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68 news posts in WomeninScience

Photo credit: Georgina Catacora-Vargas

Frontiers news

11 Oct 2024

Georgina Catacora-Vargas - Securing our food: Women scientists and the pursuit of food security in the Global South

Dr Georgina Catacora-Vargas is a professor of agroecology at the Academic Peasant Unit "Tiahuanacu" of the Bolivian Catholic University; president of the Latin American Scientific Society of Agroecology (SOCLA), advisor for Agroecology Fund; and research associate at AGRUCO, Faculty of Agricultural and Livestock Sciences at the University Mayor de San Simón (Bolivia), with decades of experience in agriculture, agroecology, and policymaking. She is also a member at the IPES-Food think tank and the Ad Hoc Expert Technical Group on Farmers Rights under the International Treaty of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture of the United Nations Organization on Food and Agriculture. Previously, Dr Catacora-Vargas worked at the Ministry of Environment and Water in Bolivia as chief of the Forest Management and Development Unit and advisor of the National Competent Environment Authority. In honor of World Food Day and in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goal 2: Zero Hunger, Dr Catacora-Vargas took the time to sit down with us and discuss her journey in agroecology.

Photo credit: Pallavi Pant

Frontiers news

16 Sep 2024

Pallavi Pant - Bridging science and community action to combat air pollution

In honor of this year’s International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies, we sat down with Dr Pallavi Pant to discuss her work related to air pollution and human health, as well as her thoughts on future directions for the field. With near 15 years of experience in air pollution science, Dr Pant currently leads the Global Health program at the Health Effects Institute in Boston, USA. Her primary focus is on public awareness and engagement, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.

Photo credit: Rasha Dabash

Frontiers news

25 Jul 2024

Rasha Dabash - Climate action needs women and girls

Rasha Dabash is a multilingual researcher, technical advisor, and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) advocate with over 25 years of global experience in effectively generating and using evidence to drive innovative changes in policies and practice. Currently, she works as an independent technical consultant to international NGOs and feminist movements/projects. Previously, she held leadership and research roles in reproductive and maternal health at Ipas, Gynuity Health Projects, EngenderHealth, and the Population Council. Prompted by this year’s World Population Day theme which aims to “To Leave No One Behind,” Rasha and I discuss what inspired her to pursue Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights research and why its intersection with climate change is so pivotal to focus on right now to protect the life and health of the world’s population.

Photo credit: Katie Trippe

Frontiers news

19 Jun 2024

Mia Strand - A spotlight on arts-based research towards equitable oceans

Dr Mia Strand is a postdoctoral research fellow with Ocean Nexus, a research institute which conducts ocean equity research, and is based at the Institute for Coastal and Marine Research at Nelson Mandela University in South Africa. She is also a co-investigator on the international research program One Ocean Hub, based out of Strathclyde University in Scotland. Her research focuses specifically on equity in knowledge co-production processes, ocean literacies, and children’s rights to a healthy ocean, and centers around arts-based research methods, such as photo stories and storytelling. Representing South Africa, Mia is one of the 23 National Champions in line for the 2024 Frontiers Planet Prize. Our oceans are currently in a state of emergency with ocean heat at record levels causing events such as ocean acidification and coral bleaching. Maintaining the health of our oceans is key to ensuring that we do not cross the limits of the nine planetary boundaries. In line with World Ocean Day and SDG14 (Life Below Water), we spoke to Mia about changing the way we develop and promote ocean knowledge and ocean literacies, and how arts-based methods can bridge the gap between traditional sciences and local knowledge systems.

Photo credit: Mariana Fuentes

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.

Photo credit: University of British Columbia

Frontiers news

10 Apr 2024

Kaveri Mayra - Unmasking the hidden violence around pregnancy and birth in obstetric settings

Dr Kaveri Mayra is a global health researcher with qualifications in midwifery, nursing, and public health. Her work focuses on understanding determinants of positive and negative perinatal care experiences. At the University of British Columbia, she leads the Continuum for Respectful Care (CORE) initiative and plays a key role in bringing out the qualitative narratives from the RESPCCT initiative through innovative arts-based research methods. In 2020, Kaveri was recognized as one of the 100 outstanding global midwife and nurse leaders by Women in Global Health (WGH) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Kaveri and I discuss her experience as a young nurse-midwife, the problems facing obstetric and maternity care, as well as some unexpected potential solutions. Currently, Kaveri is leading a Research Topic titled: Prioritizing Pleasure in Reproductive and Maternal Health to Address Obstetric Violence in Frontiers in Global Women’s Health.

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.

Photo credit: Keith Arnold

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.

Photo credit: Glory Oguegbu

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

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 […]

Photo credit: Barbara Burlingame

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 […]

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