Happy International Women’s Day! In the lead up to 8 March 2015,  Queensland Science have been busy celebrating International Women’s Day by shining the spotlight on women in science on their Facebook & Twitter pages and via the #womeninscience & #makeithappen hashtags. During the week a number of Queensland Museum scientists put their hand up to provide an insight into what inspired them to pursue a career in science and offer a few words of encouragement for all the young women and girls out there enthusiastic about science.

Professor Suzanne Miller
BSc (Hons), PhD, FGS, F Min Soc, FAIMM, FAGS
Chief Executive Officer and Director
Queensland Museum Network

Professor Miller holds a PhD in Marine Geology, and holds numerous Australian and international academic and fellowship positions promoting science education and communication.

What inspired you to take up science?
Great Science teachers coupled with a natural interest in science, and encouragement from my family.

What message do you have for young women and girls to encourage them to consider science as a career?

Science provides so many diverse and exciting opportunities to understand the world and engage with so very many different people and communities.

  Dr Christine Lambkin
BSc Hons Dip.Ed PhD
Curator of Entomology
Queensland Museum

Christine started out teaching Chemistry and Biology before taking up entomological studies at age 40 and gaining her PhD. Chris’s research interests are the evolution, taxonomy, and biodiversity of flies.

What inspired you to take up science?
I was encouraged by a teacher at high school to further my existing interest in insects and in Grade 9 I won a science prize that was presented by insect morphologist Sir Vincent Wigglesworth.

What message do you have for young women and girls to encourage them to consider science as a career?
I would advise anyone interested in any field of science, to read broadly and involve themselves in groups and activities with professionals and amateurs, but mostly to complete as many studies in areas of their interest as possible.

Dr Barbara Baehr
Research Scientist
Research Fellow
Queensland Museum

Barbara has published 61 scientific papers, most of them dealing with spider taxonomy of largely Australian species. She has discovered and named over 600 new spiders and is the author of “A Guide to the Spiders of Australia”

What inspired you to take up science?
The fascination to discover new things, I enjoy the excitement being in Australia’s unique nature, and searching for new species.

What message do you have for young women and girls to encourage them to consider science as a career?
Just don’t take no for an answer.  Follow your dream and stick to it no matter what.

Dr Susan Turner
Susan is a Geoscience Consultant who has lectured at Monash, Beijing Nanjing, Lille and Hannover Universities. She is an Honorary Research Fellow at the Queensland Museum, specialising in vertebrate palaeontology and history of science concentrating on fish microfossils and early sharks, and the history of the Queensland Museum and women scientists.

What inspired you to take up science?
I got hooked on the astonishing world of vertebrate palaeontology when I saw the words and what they referred to in a my local library when I was 7 – Ed Colbert’s “Dinosaur Book” was the spur to my wanting to become a vertebrate palaeontologist in the 1950s. This dream was realised thanks to L. Bev Halstead at University of Reading 1964-71, in undergrad and post-grad training. And I met Colbert and thanked him.

What message do you have for young women and girls to encourage them to consider science as a career?
Training in science and the scientific method is not lost on anyone but young women have great chances for travel and wonderful experiences in life if they decide to pursue the path in any scientific discipline.

Heather Janetzki
BAppSc, Grad Dip Teach

Heather builds and cares for the mammal and bird research collections at the Queensland Museum. She conducts significant field work to broaden knowledge of mammals within Queensland and gives scientists, artists and members of the public from around the world access to study them.

What inspired you to take up science?
A fascination watching local wildlife and reading Jane Goodall’s chimpanzee research as a teenager led to a desire to study animals.

What message do you have for young women and girls to encourage them to consider science as a career?
Follow the field you are passionate about, it will always remain an exciting area to learn and work in.

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