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62 news posts in WomeninScience

Frontiers news

16 May 2024

Mariana Fuentes - Changing the currency of conservation

Dr Mariana Fuentes is an associate professor at Florida State University and the founder and principal investigator for the Marine Turtle Research, Ecology and Conservation Group. She also serves as the specialty chief editor of the Conservation section of Frontiers in Amphibian and Reptile Science. She is a renowned marine conservation biologist with specialized expertise in conservation planning and natural resource management. Her extensive understanding of anthropogenic and climate change impacts on marine megafauna, particularly marine turtles, plays a vital role in her work.

Frontiers community engagement update – spring 2024

We take a moment to reflect on the information, resources, and actions taken over the past several months towards promoting longer, more prosperous lives on a healthier planet.

Photo credit: Dr Olusola (Shola) Oluwayemisi Ololade

Frontiers news

08 Mar 2024

Olusola Ololade - The lifeline of the future: The role of women scientists in water resource management

Dr Olusola (Shola) Oluwayemisi Ololade currently holds the position of associate professor and director for the Centre for Environmental Management at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa. She is a member of the International Society for Development and Sustainability and the Organisation of Women in Science in Developing Countries (OWSD). She acts as advisor for young scholars working in the realm of Sustainable Development. Her research focuses on corporate environmental management and sustainability; water, pollution, and rehabilitation; biodiversity and conservation management; and tools and approaches to sustainable water resource management. This month, we are celebrating International Women’s Day and World Water Day. I am tremendously lucky to have been able to speak to Dr Ololade. She led me through her journey in water resource management in the African context, calling attention to the need for increased educational measures on water. We explore topics like inequalities in access to water, water reuse, groundwater management, and adaptation to water extremes.

Frontiers news

12 Feb 2024

Gabby Ahmadia - Cutting the strings to parachute science

Dr Gabby Ahmadia is vice president of Area-Based Conservation for the Oceans program at WWF-US, where she oversees science teams working together in priority regions around the globe, from the Pacific to Indian Ocean. We talk about the importance of strong international collaboration and addressing power dynamics to overcome the pervasive practice of parachute science, while also tackling issues of being a woman in science.

Frontiers news

26 Jan 2024

Glory Oguegbu - The power of the female

Glory Oguegbu is an award-winning climate change activist, working to bring solar power and renewable energy to communities in Nigeria without electricity. Glory is chief executive officer of the Renewable Energy Technology Training Institute (RETTI), founder and executive director of the Glow Initiative for Economic Empowerment, and currently an Obama Scholar at Columbia University. As we approach 2024 exploring the ways in which women’s initiatives are driving to sustain our nine planetary boundaries, and celebrating the UN International Day of Clean Energy, there was no one I’d have more pleasure in talking to, and learning from, than her.

Frontiers news

19 Dec 2023

Empowering women for a better future: A look into 2024

To live in an equitable world, disruption of the norm is necessary. As we close 2023, after a year of inspiring pieces from women all over the world, and as we reflect on the paths forged by these women and what they mean in the context of their exemplary fields, it is especially important to remember why we do it.

Frontiers news

16 Nov 2023

Anna Kramvis – A big job in a small world

Author: Anna FarrallAnna Kramvis is professor emerita and director of the Hepatitis Virus Diversity Research Unit (HVDRU) at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa and specialty chief editor for the Virology section of Frontiers in Microbiology. For the last 15 years, Anna has led the immense work being carried out at the HVDRU, breaking barriers as a woman in science and mentoring the next generation of scientists. In line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3: Good health and well-being, we discuss the progress of hepatitis B research and the challenges faced, including the COVID-19 pandemic, lack of funding, and low vaccination rates. Photo credit: Anna Kramvis Can you give a summary of the work being done at the Hepatitis Virus Diversity Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand? “Our work focuses on researching hepatitis, a potentially dangerous inflammation of the liver that can lead to serious conditions like cirrhosis and liver cancer. Our primary goal is to study strains of hepatitis B virus (HBV) found in Africa and how they induce liver disease. Our studies show that African HBV strains differ significantly from those in other parts of the world. “At the HVDRU, our motto is simple: […]

Frontiers news

25 Oct 2023

Camilla Røstvik – Breaking the silence: Artistic revolutions against taboos and period poverty

Author: Niamh Bothwell Dr Camilla Røstvik is an associate professor of history at the University of Agder in Norway, an honorary lecturer in the School of Medicine and the School of Art History at Aberdeen, and an honorary research fellow in art history at the University of St Andrews. She is also principal investigator (PI) on the Wellcome Trust-funded Menstruation Research Network and co-PI on the Royal Society of Edinburgh-funded Ending Period Poverty project. In alignment with United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 1, which aims to eradicate all poverty everywhere, we explore Camilla’s efforts to raise awareness about menstruation in art history, highlighting the necessary evolution required to effectively combat period poverty. Photo credit: Jo Hanley To paint the scene for readers, can you tell us more about your work and how it all started? “I’m an art historian and I work on the visual cultures of menstruation, which includes everything from products and advertising to art and medicine. I’ve always been curious about menstruation, but I was not satisfied with the information I got when I was younger. It was all very traditionally scientific; there was no pleasant mystery or joy in it. It was just focused on pain and […]

Frontiers news

11 Oct 2023

Barbara Burlingame – Unraveling the power of traditional food systems and sustainable diets

Author: Catherine Rawlinson Dr Barbara Burlingame is a professor at Massey University, New Zealand. Her research predominantly focuses on nutrition science, and she is also involved in nutrition policy research at the global level. In relation to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 2: Zero Hunger, I spoke to Barbara about how her research over the years has contributed to nutrition policy and how this relates to providing sustainable diets for all. Photo credit: Barbara Burlingame Could you start by giving me an overview of your main areas of research? “At the moment, my main areas cover food composition, biodiversity for food and nutrition, human nutrient requirements, dietary assessments, and sustainable diets. Within sustainable diets, a large area of my work involves traditional food knowledge systems of Indigenous Peoples.” Some of your most recent work covers traditional food systems of Pacific Island countries. What can we learn from traditional systems to help sustain us for the future? “We can learn so much about nutrition and environmental sustainability from the traditional food and knowledge systems of Indigenous Peoples. We are also documenting the tragedy of the erosion of these systems through multiple factors, chief of which are climate change and the […]

Frontiers news

29 Sep 2023

Thank you to all the women in science

Author: Leticia Nani Silva How do you say goodbye to your biggest achievement? For three years, Frontiers’ Women in Science blog has been my pride and joy, my biggest accomplishment, my success story. It’s now time to pass it to the next coordinators, who have been here since day one, Carolina Capelo Garcia and Thimedi Hetti. Photo credit: Frontiers The Women in Science blog was born from a spontaneous idea back in 2019, when life was very different, and Zoom was still practically unheard of within our company. As a young, recent graduate woman figuring out my place in the company and in the world of science, I was determined to make a mark and work collaboratively with other like-minded scientists to drive more women into STEM. The idea turned into a long-term project, and in 2021, we produced 18 articles showcasing the work and experiences of these brilliant women and sponsored the HBA Women of the Year Conference. Harnessing the success of the year before, we built on our expertise. In 2022, we grew the team of writers to 16 and set out to encourage more women to join our blog and share their story. We curated our interviews […]

Frontiers news

11 Sep 2023

Lucia Baldino – One scientist is an island, many scientists make up a flourishing community

Author: Leticia Nani Silva Dr Lucia Baldino is a researcher in the Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Salerno, Italy. Her work focuses on optimizing production processes and designing innovative methods for the development of nanomaterials applied to pharmaceutical, medical, food, and cosmetic fields. Her contribution to her field has made her stand out amongst her community and this is why we have chosen her to represent United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 9, which focuses on innovation, industry, and infrastructure. In this interview, we highlight the importance of working collaboratively with scientists across the world on innovating traditional methods used within science. We discuss how these innovative methods can aid in discovering new models of drug delivery and applications in the medical, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic fields. We conclude our conversation by highlighting the changes that need to happen within the field of engineering, and how working together as a community will drive us further into a sustainable future. Photo credit: Raffaele Longobardi We start our conversation by discussing Dr Baldino’s work and how it focuses on innovative and sustainable processes assisted by supercritical carbon dioxide to produce several bio-products, such as aerogels, micro- and nanoparticles. Her work also […]

Frontiers news

17 Aug 2023

Natalia Kucirkova and Loleta Fahad – We all must come together – without one part of the puzzle, there isn’t a full picture

Authors: Rose Gordon-Orr and Carolina Capelo Garcia Natalia Kucirkova is a professor at the University of Stavanger in Norway and The Open University in the UK. She also holds the position of visiting professor at University College London (UCL), UK, and acts as the chair of the International Collective of Children’s Digital Books. Loleta Fahad serves as the head of Career Development in Organizational Development at University College London (UCL), UK. In this role, she is responsible for overseeing the management, development, and implementation of resources that facilitate the ongoing growth, advancement, and retention of professional staff at UCL. Natalia and Loleta’s collaboration culminated in their published work, Inspirational Women in Academia: Supporting Careers and Improving Minority Representation (2022). Bringing together their lived experiences working within symbiotic areas of academia, they amplified the voices of academic women, and celebrating the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 10: Reducing inequalities within and among countries, we sat down with them to listen and amplify theirs. Photo credit: Natalia Kucirkova As part of your book, Inspirational Women in Academia; Supporting Careers and Improving Minority Representation you interviewed top-performing female academics about their experiences. How would you summarize your main findings across all the women’s […]

Frontiers news

17 Jul 2023

Ivana Dusparic – Optimizing resource use to make safe and sustainable cities

Author: Emma Phipps Dr Ivana Dusparic is an associate professor at the School of Computer Science and Statistics at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, where her research predominantly focuses on the AI-based optimization of resources in large-scale urban infrastructures. In honor of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 11, I spoke to Ivana about how her research contributes to making cities and human settlements safe and sustainable. Photo credit: Ivana Dusparic Could you start by giving us an overview of your main areas of research? “I’m a computer scientist. I studied applied mathematics and computer science at the undergraduate level and my master’s and PhD were both in computer science. Although the fundamental work I do is very computer science-oriented, I believe it can be a lot more useful when applied to real-life situations. That’s where the application to sustainability through management of large-scale infrastructures in cities came about. “My main research area is a branch of artificial intelligence (AI) called ‘reinforcement learning,’ which stems from psychology and neuroscience. It works in the same way as how humans and animals learn: we do something; we don’t know if it’s good or bad; and then we observe the outcome in the environment, […]

Frontiers news

26 Jun 2023

Kate Soper – The growth agenda is no longer feasible. What is the alternative?

Author: Sorcha Brennan Kate Soper is emerita professor of philosophy and a former researcher with the Institute for the Study of European Transformations at London Metropolitan University. She had a long association with Radical Philosophy and was a regular columnist for the US-based journal, Capitalism, Nature, Socialism. She has also been an editorial collective member and writer for New Left Review. She is a translator, among others, of Sebastiano Timpanaro, Noberto Bobbio, Michel Foucault, Cornelius Castoriadis, and Carlo Ginzburg. Her own books include: On Human Needs: open and closed theories in a Marxist Perspective; Humanism and Anti-Humanism; Troubled Pleasures: Writings on Politics, Gender and Hedonism; What is Nature? Culture, Politics and the Non-Human. She has been involved in a number of research projects on climate change and sustainable consumption, most recently as a Visiting Fellow at the Dubendorf Institute, Lund University, Sweden. Her most recent book is Post-Growth Living: For an Alternative Hedonism. Photo credit: Jo Mortimer You have written and published on the theory of need and environmental philosophy for many years. Your 2020 book Postgrowth Living: For an Alternative Hedonism published by Verso is an intersectional continuation of these themes. How has your past scholarship and formation as a researcher led you to this juncture of post-consumption and the politics of pleasure? “Well, the most immediate impetus […]

Frontiers news

12 Jun 2023

Sangeeta Mangubhai – We need to break the glass ceilings

By Thimedi Hetti Photo credit: Emily Darling The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14: Life Below Water is about aiming to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development. In honor of both SDG 14 and World Ocean Day this month, I spoke to Dr Sangeeta Mangubhai, principal consultant and research scientist at Talanoa Consulting. Sangeeta has a PhD in coral reef ecology with 25 years’ worth of experience working on environmental issues. Originally from Fiji, she has worked in Australia, East Africa, Indonesia, and the South Pacific on natural resource management, coastal fisheries, “blue foods”, payment for ecosystem services, value chains, gender, protected areas, environmental policy, disaster, and climate change. Sangeeta is a 2018 Pew Fellow working on mainstreaming gender and human rights-based approaches into coastal fisheries in Melanesia. What was it like growing up in Fiji? “We spent a lot of time in nature, enjoying the outdoors with family and friends. It’s fascinating to think back to a time without TV or social media, when life was much simpler in Fiji. We spent a lot of time swimming in the sea. As a special treat, my dad would take us out snorkeling. We […]