Increasing effort lowered the rate of false positives, and also lengthened the time between results. As in reality, we assumed that novel positive results were easier to publish than negative results. All of our simulated labs were totally honest: they never cheated. However, labs that published more were more likely to have their methods “reproduced” in new labs – just as they would be in reality as students and postdocs leave successful labs where they trained and set up their own labs. We then allowed the population to evolve.</p>
<p>The result: Over time, effort decreased to its minimum value, and the rate of false discoveries skyrocketed. </p>
<p>And replication – while a crucial tool for generating robust scientific theories – isn’t going to be science’s savior. Our simulations indicate that more replication won’t stem the evolution of bad science.</p>
<h2>Taking on the system</h2>
<p>The bottom-line message from all this is that it’s not sufficient to impose high ethical standards (assuming that were possible), nor to make sure all scientists are informed about best practices (though spreading awareness is certainly one of our goals). A culture of bad science can evolve as a result of institutional incentives that prioritize simple quantitative metrics as measures of success. </p>
<p>There are indications that the situation is improving. Journals, organizations, and universities are increasingly emphasizing <a href="http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/replication">replication</a>, <a href="https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/">open data</a>, <a href="http://blogs.plos.org/everyone/2015/02/25/positively-negative-new-plos-one-collection-focusing-negative-null-inconclusive-results/">the publication of negative results</a> and more <a href="https://www.idrc.ca/sites/default/files/sp/Documents%20EN/Research-Quality-Plus-A-Holistic-Approach-to-Evaluating-Research.pdf">holistic evaluations</a>. Internet applications such as <a href="https://twitter.com/lakens/status/774953862012755968">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFv2vS8ESkk&list=PLDcUM9US4XdMdZOhJWJJD4mDBMnbTWw_z">YouTube</a> allow education about best practices to propagate widely, along with spreading norms of holism and integrity. </p>
<p>There are also signs that the old ways are far from dead. For example, one regularly hears researchers discussed in terms of how much or where they publish. The good news is that as long as there are smart, interesting people doing science, there will always be some good science. And from where I sit, there is still quite a bit of it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65619/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Smaldino does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Embracing more rigorous scientific methods would mean getting science right more often than we currently do. But the way we value and reward scientists makes this a challenge.Paul Smaldino, Assistant Professor of Cognitive and Information Sciences, University of California, MercedLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/652842016-09-20T18:13:30Z2016-09-20T18:13:30ZAfrica’s universities can shrug off history and stage science revolutions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138073/original/image-20160916-6342-1c5hkqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The sky is the limit for African science when universities work together.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/Reuters</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>South Africa’s <a href="https://www.uwc.ac.za/Pages/default.aspx">University of the Western Cape (UWC)</a> has been ranked <a href="http://www.timeslive.co.za/scitech/2016/09/07/Sky-science-sees-University-of-the-Western-Cape-beat-big-names-in-Nature-ranking">number one</a> for Physical Science in Africa by top journal <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html">Nature</a>. Nico Orce, an associate professor with UWC’s nuclear physics and nuclear astrophysics group, tells The Conversation Africa what lessons there are for other universities on the continent – and why there’s more work to be done.</em></p>
<p><strong>UWC still serves a historically disadvantaged community and is less well-funded than many previously white universities in South Africa. Against this backdrop, what did it take for you, your colleagues and your students to get this far?</strong></p>
<p>Being ranked number one on the continent is strongly linked to the <a href="https://www.ska.ac.za">Square Kilometre Array (SKA)</a> telescope being built in South Africa. A number of UWC’s scientists are very involved in this project. </p>
<p>Smart strategic planning and a real push for funding helped to stimulate the physical sciences at UWC. That energy attracted more and more talented researchers, including post-doctoral candidates. This is a crucial way to speed up transformation: bringing in highly skilled researchers from all over the country and the world to train a new generation of local scientists.</p>
<p><strong>The sciences have had a good year at UWC. Your group is also about to become the first from an African institution to <a href="http://www.netwerk24.com/ZA/Tygerburger/Nuus/uwc-students-on-the-way-to-cern-20160830-2">lead an experiment at CERN</a>, the <a href="https://home.cern/about">European Organisation for Nuclear Research</a>. How did that happen?</strong></p>
<p>When I was finishing my degree in Fundamental Physics back in Spain I convinced some of my friends to attend a summer school at CERN. We asked the professor in charge of international exchange programmes to sign our applications. He told us with malicious pleasure that, “Only the crème de la crème goes to CERN – students from Harvard, Oxford or Cambridge. You come from the University of Granada. I cannot believe you even thought of it.” He wouldn’t sign it, so there went our slight chance of working at CERN.</p>
<p>Since then, I promised myself that one day I would go to CERN through the big door and open it up to the ones behind me: young hopeful students.</p>
<p>That promise came to fruition in September 2013 when our group’s proposal to run an experiment at CERN was approved. Our work, which will finally be conducted in November 2016, involves measuring the nuclear shapes of very rare nuclei. Some of our postgraduates have already received training, and did so well that they were awarded a prestigious CERN fellowship.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138236/original/image-20160919-11108-es00iq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138236/original/image-20160919-11108-es00iq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138236/original/image-20160919-11108-es00iq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138236/original/image-20160919-11108-es00iq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138236/original/image-20160919-11108-es00iq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138236/original/image-20160919-11108-es00iq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138236/original/image-20160919-11108-es00iq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138236/original/image-20160919-11108-es00iq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">UWC students (bottom from left to right) Kenzo Abrahams, Makabata Mokgolobotho and Craig Mehl. They are with CERN employees, including (back, second from left) Professor Maria Garcia Borge.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Supplied</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This experiment will open the doors of CERN to all African institutions. We walked through first. Now others will be able to follow.</p>
<p><strong>Enrolling more women students, as well as those who are not white and those from poor backgrounds, is a huge imperative for South African universities. Are you getting that right in the Physics department?</strong></p>
<p>One of the Physics and Astronomy Department’s highest priorities is to attract and enthuse South African students. We have strong outreach programmes to achieve this. One that I like very much is when we give talks to high school students; those in Grades 10, 11 and 12 who are close to finishing school. Our staff members and postgraduates present examples of the work we do.</p>
<p>It’s especially amazing when one of our postgraduates returns to their own school. You should have heard the eruption when one postgraduate, Sivuyile Xabanisa, told kids at his Khayelitsha high school that he was studying the oldest stars in the universe – and going to Oxford University as part of his training.</p>
<p>We also invite high school groups to events organised at the university. In 2013 <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2012/haroche-facts.html">Serge Haroche</a> visited our Science Research Open Day. He was the 2012 Nobel Laureate in Physics. The auditorium practically shook with excitement when he handed over a new microscope to pupils from a high school in Wallacedene, a poor area quite close to UWC.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-ipl6CLiLnc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Nobel Laureate Serge Haroche visits the University of the Western Cape.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another really valuable initiative has been the MaNus/MatSci programme for Nuclear Science and Material Science. In the same way that the SKA is driving strong growth in astronomy, this Honours and Masters programme is attracting growing numbers of future nuclear physicists. It trains about 25 South African students each year, most of them black and from poor backgrounds. These students are drawn from historically disadvantaged institutions like the universities of Fort Hare, Venda, Limpopo and the North West – and from UWC’s undergraduate programmes.</p>
<p>All of this work and outreach has produced impressive results. Today there are more than 100 postgraduate students in the Physics and Astronomy Department. Most of them are black South Africans from historically disadvantaged backgrounds. </p>
<p><strong>What are the lessons other African institutions’ science faculties and individual departments can learn from UWC’s recent successes?</strong></p>
<p>We need to break history to change things dramatically. And we must do it the South African, or African way – using our own strengths and methods, not adopting European approaches.</p>
<p>Universities need to work harder to make sure women and all races are equally represented in their science classrooms. At UWC we’ve got a number of postgraduate women students who are doing great science, winning awards and raising the bar for everyone. Having women there makes other women realise the door is open for them. In the same way, having postgraduates like Sivuyile Xabanisa visiting schools in poorer communities makes pupils realise they also have a place in science labs. Role models are so important.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138237/original/image-20160919-11090-sfbdlu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138237/original/image-20160919-11090-sfbdlu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138237/original/image-20160919-11090-sfbdlu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138237/original/image-20160919-11090-sfbdlu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138237/original/image-20160919-11090-sfbdlu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138237/original/image-20160919-11090-sfbdlu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138237/original/image-20160919-11090-sfbdlu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/138237/original/image-20160919-11090-sfbdlu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">UWC’s Dr Nico Orce with pupils from Khayelitsha’s Zola High School.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Supplied</span></span>
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<p>Ultimately, UWC wants to be number one for physical science not just in Africa but in the world. To do that, we cannot constantly fight among ourselves as individual researchers or with other institutions on the continent. The only competition we need is the healthy sort that improves everyone’s performance. </p>
<p>Collaboration is really crucial. UWC applied for about R30 million from country’s the National Research Foundation and its Department of Science and Technology to build a new detector system called <a href="https://www.uwc.ac.za/Faculties/NS/NuclearPhysics/Pages/Gamka.aspx">GAMKA</a>.</p>
<p>The construction will happen at iThemba LABS in Cape Town and involves a consortium of both wealthy and less well resourced universities. We’ll all have to work closely together, with the same aim, to be successful. That’s the key to making African science soar: knowing that if you try to do it alone, you won’t have all the skills or equipment. Together we can lead science worldwide through work done right here on the continent.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65284/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nico Orce receives funding from the National Research Foundation (NRF), the South African-CERN Collaboration (Department of Science and Technology) and the University of the Western Cape.</span></em></p>Collaboration is one of the keys to making African science soar: when the continent’s universities work together, they can produce amazing results.Nico Orce, Associate Professor in the Department of Nuclear Physics and Nuclear Astrophysics, University of the Western CapeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/622452016-07-12T13:11:15Z2016-07-12T13:11:15ZThe right support can help scientists turn their best ideas into businesses<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130023/original/image-20160711-9289-1fz2vxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Scientists can find it tough to turn a great idea or innovation into a successful business.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Science can – and <a href="http://undsci.berkeley.edu/article/whathassciencedone_01">frequently does</a> – change the world. But it’s one thing to come up with a brilliant idea and an entirely different thing to bring it to life. Scientists aren’t <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19726442-400-science-entrepreneurs-need-better-business-skills/">necessarily</a> business people. The good news, Dr Imogen Wright says, is that support for young scientists who want to commercialise their ideas is growing across Africa.</em> </p>
<p><em>Wright, an academic who co-founded a <a href="http://www.bioplanet.com/what-is-bioinformatics/">bioinformatics</a> company in South Africa, chatted to The Conversation Africa’s science and technology editor Natasha Joseph about what’s changing.</em></p>
<p><strong>Your PhD, which is in bioinformatics, involved designing and implementing an algorithm. This is now used by the company you co-founded, <a href="https://hyraxbio.co.za/">Hyrax Biosciences</a>. So what came first: the algorithm or the business idea? Or did they grow together?</strong></p>
<p>Actually, something even more important preceded both: I had the right supervisor. I first spoke to Professor Simon Travers in 2011 while hunting for a PhD topic. We discussed an intractable problem he faced in his HIV research group at South Africa’s University of the Western Cape.</p>
<p>Essentially, a new technology called “next-generation” sequencing had the potential to greatly reduce the cost of HIV drug resistance testing. But no sufficiently accurate software existed that could analyse the vast quantities of noisy data produced by the machines.</p>
<p>Instead of waiting patiently for the tools to catch up to the hardware, Simon took a more direct approach – and a bit of a leap of faith. He hired me to do a high-performance computing project in a bioinformatics lab even though I was ignorant about biology and he didn’t have a computer science background. Because we were each brave enough to learn a new discipline to get the job done, we ended up making something entirely novel. That laid the groundwork for a much greater leap of faith: starting a business together.</p>
<p>We’re four co-founders and a number of PhD students and employees made crucial contributions: it takes a village to build something worthwhile. Ultimately the decision we made to turn <a href="http://www.designindaba.com/articles/creative-work/exatype-changing-face-arv-treatments">Exatype</a>, our HIV drug resistance testing platform, into a business, hinged on our desire to see it commercialised in a way that would actually benefit the people we were trying to help. That still drives our efforts and is the reason we’re focusing on TB drug resistance next.</p>
<p><strong>You’re a scientist, from your undergraduate degree all the way through to your PhD. How did you get involved in the business side of things?</strong></p>
<p>While I’m now firmly in the “applied” science box, I believe basic scientific research is essential. I’ve been lucky enough to see both ends of the spectrum. My master’s was in some pretty esoteric theoretical physics, but immediately afterwards I worked as a developer at Amazon on its <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/">Elastic Compute Cloud</a> service. When I went back to academia to begin a PhD, I found I had a completely different attitude. I wanted to build systems that had real practical value. So when Simon floated the idea of turning Exatype into a business I jumped at the chance.</p>
<p><strong>What sort of skills should young scientists be developing if their work involves dreaming up, designing and implementing products that could be parlayed into business ideas?</strong></p>
<p>The most critical asset a scientist has is academic integrity. There’s absolutely never a reason to sacrifice that for commercial success. Many young scientists are worried about moving into business because they’ll stop being “proper scientists”, but I’ve found that to be nonsense. The market is utterly ruthless, with flimsy claims of novelty that don’t stand up to scrutiny. </p>
<p>Scientists who want to build companies should have at least a little experience of how a company works on the inside. It’s particularly critical to learn to listen to your customers and empathise with them: build what they want, not what you want! Leadership and management skills are also very important, and can be learnt. I’ve benefited hugely from the skills I learnt in my time with the <a href="http://www.africaleadership.net/yali/">Young African Leaders’ Initiative</a>.</p>
<p>Luckily though, many of the skills that are important in academia are equally important in business. The ability to give a compelling 30-second pitch – but an equally compelling hour-long presentation – is a prerequisite as an entrepreneur and as a researcher. If I could give one piece of practical advice, it would be this: practise every presentation 20 times before you give it to an audience. Obsessive, perhaps, but it works.</p>
<p><strong>In your experience – having worked in South Africa and recently picked up <a href="https://www.uwc.ac.za/News/Pages/UWC-Researcher-Dr-Imogen-Wright-Runner-Up-for-the-African-Innovation-Prize.aspx">a pan-African award</a> – is there enough support for scientists who want to build businesses?</strong></p>
<p>There are great routes to entrepreneurship becoming available to scientists through South African universities. Our company has benefited enormously from this – the University of the Western Cape’s technology transfer office has been an incredible support. They’ve helped us license and protect our intellectual property, guided us in how to set up the company, made us aware of promotion opportunities and advised us on everything from accounts to hiring.</p>
<p>It’s quite a leap to go from tinkering in a lab to meeting with large corporate customers and navigating legal implications. We needed a lot of guidance in the beginning but they were there to help us through it.</p>
<p>There is always a risk involved in starting a business, but universities are prioritising innovation like never before, as are initiatives like the South African Medical Research Council’s <a href="http://ship.mrc.ac.za/">Strategic Health Innovation Partnership</a> and the <a href="http://innovationprizeforafrica.org/">Innovation Prize for Africa</a>. What we need now is a generation of young African scientists with the tenacity to see their ideas through to the market. </p>
<p>It shouldn’t be a secret that starting a business provides the most deeply challenging, rewarding career possible and that this is particularly true for young, highly-qualified scientists.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62245/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Imogen Wright co-founded Hyrax Biosciences. Her work is supported by the Strategic Health Innovation Partnership (SHIP) Unit of the South African Medical Research Council with funds received from the South African Department of Science and Technology. </span></em></p>Science and business don’t often go together, but that’s changing as more scientists realise that their best ideas can be commercialised.Imogen Wright, Postdoctoral Fellow in Bioinformatics, University of the Western CapeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/565542016-06-20T10:05:16Z2016-06-20T10:05:16ZBig data jobs are out there – are you ready?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126186/original/image-20160610-29216-113xpcm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Perhaps your career path is paved with big data.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/artbystevejohnson/4647538238">Steve Johnson</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Big data is increasingly becoming part of everyday life. Network security companies use it to <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/huawei/2015/02/24/how-do-big-data-analytics-enhance-network-security/#3296b0087684">improve the accuracy of their intrusion detection services</a>. Dating services use it to <a href="http://dataconomy.com/can-big-data-save-your-love-life/">help clients find soulmates</a>. It can enhance the efficiency and accuracy of <a href="https://theconversation.com/machine-learning-and-big-data-know-it-wasnt-you-who-just-swiped-your-credit-card-48561">fraud detection</a>, in turn helping protect your personal finances.</p>
<p>“Big data” is a catchall term for any data set of exceedingly large volume. It could be transaction information at a credit card company, invoice data at an online retailer, meteorological measurements from a weather station. All these data sets have <a href="http://www-01.ibm.com/software/data/bigdata/images/4-Vs-of-big-data.jpg">unique characteristics</a> that make it extremely difficult to use conventional computing technologies and techniques to store and process them for analysis. Their variety is daunting, and high velocity is required to handle them in a timely manner. </p>
<p>Organizations in any field can <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesinsights/2013/11/15/survey-demonstrates-the-benefits-of-big-data">use big data to enhance their effectiveness</a>, which is why there are seemingly <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/04/big-data-is-creating-big-career-opportunites.html">unlimited career opportunities in big data</a> these days. The big data industry is growing fast, with the market predicted to grow at a compound annual growth rate of <a href="http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS40560115">23.1 percent over the 2014-2019 period</a>.</p>
<p>So who is going to store, manage and process all this information? Well, why not you? <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/louiscolumbus/2015/11/16/where-big-data-jobs-will-be-in-2016/#23c16052f7f1">Companies are starved for people</a> with this kind of expertise. Big data is a growth industry and people from a variety of academic backgrounds can find successful careers in this area.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126194/original/image-20160610-29209-1bxzrp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126194/original/image-20160610-29209-1bxzrp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/126194/original/image-20160610-29209-1bxzrp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126194/original/image-20160610-29209-1bxzrp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126194/original/image-20160610-29209-1bxzrp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126194/original/image-20160610-29209-1bxzrp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126194/original/image-20160610-29209-1bxzrp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/126194/original/image-20160610-29209-1bxzrp4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Get ready, get set….</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/worldbank/8119464626">World Bank Photo Collection</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
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<h2>Many backgrounds lead to big data</h2>
<p>But you didn’t major in “big data”? Don’t worry. Your academic background shouldn’t be an inhibiting factor when you start to contemplate becoming a big data professional.</p>
<p>People working in fields such as physics, bioinformatics, statistics, political science and psychology are already heavy users and analyzers of a large amount of data. Transition from these types of disciplines to big data analytics could be relatively smooth.</p>
<p>If your original education and training didn’t focus on data, that’s not necessarily a problem. Your own discipline-specific knowledge, insights and perspectives can be valuable when figuring out how to leverage big data in the most sensible way. The only catch is you need to be willing and able to acquire the technical skills necessary to either analyze or work with big data.</p>
<h2>Types of jobs in this field</h2>
<p>Despite the unique nature of each big data career, there are <a href="http://www.datasciencecentral.com/profiles/blogs/top-big-data-skills-in-demand">common categories of jobs or career paths</a>.</p>
<p>The most fundamental of these focus on <strong>data infrastructure</strong> – how the data is actually housed and accessed. These infrastructure jobs involve developing and maintaining the necessary hardware and software. A cloud computing environment is especially well equipped to handle big data due to its scalable nature.</p>
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<span class="caption">You can do this….</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/hackny/7033121879">hackNY.org</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p><strong>Big data management</strong> professionals rely on the data infrastructure to actually populate it with data and manipulate them. Conventional database management workers are natural candidates who could be trained quickly to work as big data management experts. They already have general database management knowledge. But they need to get up to speed on dealing with big data. These can be much more unstructured than what you find in a traditional database, where each record conforms to a certain structure in the form of data fields and types. Imagine a student record, with discrete first name and last name fields. Big data often doesn’t have this kind of nice organization: It can be as unstructured as a bunch of Twitter feeds or Facebook postings by millions of users.</p>
<p><strong>Statisticians</strong> are essential in the big data industry. They’re the number crunchers who specialize in analyzing and interpreting the data. There are many advanced techniques used by statisticians, which require years of training. They depend on the data infrastructure providers and data management workers to store and retrieve their source data for further processing.</p>
<p><strong>Visualization specialists</strong> are also key in the big data industry. One of the most critical aspects of big data analytics is communicating the results of an analysis to decision-makers – and they often lack expertise in data interpretation or statistics. Visualization empowers a layperson to understand the significance and implication of the numbers produced by a big data analytics effort. Think about being presented with a large set of numbers that you’re told indicate a changing climate. It’s a lot easier to understand the data’s significance when shown a graph with a sharp turn upwards, implying exponential growth.</p>
<p>Finally, <strong>machine learning</strong> experts focus on automating the statistical and visual interpretations of big data. Automation is critical, especially when the amount of data to be analyzed is beyond human capabilities – as is the case in most big data scenarios. Machine learning is based on self-learning algorithms. These computer programs autonomously enhance their own performance and accuracy through trial and error.</p>
<p>Many <a href="http://soda.la.psu.edu/">curricula</a> available <a href="http://bdss.psu.edu">today</a> through <a href="http://www.worldcampus.psu.edu/degrees-and-certificates/data-analytics-base/overview">universities</a> provide <a href="http://news.psu.edu/story/369629/2015/09/15/academics/penn-state-offers-big-data-undergraduate-major">foundational knowledge</a> in all the technical areas of big data. Students can eventually pick their specialty, which can be further honed in a graduate program.</p>
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<span class="caption">Keep yourself open to learning new things….</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeronimooo/10948541693">jeronimo sanz</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
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<h2>Expected qualities and skills</h2>
<p>One of the <a href="http://www.datasciencecentral.com/profiles/blogs/data-scientist-core-skills">core qualities</a> often found in <a href="http://blog.udacity.com/2014/11/data-science-job-skills.html">big data professionals</a> is <a href="https://powermore.dell.com/business/5-essential-skills-for-big-data-scientists/">willingness to learn</a>. The big data landscape is dynamic and constantly requires continuing education. To survive in this environment, you should <a href="http://www.eremedia.com/ere/want-top-performing-hires-learning-ability-may-be-the-no-1-predictor/">enjoy learning new skills</a> and be unafraid of trying out novel technologies.</p>
<p>And the most successful big data worker isn’t just a numbers geek. People in this area also need to have a business mindset. Companies are always eager to leverage the information stemming from their big data analyses. They’re looking for people who naturally make connections between actionable information and what the companies are striving to accomplish in both the short and long term. If you aren’t interested in linking these two interests, your job security may eventually be at risk.</p>
<p>You could focus on any one of these areas of big data – data infrastructure, data management, statistics, visualization, machine learning – and become an expert. Another option is to become a generalist; you have exposure to all these technical requirements and as a project manager work with the specialist to solve any given problem.</p>
<p>As a university professor specializing in information sciences and technology, I encounter many students who figure out their true passion for big data only during their senior year while doing their job search; by then, they’ve missed a golden opportunity to prepare themselves academically for this thriving emerging profession. The earlier this epiphany comes before graduation, the better. But there’s nothing holding back grad students or adult learners from investing their time wisely and acquiring the necessary skills. This is especially true in the field of big data analytics due to the abundance of learning resources in the form of both self-learning and traditional education.</p>
<p>What are you waiting for? Start your journey today.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/56554/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jungwoo Ryoo receives funding from National Science Foundation and IBM. </span></em></p>Most industries tap into big data these days – meaning more and more jobs are opening up in this field. Here’s some background on the skills and qualities you’d use as a modern big data professional.Jungwoo Ryoo, Associate Professor of Information Sciences and Technology at Altoona campus, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/552372016-02-26T04:02:58Z2016-02-26T04:02:58ZMaths and science are the keys to unlocking Africa’s potential<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/112511/original/image-20160223-16447-11f8azp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It's time for Africa to produce the technology it needs, rather than being largely a consumer.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Nic Bothma</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Angelina Lutambi was born into a peasant family in Tanzania’s <a href="http://dthd.org/who-we-are/about-tanzania/">Dodoma region</a>, where HIV/AIDS has decimated much of the population. Her future could easily have been bleak – but Angelina had a keen aptitude for maths. She financed her own schooling by selling cold drinks with her siblings and was awarded a grant to study at the University of Dar Es Salaam.</p>
<p>In 2004 she went to the South African <a href="https://www.aims.ac.za/en/about/about-aims">centre</a> of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences <a href="http://www.nexteinstein.org">(AIMS)</a>. Since then, Angelina has obtained her PhD in epidemiology from the University of Basel in Switzerland. </p>
<p>Today Angelina is a senior research scientist at the Ifakara Health Institute in her native Tanzania. There, she devises mathematical, statistical and computational models to inform and advise public health decisions on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and other major diseases.</p>
<p>Africa has many other deep-rooted problems, including poverty, corruption and war. Could these also be tackled through the sort of work that Angelina and her colleagues are doing? Could Africa’s problems be solved through mathematical science?</p>
<h2>Africa must produce its own technology</h2>
<p>Such a proposal might sound outlandish while so many people still lack basic necessities like food, clean water and medicine. In the long view of history, however, mathematics and science have served as the foundation of modern society because they underlie every technology – from plumbing to telecommunications, medicine to satellites. </p>
<p>But the continent has another problem. It is largely a consumer rather than a producer of the technologies it needs. If this doesn’t change, Africa will remain dependent and subject to outside control, its economies dominated by others’ exploitation of its natural resources. Africa will never escape from its reliance on international aid until it builds the capacity to develop itself.</p>
<p>Computers, mobile communications, and medical technologies are the modern engines of commerce, prosperity and public health. Africa will remain sidelined in these areas unless it nurtures its own experts, pioneers, and innovators. </p>
<h2>Attitudes towards maths in Africa</h2>
<p>This is the motivation behind AIMS, a network of training centres across the continent created to empower brilliant young Africans to become agents of change through advanced maths and science.</p>
<p>Our slogan – that the next Einstein should be African – is a signal of how high we are aiming. </p>
<p>It is not an easy task. As a native South African, I have travelled widely in many parts of the continent. Across Africa, maths is often viewed as an ivory tower pursuit, an impractical study with little connection to the real world. University maths departments are often the shabbiest on campus. </p>
<p>Many students only take the subject as a second choice. From primary school onwards, maths is all too often taught by rote learning and memorisation. But it is critical analysis, independent thinking and creativity that are the <a href="http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/journals/ed_lead/el_196010_mallinson.pdf">real keys</a> to maths and science excellence.</p>
<p>These attitudes linger even beyond school and university. Elsewhere in the world, the most successful companies – Google and Facebook, for example – recruit top maths graduates straight out of university to write the complex codes that define our experience of the digital world. From big data to artificial intelligence to intelligent cities and communities, the gears of prosperity are increasingly powered by mathematical algorithms. </p>
<h2>Bringing African scientists together</h2>
<p>AIMS is a pan-African initiative. There are five centres so far, in Senegal, Cameroon, Ghana, Tanzania and South Africa. Ten more are planned over the next decade, creating a powerful network that will span the continent. </p>
<p>Every centre has a fantastic, highly motivated, pan-African student body. AIMS’ classes are incredibly diverse – a mosaic of languages, ethnicities, languages and religions. More than 30% of the students are women.</p>
<p>Through their common interest in maths, science and the future of Africa, the students are able to transcend the cultural and other differences that have historically divided them. </p>
<p>Over the past decade, AIMS has graduated a thousand students at Masters and PhD level. But its centres don’t just train brilliant young Africans in Africa. They also serve as a magnet attracting those who have studied abroad back to Africa, to work as scientific researchers. </p>
<p>Wilfred Ndifon from Cameroon is one: he took his PhD at Princeton but has returned to AIMS as a junior research chair. Wilfred has just <a href="https://theconversation.com/africas-answer-to-70-year-old-problem-of-how-to-beat-repeat-infections-50920">solved</a> a 70-year-old immunological puzzle called original antigenic sin, which has implications for improving vaccines. </p>
<p>AIMS also brings top international scientists to Africa to share and propagate their knowledge. This international reach is important, because the whole globe has a stake in Africa’s future. </p>
<p>Our globalised, interconnected world means that Africa’s challenges – whether starvation-driven migration or diseases like <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-africa-cant-afford-to-have-an-outbreak-of-the-zika-virus-53738">Zika</a> or <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/chikungunya/">Chikungunya</a> or terrorism – quickly become challenges to all. These problems will only worsen with climate change, population growth, unemployment and insecurity unless Africans are encouraged and empowered to improve their countries’ conditions.</p>
<p>In March 2016, more than 500 bright scientific minds and international leaders will gather in Senegal for the inaugural <a href="http://nef.org/">Next Einstein Forum</a>, organised by AIMS. The three-day summit will highlight emerging scientific and technical talent in Africa and elsewhere, and fuel collaboration which puts this talent to work in the cause of human development. </p>
<p>The summit’s theme is “Connecting Science to Humanity”. It will be an occasion for the most enlightened African and international scientists and leaders to strengthen their commitment to helping young people help Africa.</p>
<p>The problems facing Africa are complex and there are no easy answers. But one of the lessons we’ve learned in science is that the hardest problems are the ones that eventually yield the most important – and the most wonderful – solutions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/55237/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Neil Turok is affiliated with AIMS – serving as the Chair of its Board of Trustees.</span></em></p>Africa has deep-rooted problems: poverty, disease, corruption and war. Could these be solved through mathematical science?Neil Turok, Director and Niels Bohr Chair, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical PhysicsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/382642015-03-03T11:50:54Z2015-03-03T11:50:54ZExplainer: when should children start to think about their careers?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73594/original/image-20150303-31835-kbn4ub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What do you want to be when you grow up?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Children and future jobs via Rawpixel/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Labour’s shadow education minister Tristram Hunt <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/give-girls-career-advice-before-the-age-of-10-says-shadow-education-secretary-10077672.html">argued recently for the introduction of career education into primary schools</a>, particularly for girls. But should we start talking about the world of work at primary school or is this far too early to be meaningful or appropriate?</p>
<p>Career education in primary school is not the invention of a Labour politician. It has existed in various forms for decades in a number of countries including England. </p>
<p>In 2010, the Department for Education (DfE) published an <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/182663/DFE-RR116.pdf">evaluation of career education in primary schools</a> which found that young people who participated in career education increased their knowledge about the types of work and the pathways that could be followed to get there. It also found some evidence that pupils were more confident about their ability to achieve their aspirations. </p>
<h2>Careers can work in primary school</h2>
<p>School-based careers work has been <a href="http://derby.openrepository.com/derby/bitstream/10545/333866/1/Advancing%20Ambitions%20-%206.11.14.pdf">found to have a number of positive impacts</a>, including supporting increased attainment and engagement with school. The DfE’s evaluation of primary careers education found that this was also true for primary age children who became more positive about school. The evaluation also identified a decrease in stereotypical thinking about careers from pupils who participated. </p>
<p>This recent evidence in English schools suggests that career education can work in primary schools. The purpose of such career education is not to sort young people into particular careers, as critics often fear, but rather to increase young people’s awareness of a range of life opportunities and how to access them. </p>
<p>This kind of exploratory learning about the world and your place within it can sit very easily within the context of primary education. </p>
<h2>Aspirations start early</h2>
<p>A key rationale for starting career education early is drawn from evidence which shows that young people form their aspirations and ideas about careers long before they are ready to join the labour market. </p>
<p>Research by American psychologists Ashton Trice and Kimberly Rush <a href="http://www.amsciepub.com/doi/abs/10.2466/pms.1995.81.2.701?journalCode=pms">found that</a> four-year olds typically articulated a strong gender bias in their thinking about jobs, with boys tending to express interest in typically male occupations and girls in typically female occupations. </p>
<p>Research led by Vanessa Moulton at the <a href="http://www.llcsjournal.org/index.php/llcs/article/view/277">Institute of Education found </a> that most seven-year-olds had “realistic” rather than “fantasy” aspirations – for example, they want to be a police officer rather than a dragon. They also found that children’s aspirations had a relationship with their classroom behaviour.</p>
<p>In the 1980s, US psychologist Linda Gottfredson <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/cou/28/6/545/">theorised</a> about the process of identity formation, arguing that young people typically go through a series of age-related stages during which they, often unconsciously, shape their occupational aspirations in relation to social expectations. She argued that much of this process has occurred before young people reach secondary school.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73595/original/image-20150303-31839-1dwtwxk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73595/original/image-20150303-31839-1dwtwxk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73595/original/image-20150303-31839-1dwtwxk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73595/original/image-20150303-31839-1dwtwxk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73595/original/image-20150303-31839-1dwtwxk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73595/original/image-20150303-31839-1dwtwxk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73595/original/image-20150303-31839-1dwtwxk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Inspiring the next generation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Girl scientist via Andresr/Shutterstock</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>In a series of articles, King’s College London education researcher Louise Archer and her colleagues have explored young people’s attitudes to science and science careers. They’ve demonstrated that <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/sce.20399/abstract?systemMessage=Wiley+Online+Library+will+be+disrupted+on+7th+March+from+10%3A00-13%3A00+GMT+%2806%3A00-09%3A00+EST%29+for+essential+maintenance.++Apologies+for+the+inconvenience.&userIsAuthenticated=false&deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=">identity is formed early</a> and that it typically intersects with gender, ethnicity and class in ways that do not support the government’s policy aspirations for social mobility.</p>
<p>The rationale for starting career education in primary school is therefore strong. If young people’s aspirations are to be broadened, this needs to happen at the point at which they are developing these aspirations. </p>
<p>This is not new to scholars of career education and guidance who typically pronounce that career education should start early and be in place well before young people have to make any decisions with lifetime impacts – such as GCSE choices at age 13.</p>
<h2>What’s the best age to start?</h2>
<p>There has been little systematic work looking at the age at which primary career education should start. But there are a number of studies that provide some insights. One <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1468-0122.00100/abstract?systemMessage=Wiley+Online+Library+will+be+disrupted+on+7th+March+from+10%3A00-13%3A00+GMT+%2806%3A00-09%3A00+EST%29+for+essential+maintenance.++Apologies+for+the+inconvenience">study</a> found that a programme aimed at Year 4 (eight and nine-year-old children) fitted well into the primary curriculum and that the children who participated in it were able to remember much of significance five months later. </p>
<p>Much guidance on good practice has emerged in this area, codified in the <a href="http://www.cegnet.co.uk/uploads/resources/ACEG-Framework-final.pdf">Career Development Institute’s curriculum framework</a>, which suggests starting formal career education at key stage two (age seven and up). This doesn’t mean that younger children shouldn’t have opportunities to learn about work, but at present this has generally been done informally or through occasional projects such “what do you want to do when you grow up” or “what jobs do your family do?”</p>
<p>There are strong reasons for starting career education early which relate to social equity. Primary career education has a long history, albeit one that is often interrupted by frequent lurches in policy. In general, educators have developed primary career education programmes from the age of seven and where they have been evaluated this has been found to be effective and to fit well into the wider primary curriculum.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/38264/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tristram Hooley is a member of the Careers Sector Strategic Alliance (a stakeholder body for the careers sector) and regularly advises government and professional bodies on career education and guidance. </span></em></p>Careers advice for primary school children helps bust stereotypes and boost aspirations.Tristram Hooley, Professor Tristram Hooley, Professor of Career Education and Head of International Centre for Guidance Studies, University of DerbyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/362672015-01-16T14:05:04Z2015-01-16T14:05:04ZMaking guys play with dolls won’t create an army of men working as carers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/69252/original/image-20150116-5188-f3zp2d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Let's bring out the dolls. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-200013182/stock-photo-two-girls-and-boy-with-toys-on-floor-at-home.html?src=veda58e1wTs_2QYlnv2v0w-1-21">Toddlers playing via Daria Filimonova/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The equalities minister, Jo Swinson, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-30794476">has suggested that boys</a> should be encouraged to play with dolls to make them more “nurturing and caring”. This is apparently in the hope that they will become more likely to work in the adult care sector when they grow up and help to avoid a predicted future shortage of professional carers.</p>
<p>Her comments suggest that boys are less caring than girls, that playing with dolls will make you more caring, and that being more caring will make you want to become a professional carer. If only fixing the <a href="https://theconversation.com/care-workers-need-support-instead-of-being-scapegoated-26257">problems in our caring professions</a> were that simple. </p>
<h2>Same tired rhetoric</h2>
<p>The idea that boys need any training of this sort is buying into a popular stereotype that only girls are nurturing and caring. It is unfortunate that an equalities minister is seen to be emphasising such differences. Much has been written about the realities (or otherwise) of <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Delusions_of_Gender.html?id=PXhyRAAACAAJ">gender differences</a>, demonstrating that where there are differences they are very small and that the differences within groups of females and males are much greater than any <a href="http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115057">differences between them</a>. </p>
<p>It has also been shown that almost all of the psychological “categories” to which the sexes tend to be assigned (girls are empathic, boys like science) are actually “dimensions”, with a wide range of scores, throughout which males and females are pretty equally spread. This includes empathy and “care orientation”. As American psychologists Bobbi Carothers and Harry Reis <a href="https://www.psych.rochester.edu/people/reis_harry/assets/pdf/CarothersReis_2012.pdf">put it</a>: “Men and women are from earth” or, even better, gender differences are: “<a href="http://cdp.sagepub.com/content/23/1/19.abstract?rss=1">Black and white or shades of gray</a>”. </p>
<h2>What qualities a carer needs</h2>
<p>But are too many boys lacking in the “right stuff” to be carers? A search of <a href="http://www.thecareagency.co.uk/index.php/become-a-carer">job description sites</a> reveals an emphasis on patience and the fact that no academic qualifications are necessary. There is no clear definition of what qualities a carer needs. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/69236/original/image-20150116-5206-fazxpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/69236/original/image-20150116-5206-fazxpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69236/original/image-20150116-5206-fazxpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69236/original/image-20150116-5206-fazxpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69236/original/image-20150116-5206-fazxpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69236/original/image-20150116-5206-fazxpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69236/original/image-20150116-5206-fazxpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">More men needed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-224070475/stock-photo-male-nurse-assisting-senior-man-in-using-laptop-at-nursing-home-porch.html?src=RFqzY9D5kL02Wu0GBs40RA-1-96">Male nurse via Tyler Olson/Shutterstock</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>But if we settle on “agreeableness and tendermindedness”, <a href="http://psychology.about.com/od/personalitydevelopment/a/bigfive.htm">one of the big five personality traits</a>, and “empathy”, there is some evidence of relevant <a href="http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115057">differences between the genders</a> in large populations of adults. But the effect sizes are small and the size of the differences <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11519935">vary across cultures</a>. This flexibility would counteract the suggestion that traits such as empathy are biologically determined and that sex differences in empathic behaviour are related to fixed <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Essential_Difference.html?id=6xyPPPDo0KkC&redir_esc=y">sex-differences in brain function</a>. </p>
<p>Recent research found that although a group of girls rated themselves as more empathic than a group of boys, there <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878929312000710">were no sex differences</a> in brain responses to animated clips of people being hurt. As these type of behavioural findings are almost invariably based on self-reported measures, we may be looking at an element of self-fulfilling prophecy here, with women and men aware of the different characteristics attributed to their particular gender and describing themselves accordingly.</p>
<h2>Toys and careers</h2>
<p>The question then falls to whether a choice or preference for a type of toy can affect a person’s eventual career choice. There has certainly been <a href="http://www.lettoysbetoys.org.uk/about-2/">much criticism</a> of the way in which the clear gender divide in toy marketing could contribute to the maintenance of sex or gender stereotypes which could in turn influence the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25857895">types of careers </a> that people feel are open to them. </p>
<p>Much of this criticism has been in the arena of <a href="https://theconversation.com/arguing-over-whether-girls-cant-or-wont-study-science-stops-us-fixing-the-problem-29725">overcoming the gender gap</a> in science and maths subjects. The under-representation of women has been <a href="http://www.imeche.org/news/engineering/toy-story">explicitly linked, among other things, to the lack of early experiences</a> with construction toys such as LEGO, as opposed to a biological determinist view that poor spatial skills are linked to genetically determined brain differences.</p>
<p>Jo Swinson likened her suggestions about boys and dolls to these campaigns. But there is a well-defined profile of the type of specific cognitive skills that are needed in science, technology, engineering and maths subjects. There is a considerable <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21906988">body of research</a> that shows how these skills can be acquired, improved and maintained. The same does not appear to be true of the caring profession. The necessary, though ill-defined, skills appear to be much more in the domain of personality characteristics, where there is much less evidence of how experiences can alter somebody’s personality profile. </p>
<p>I am absolutely in favour of findings ways to encourage all children to be nurturing and caring and be responsible for other people’s well-being. It doesn’t have to be dolls – caring for an animal or tending a garden can have the same effect. If the shortage of professional carers is the problem, then a better solution for this government might be to address the absence of a decent career structure and the low rates of pay, rather than embark on a “grow-your-own” social engineering project.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/36267/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gina Rippon is affiliated with ScienceGrrl , a broad-based, grassroots organisation celebrating and supporting women in science - <a href="http://sciencegrrl.co.uk/">http://sciencegrrl.co.uk/</a>.
</span></em></p>The equalities minister, Jo Swinson, has suggested that boys should be encouraged to play with dolls to make them more “nurturing and caring”. This is apparently in the hope that they will become more…Gina Rippon, Professor of Cognitive NeuroImaging, Aston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/343302014-11-18T16:10:32Z2014-11-18T16:10:32ZArts students are motivated more by love of subject than money or future careers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/64834/original/yjgfy8q5-1416309108.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C152%2C992%2C690&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Love your subject and you'll do better at it.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-94325839/stock-photo-portrait-of-a-serious-young-student-reading-a-book-in-a-library.html?src=5ndahhn98-CE0fVvFniTTg-1-32">Student via Stokkete/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Science and engineering subjects are often presented as better career choices for students than the arts or humanities. Nicky Morgan, the education secretary, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/nicky-morgan-speaks-at-launch-of-your-life-campaign">recently said</a> that STEM subjects – sciences, technology, engineering and maths – unlock doors to all sorts of careers and that pupils who study maths to A Level earn 10% more over their lifetime.</p>
<p>Previous research has shown that there are actually lots of factors including <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1744-6570.1999.tb00174.x/abstract">ability, personality, motivation</a> as well as <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1080/0141192032000057366/abstract">family and educational</a> background which impact on what undergraduate degree people take and their ongoing career success. And <a href="http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01244/abstract">our new research</a> has shown that the importance of the different types of motivation varies depending on the subject a student chooses. </p>
<h2>Importance of motivation</h2>
<p>When we are excited about something, whether it is a hobby or an interesting work-related task, we tend to perform better and apply a variety of creative approaches. If we are focused on a particular goal, we might be more organised and use a more structured approach in delivering the expected result. </p>
<p>This focus on an external goal, such as financial success, is known as “extrinsic” motivation, while enjoyment is known as “intrinsic” motivation. Both are very important for career success but in different ways. <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/edu/92/2/316/">Extrinsic</a> motivation leads to better performance, while <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/s15326985ep4101_4#.VGsxLPmsUcQ">intrinsic</a> motivation to a deeper, more thorough way of learning. </p>
<p>Our new <a href="http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01244/abstract">research</a> shows that students studying for different degrees differ in their level of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. We asked a sample of 896 prospective students who attended open days and 989 current students at two large UK universities in the Russell Group the reasons for their degree choice. They were asked to rate how true statements such as: “I have chosen this degree because I was always interested in this subject” or: “I have chosen this degree because it provides good career options” were for them. </p>
<h2>Different degrees, different reasons</h2>
<p>We found differences in the reasons that students of certain subjects had for choosing their degrees, as the graph below shows. For example, current and prospective engineering students rated career options as a very important reason for their choice of degree, while interest in the subject was a low one. Yet arts and humanities students showed the opposite: prospective students reported enjoyment factor as important in their degree choice, while career was not as important on the agenda.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/64976/original/image-20141119-31615-p760h3.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/64976/original/image-20141119-31615-p760h3.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/64976/original/image-20141119-31615-p760h3.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=355&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64976/original/image-20141119-31615-p760h3.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=355&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64976/original/image-20141119-31615-p760h3.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=355&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64976/original/image-20141119-31615-p760h3.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64976/original/image-20141119-31615-p760h3.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/64976/original/image-20141119-31615-p760h3.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Both types of motivation are important to success on the career path, both in a person’s degree and their future job. So it is necessary to have a goal to be successful in your career. It is also important to provide students with an opportunity to follow their intrinsic motivation to enjoy their studies because they will perform better at what they enjoy.</p>
<h2>Restructure arts degrees</h2>
<p>Careers are often judged by financial success – and not without a reason. And graduates from arts and humanities degrees seem to make less money than their STEM peers. For example, a 2011 <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/32419/11-973-returns-to-higher-education-qualifications.pdf">report</a> by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, puts most arts and humanities subjects at the bottom of the pay scale. </p>
<p>But perhaps the reason for that is not that those careers are a bad choice. If arts and humanities degrees attract people who are not career-driven, could that explain why they do not do as well financially in their career in the future? In order to make more money, you need to strive for that – it doesn’t just come by itself. </p>
<p>If it is the case that arts and humanities students do not do as well financially because of low career aspirations, should we discourage them from choosing arts and humanities? Probably not – these degrees are where they might do the best – because they enjoy it. Instead, universities should provide them with more career focus in their undergraduate courses that can make those students more structured in achieving their career goals. </p>
<p>But we need to exercise caution in doing this. <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/bul/125/6/627.">Previous research</a> has shown that, in certain cases, external rewards such as being praised for being on top of your class actually undermine intrinsic motivation. This might lead to a “surface” type of learning where students are focusing on reproducing material accurately for a test without necessarily understanding it. If people start the degree because it is enjoyable and then are made to focus too much on external achievements, it might paradoxically make them enjoy the process of study less. </p>
<p>And if people are not that keen on what they are doing and just do it for the pay, they may be less likely to do a good job – or they might drop out if better-paid work opportunities arise. So the key is to let people choose what they enjoy – and then help them to make it into a career.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/34330/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anya Skatova does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Science and engineering subjects are often presented as better career choices for students than the arts or humanities. Nicky Morgan, the education secretary, recently said that STEM subjects – sciences…Anya Skatova, Research Fellow, Horizon Digital Economy Research Institute, University of NottinghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/226652014-07-30T05:24:28Z2014-07-30T05:24:28ZIt may feel like it sometimes, but a PhD is not a waste of time<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/55060/original/529dgcrq-1406564565.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">They are out there. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-198323039/stock-photo-postgraduate-jobs-sign-post-illustration-design-over-a-white-background.html?src=5heb6H0puKxTK6RPZKa8Bw-1-13">alexmillos via Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Imagine if you could gauge your chances of getting to the very top of your profession, just as you are starting out your career? A <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982214004771">recent publication</a> has boldly outlined a predictive model for doing just that in the competitive world of academia. </p>
<p>By measuring both the quality and quantity of a scientist’s publications and taking into account their institution and gender, the authors of the study say they can estimate the likelihood of a scientist transitioning into the role of principal investigator – an academic who manages large research projects. </p>
<p>From the inside looking out, I am sceptical of this oversimplified answer to a much more complicated and constantly evolving problem. The career landscape for up and coming scientists is constantly changing. Factors that could predict the likelihood of success today will likely no longer apply to future graduates. </p>
<p>Over the last four years, I’ve watched my well-published colleagues, mentors, and peers graduate and transition into successful careers both inside and outside of academia. In this time, I have realised that it takes much more than publication output, gender, and a notable pedigree to find career success. </p>
<p>To those of us in the thick of our doctorates, the once great promise of a PhD loses its lustre. Trying to get enough data to publish and perfect the next presentation, we are all prone to forget the obvious reality that the PhD, regardless of the number or impact of publications, is no longer a ticket to success. </p>
<p>Meet us over a pint and you’ll hear a very common refrain: we feel trapped in a system that produces but cannot support university research scientists. The odds are never in our favour. The rapid increase of recent doctoral graduates is far outpacing the availability of academic research jobs.</p>
<p>There are more PhDs now than ever before and for graduates, this translates to greater competition for all relevant jobs both inside and outside the university walls. In this competitive environment, the majority of us now feel entirely unprepared for the changing job market.</p>
<h2>There is value in a PhD</h2>
<p>Even in this new research landscape, with decreased funding and increased uncertainty, the PhD is not a <a href="http://www.economist.com/node/17723223">waste of time</a>. Despite the seemingly dire circumstances, <a href="http://www.immpressmagazine.com/catching-up-with-our-alumni/">not one of my fellow scholars regrets their decision</a>. That’s because there is still definite value in obtaining a doctorate degree.</p>
<p>It provides technical training in experimental design and execution but it also teaches broader skills such as communication, time management, and project planning to name a few. The foundation for career success is there, but it needs to be guided with clear career goals and relevant work experience.</p>
<p>Unlike most graduate students, I was fortunate enough to have two phenomenal upper-year mentors, both intelligent and dedicated leaders set on two very different career paths. One continued on in research to pursue a post-doctoral fellowship at Stanford University and the other left academia to become a scientific diligence officer at an investment banking firm.</p>
<p>Although their chosen careers were vastly different, their advice was the same: take charge of your own training. Seeing them succeed in the following years, I recognised the value of career planning as a critical and often overlooked aspect of doing a PhD.</p>
<h2>Plan ahead</h2>
<p>Career planning starts with a reflection of your needs and ambitions, an admittedly difficult task. The majority of us enter academia with little knowledge of alternative careers, which are neither advertised nor promoted inside academic institutions. The responsibility then falls on us to seek out career fairs, cross-disciplinary classes, and professional networking groups to better define our ambitions. Completing an <a href="http://myidp.sciencecareers.org/">individual development plan</a> can go a long way to helping hone aspirations.</p>
<p>After setting clear goals, the next challenge facing graduate students is to somehow gain relevant work experience while completing their degrees. In a high pressure research space, it can be difficult to find the time but the pursuit of leadership and volunteering opportunities is absolutely critical to improving and showcasing your skills. When the time comes to finally apply for a job, it is these additional experiences that set candidates apart. </p>
<p>The other major hurdle and source of frustration for all PhD graduates is the need to network and build contacts. Most alumni, going into any sector, get unadvertised, word-of-mouth positions that were passed along through their contacts.</p>
<p>Unemployment numbers show that PhD graduates are definitely attractive to employers and often more qualified than we <a href="http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2007_06_08/caredit.a0700081">realise</a>. We just need to take the time to look beyond the science, find additional training, and get career ready.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/22665/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yuriy Baglaenko does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Imagine if you could gauge your chances of getting to the very top of your profession, just as you are starting out your career? A recent publication has boldly outlined a predictive model for doing just…Yuriy Baglaenko, Doctoral Graduate Student in the Department of Immunology, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/251052014-04-09T05:13:46Z2014-04-09T05:13:46ZGirls are kept out of science jobs by unhelpful stereotypes<p>The number of girls taking A-level physics has <a href="http://www.iop.org/education/teacher/support/girls_physics/page_41593.html">remained stagnant</a> for the past 20 years or more, and the UK has the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/254885/bis-13-1269-professor-john-perkins-review-of-engineering-skills.pdf">lowest proportion</a> of female engineers in the EU. Progress on gender equality in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) is frustratingly slow. </p>
<p>And what’s even more worrying is that when questioned, Brits can’t think of current women scientists as role models. A recent <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs/10735201/Lack-of-female-role-models-highlighted-as-one-in-10-name-man-when-asked-for-famous-women-engineer-or-scientist.html">YouGov poll of 3,000 people</a> done for ScienceGrrl, a not-for-profit of which I am a director that advocates for more women in science careers, found one in ten named Isambard Kingdom Brunel – a male engineer – when asked to think of a famous women scientist. Only about half could actually name a female scientist and of those that did, 68% named Marie Curie, who died in 1934.</p>
<p>In a new report called <a href="http://sciencegrrl.co.uk/resources/case-studies/">Through Both Eyes</a> also by ScienceGrrl, we set out the case for looking at the issue in light of the society we live in, and the legacy of inequalities between men and women.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/45867/original/g5rrj5pv-1396962998.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/45867/original/g5rrj5pv-1396962998.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=793&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/45867/original/g5rrj5pv-1396962998.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=793&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/45867/original/g5rrj5pv-1396962998.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=793&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/45867/original/g5rrj5pv-1396962998.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=996&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/45867/original/g5rrj5pv-1396962998.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=996&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/45867/original/g5rrj5pv-1396962998.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=996&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Anyone more recent than Marie Curie?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portrait_of_Marie_Curie.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Lack of progress isn’t due to a lack of attention or awareness. The Institute of Physics has compiled a <a href="http://www.iop.org/education/teacher/support/girls_physics/page_41593.html">series of comprehensive reports</a> since 2004 and government frequently makes the economic case for diversity in science, technology, maths and engineering (STEM). </p>
<p>Deeply embedded cultural messages about women, attitudes, structures and norms manifest themselves as invisible hurdles that undermine girls’ participation and women’s progression in the workplace. These hurdles are invisible precisely because none of us knows what it looks like to live in an equal world.</p>
<h2>Science capital in the family</h2>
<p>We’ve explored what is known to propel somebody to choose a career in science. The <a href="http://sciencegrrl.co.uk/assets/SCIENCE-GRRL-Stem-Report_FINAL_WEBLINKS-1.pdf">literature is clear</a> that there are three key factors. Liking STEM isn’t enough, it has to be relevant to a person’s interests and goals. They also need to feel confident they can succeed, and have access to “<a href="http://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/education/research/aspires/ASPIRES-final-report-December-2013.pdf">science capital</a>” – the opportunity to gain knowledge and experience of STEM through personal networks.</p>
<p>People receive messages about themselves and the opportunities available to them from wider society, family and friends, the classroom and the workplace. We are all exposed to these messages and their balance is crucial to informing the choices we make. </p>
<p>Professor Louise Archer says her research shows it is: “harder for girls to balance or reconcile their interest in science with femininity” because STEM is seen to be for those who are “white, middle class, brainy and male”. A <a href="http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/girls-career-aspirations">2011 Ofsted report</a> showed that by around 7-8 years old, girls and boys spoke about jobs as being “for men” or “for women”. Cordelia Fine, in her book <a href="http://www.cordeliafine.com/delusions_of_gender.html">Delusions of Gender</a> suggests that children act as “gender detectives” from a much earlier age. </p>
<p>The “girls’ toys” that value physical perfection over adventure or intelligence, and the objectification of women in the media are just two examples of how the roles and capabilities of women are diminished in wider society. </p>
<p>Casual reliance on stereotypes leads to unconscious bias undermining <a href="http://girlsattitudes.girlguiding.org.uk/video/girls_attitudes_video.aspx">all areas</a> of girls’ lives. In STEM subjects, this is particularly true for confidence: <a href="http://www.aauw.org/research/why-so-few/">girls perform worse</a> in maths tests when their gender is made salient. This is known as “<a href="http://reducingstereotypethreat.org/">stereotype threat</a>” – the phenomenon that performance can be impaired by awareness of lower expectations for your particular social group. </p>
<p>Stereotypes also affect expectations of those with influence in girls’ lives. Students get most of their careers advice from <a href="http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/stellent/groups/corporatesite/@msh_grants/documents/web_document/wtp053113.pdf">family members</a>. But <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/engineering-skills-perkins-review">polling data</a> from Engineers Week in 2013 showed that parents are steering their daughters away from careers in engineering, with 3% encouraging it as a career, compared to 12% for their sons.</p>
<h2>Inspiring teachers</h2>
<p>Progress will require a whole community approach. Schools also play an important role. <a href="http://www.iop.org/education/teacher/support/girls_physics/closing-doors/page_62076.html">Evidence from the Institute of Physics</a> suggests that gender stereotypes undermine girls in the classroom. </p>
<p>But as Dr Vanessa Odgen, headteacher at <a href="http://www.mulberry.towerhamlets.sch.uk/">Mulberry School for Girls</a>, summarises: “girls’ uptake of science, technology and maths increases significantly when these subjects are taught by women who care passionately about STEM and when curriculum content promotes the achievements of women”. In short, when a whole school ethos means it is normal and expected for girls to succeed. </p>
<p>It is missing the point to say that girls aren’t “choosing” to study STEM. Many girls do not have real choice because of the low expectations placed on them and the lack of genuine opportunity. Girls are being kept out of rewarding careers. </p>
<p>We don’t need to change girls, we must place the responsibility on those with influence in our society. Showing the variety of directions STEM can lead, that it is creative and has social relevance it will appeal to a broader based talent pool, not just to more girls.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/25105/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Zecharia volunteers as a director for ScienceGrrl, a not-for-profit organisation advocating for women in science. Its Through Both Eyes report was sponsored by Arup, Airbus Group, BAE Systems, GKN Aerospace, Jaguar Land Rover, National Grid, but views and recommendations are those of ScienceGrrl.</span></em></p>The number of girls taking A-level physics has remained stagnant for the past 20 years or more, and the UK has the lowest proportion of female engineers in the EU. Progress on gender equality in science…Anna Zecharia, Postdoctoral neuroscientist, Imperial College LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.