Tuesday 28 February 2017

Raising Horizons


Dr Tori Herridge is a palaeobiologist specialising in researching extinct dwarf elephants. When I met Tori in 2012 I was very impressed by her ability to communicate her research with passion and glad to see her subsequently feature in several TV science programmes. Tori went on to co-found Trowelblazers with three friends, using social media to raise the profile of previous generations of female scientists. Using crowd sourcing they have pieced together an online database to ensure that the contributions of these women scientists are recorded and it is humbling to realise how many have been prevented from getting the recognition they deserved.


Last week I visited the first Trowelblazers exhibition Raising Horizons which was hosted by the Geological Society in Burlington House and loved the clever collaboration with a portrait photographer. Stunning images of representatives of the current generation of female scientists dressed as one of their predecessors looked down over the staid library of the Geological Society. The labels describing the portraits were fascinating, giving details of both the historic and contemporary scientist. The picture below describes Dr Rachel Bynoe dressed as Honor Frost, a pioneer of underwater archaeology, and this was of particular interest to me because when I worked in the British Academy I was close to the office of the Honor Frost Foundation.


I have worked as administrator for several remarkable women scientists: archaeologists, geologists and palaeogeographers. I have seen how committed they are to their research despite the challenges that they face in a working environment that is still male dominated. I am grateful to Trowelblazers for acting as advocates for these women and for the generations of women scientists whose work was unrecognised or attributed to male colleagues.

5 comments:

  1. http://www.ceh.ac.uk/staff More wonderful job titles and women scientists - I truly wish more information about women in science and the jobs available was made more public. Young women need to know the huge range of exciting careers that they can pursue and how to get there. Well done Trowelblazers for acting as such powerful advocates.

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    1. Thank you for this comment. Promotion of science to girls should begin as early as possible. I loved the campaign to have female scientists included in the Lego range - it was a really imaginative way to highlight stereotyping in toys and highlight opportunities in science.

      https://shop.lego.com/en-GB/Research-Institute-21110

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  2. This is brilliant (and I love the name). Well done to Trowelblazers. I'll add something to agnesforgirls (it all helps).

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    1. Thank you - what I love about Trowelblazers (apart from their work promoting women whose work has not been recognised) is the sparky style and creative energy. These characteristics are typical of so many of the young female scientists that I have met.

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  3. The same elevation needed for the many unrecognised female composers.

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Thank you! I love reading your comments and even though I don't always have time to reply I am really grateful to every one who joins in the conversation.