Editorial

AddressCUDOS, School of Physics, A28The University of Sydney NSW 2006 Australiacudos.org.au

Contact the EditorSilke Weisssilke.weiss@sydney.edu.au(02) 9351 2637

Copyright © CUDOS 2017. All rights reserved.

Welcome to our first Newsletter for 2017. This issue begins with a review of three, recent exciting events aimed at women, featuring fabu-lous women! At the Women in CUDOS breakfast at our Annual Workshop Dr Katherine Woodthorpe impressed upon us the need to build support net-works and actively seek mentors in order to build confidence and embrace self-promotion. Coach, trainer and professional speaker Yvonne Collier delivered a spirited presentation on assertive com-munication strategies, designed to break through a man’s world, at our second Women in CUDOS and Finisar Networking event. Arguably, the UK’s most outspoken champion of women in science, Profes-sor Dame Athene Donald addressed a #women-inSTEM lunch and shared her experiences, both positive and negative. Athene explored the con-cept of the >Impostor syndrome< and advised on

strategies to overcome this phenomenon.

We also celebrate the impressive accomplish-ments of our recent graduates and researchers and feature a number of articles debating the gender pay gap issue. The newsletter concludes with a profile on Caitlin Fisher, recent graduate and now science communicator.

CUDOS’ formal funding period ends at the end of 2017. We anticipate to publish a final Women in CUDOS newsletter in November, so contri-butions and articles will be welcomed.

Shelley Martin CUDOS Centre Manager

and

Silke WeissCUDOS Communications Coordinator

Women in CUDOSNEWSLETTER

Women in CUDOS | 2

Current member of the CUDOS Advisory Board >Dr Katherine Woodthorpe<, who has held a broad range of management and board positions in Australia and overseas, and has been cited in various media as one of Australia’s most influential people in innova-tion, spoke at this year’s Women in CUDOS break-fast session during the CUDOS Annual Workshop at Wyong, Central Coast, in February.

In front of over 20 female researchers, students and administrative staff, she reflected on her career, giving insights on how to break down gender barriers in male dominated sectors.

She also looked at methods to overcome the com-mon Impostor Syndrome, which over 70% of peo-ple have experienced at one time in their lives [>J. Sakulku, J. Alexander: “The impostor phenomenon”, International Journal of Behavioral Science, 6 (1) (2011), pp. 73-92<]. It is especially common in fields where people’s work is constantly under review by talented peers, such as academia.

Women and men experiencing impostor syndrome may be less willing to put themselves forward, feel-ing that they are not qualified, by e.g. not applying for promotions, submitting papers to conferences or journals, or attributing success to chance or luck.

Dr Woodthorpe advised that being aware of the phenomenon is the first step to overcoming the syn-drome: “Don’t attribute your achievements to luck, when they are the result of preparation and work. Also be open to opportunities!”

In this regard, she stressed the importance of men-toring. Dr Woodthorpe pointed out that mentors can help strengthen your confidence and can encourage you to accept opportunities and challenges you are qualified for. She advised on building a supporting network and actively seeking mentors, and she also encouraged senior researchers to support junior researchers in self-promotion.

Dr Katherine Woodthorpe

Women in CUDOS Breakfast

Over 20 female researchers, students and professionals attended the breakfast session

3 | Women in CUDOS

Over 30 women from CUDOS and Finisar met at CUDOS headquarters at the University of Sydney for the second Women in CUDOS and Finisar network-ing event, to share their stories of research, aca-demic passions and professional aspirations in the context of their lives as students, academics, corpo-rate employees and women in photonics and optics.

The afternoon consisted of insightful speeches from CUDOS and Finisar guest speakers, an inspirational presentation from Assertive Skills Expert >Yvonne Collier CSP<, a tour of CUDOS’ labs, and a High Tea networking break which male CUDOS colleagues joined.

CUDOS Outreach Director Professor Judith Dawes opened the event, and spoke about the role of men and mentors in her career, International Women’s Day, and pointed out that women in countries such as Australia these days have privileged access to healthcare, education and freedom.

Guest speaker Dawn Cheater from Finisar gave an interesting talk on ‘Women in the workplace – a

history of the Australian Woman’, showing fascinat-ing historical photos from the period 1880-1960.

Yvonne Collier CSP, an international trainer, speak-er, coach and mentor delivered an interactive presentation designed to equip the group with 4 key strategies to speak up, be heard and make a difference in meetings, conversations and in their profession. Yvonne’s presentation can be viewed on >YouTube<.

Male colleagues were then invited to join the wom-en for High Tea and networking – a contrast from the normal pizza and beer!

The afternoon concluded with a tour of CUDOS’ labs at the University of Sydney, presented by CU-DOS Lab Manager Dr Eric Magi who gave a con-cise and detailed explanation on photonics study at the university. “It was energizing to see someone with so much passion for what they do,” Finisar’s Senior Planning Manager Lisa Axford reflected on Dr Magi’s presentation.

Women in CUDOS & FINISAR second networking event

Assertive Skills Expert Yvonne Collier’s interactive presentation on ‘Women’s Assertive Communication Strategies break through a man’s world’

Women in CUDOS | 4

In April, gender equality champion and theoretical physics professor >Dame Athene Donald< was invited by CUDOS to a #womeninSTEM lunch event to exchange thoughts and ideas with over 40 female researchers, students and professionals who are working in the fields of Science, Technology, Engi-neering and Mathematics (STEM) at the University of Sydney.

Professor Donald was in Sydney to deliver the third >Dr Peter Domachuk Memorial Lecture< and gave her time at this lunch to talk about her scientific career and discussed new manifestations of uncon-scious bias that had become evident to her in recent years. Being awarded the UNESCO and L’Oreal Award for Women in Science in 2009 and appointed a Dame in the Queen’s 2010 Birthday List, she had decided to speak up and so started blogging to talk about the experiences of women across the Higher Education sector.

“I have influence because of my job title and I use it to speak out,” Professor Dame Donald said. In her >blog< she writes about life as a scientist, equality and diversity issues and the nature (and importance) of interdisciplinary science. Her blog has become a powerful voice for women in science.

“Partly I use it to remind and partly to encourage

people: If you are being attacked it may not be per-sonal, it may be because you are a woman. I hope I can give tips on how people can try and overcome this, to try and think positively when things are grim.”

Professor Donald also mentioned the impostor syn-drome, a concept describing high-achieving individ-uals who are marked by an inability to internalize their accomplishments and fear being exposed as a fraud. She advised to overcome the phenomenon by seizing opportunities.

“If you are ever at that stage of your career where you don’t know what to do – don’t panic! Many suc-cessful people – men and women – just did the next thing that came along and see where it takes them. Just do the next thing and don’t be frightened: may-be you are really good at what someone is offering you to do. You will never know if you don’t try, and I can assure you that the things you will regret are the things you don’t do. So, seize the opportunities!”

Prior to heading back to Cambridge where she is Master of Churchill College, Professor Donald pre-sented a well-attended public lecture in the Universi-ty of Sydney on her role as a gender equality cham-pion and the Athena SWAN program’s impact in the UK. You can access the recording >here<.

CUDOS #womeninSTEM lunch event with Professor Dame Athene Donald

5 | Women in CUDOS

Tweets and posts from the #womeninSTEM lunch with Professor Dame Athene Donald

“Dear Professor Donald – thank you for the wonderful

talk. I particularly appreciated your discussion of difficulties, as well as successes – both are so

inspiring in their different ways.”

“It was a great honor meeting you as a PhD student

in her early academic career. You are the first

‘Dame’ I ever met!”

Women in CUDOS | 6

Women in CUDOS News & Achievements

GraduatesCongratulations to the following female graduates who completed their PhD in 2016/2017 and have secured positions in academia and private industry:

Diana Antonosyan ANU Nonlinear Physics CentreProduction Scientist at Electro Optic System Pty Ltd., Canberra

Pan Ma ANU Laser Physics CentrePostdoctoral Fellow, ANU Laser Physics Centre

Sahar TabriziSwinburne UniversityPostdoctoral Researcher at The Laboratory of Artificial Intelligence Nanophotonics ( LAIN), RMIT

Wan Zakiah Binti Wan-IsmailMacquarie UniversityLecturer in Applied Physics and Engineering at the Faculty of Science and Technology, Islamic Science University of Malaysia

Caitlin Fisher The University of SydneyOutreach Officer, Outreach and Engagement Unit in the Faculty of Science, University of Sydney

7 | Women in CUDOS

Zahraa Al-Baiaty, RMIT UniversityHighly Commended CUDOS Challenge Award, 2017First Place, CUDOS Outreach & Community Engagement Prize, 2016

Dr Andrea Blanco Redondo, The University of SydneyThe Australian Optical Society Early Career Researcher Prize - Geoff Opat Prize, 2016

Maria del Rocio Camacho Morales, ANU Nonlinear Physics CentreBest Poster Metadevices and Metamaterials, CUDOS Student Poster Awards, 2017

Katie Chong, ANU Nonlinear Physics CentreAOS Warsash Science Communication Prize in Optics, 2016

Zihan Geng, Monash UniversityBest Student Paper Award, Asia Communications and Photonics Conference, 2016

Elena Goi, RMIT UniversityHighly Commended CUDOS Challenge Award, 2017

Michelle Whitford, Macquarie UniversityFirst Place, CUDOS Challenge Award, 2017First Place, One Minute Presentation CUDOS Student Poster Presentation, 2016

Atiyeh Zarifi, The University of SydneyBest Report Award, Sao Paulo School of Advanced Science in Nanophotonics, 2016

Awards and honours in 2016/2017

Grant recipients and fellowships in 2016

Dr Shaghik Atakaramians, The University of SydneyA novel scintillating optical fibre array for cancer imaging and therapy; Australian Research Council (ARC)/Linkage Projects (LP), 2016

Dr Andrea Blanco Redondo, The University of Sydney>Professor Harry Messel Research Fellowship< to investigate on pure-quartic solitons; School of Physics, the University of Sydney, 2016

Dr Birgit Stiller, The University of SydneyHigh-speed RF generation and detection architecture; DVC Research/Equipment Grant, 2016

We welcome Dr Pan Ma who has been appointed Postdoctoral Fellow in the Laser Physics Centre at ANU. Pan was a PhD student in the LPC and on completing her PhD at ANU, returned to China, only to return again to Australia to win this position through a competitive selection process. Welcome back Pan!

We also welcome Dr Sahar Tabrizi who also completed her PhD in 2016 and is now applying her expertise on 3D fabrication of metallic nanostructures as a postdoctoral researcher in Professor Min Gu’s On-chip Nanoplasmonics research team at RMIT University.

There have been two new appointments to the CUDOS administration team, headquartered at the University of Sydney. Simone Kingston will be managing finance and HR issues, whilst Christina Bacchiella will coordinate events across the Centre including topical workshops and training programs.

We say farewell and offer our thanks and best wishes to Vera Brinkel who is embarking on an exciting new chapter in her life – parenthood! Vera has been a crucial member of the CUDOS administration team since 2011, taking responsibility for major events including the CUDOS Annual Workshop and the biennial Dr Peter Domachuk Memorial Lecture.

Arrivals and departures

Women in CUDOS | 8

>Gender action toolkit to assist with gender diversity journey< 10 May 2017 | CAASTRO

www.caastro.org/gender-action-toolkit The ARC Centre for All-Sky Astrophysics (CAASTRO) – drawing on their own experience – has developed a Gender Action Toolkit. The toolkit consists of a compilation of resources to give guidance and thoughts about how to achieve gender equality within disciplines or organisations. The toolkit includes a number of valuable tools and policies that other organisations and discipline areas can use as a reference, including CAASTRO’s Gender Diversity Policy that outlines how CAASTRO supports gender equity and a flexible workplace.

>How to fix the many hurdles that stand in female scientists’ way<01 December 2016 | Scientific American

www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-to-fix-the-many-hurdles-that-stand-in-female-scientists-rsquo-wayIn this opinion piece, the author writes that scientists who are women face unique hurdles when it comes to career advancement. Many of these issues are nuanced and require further study, but the wage gap can be fixed now. Universities should be held accountable for making salary equity a critical component of performance reviews, she writes. An ongoing study by the National Institutes of Health will determine whether removing personal identifiers, such as gender and race, in a grant application makes a difference in how it is scored.

>Differences in Collaboration Patterns across Discipline, Career Stage, and Gender<04 November 2016 | PLoS Biology 14(11): e1002573

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002573Collaboration plays an important role in research productivity, but it is not known how collaboration differs among and between men and women professionals in STEM fields. The authors studied publication records of 3,980 faculty members in six STEM disciplines at selected US research universities. They found that faculty members who were women had significantly fewer distinct co-authors over their careers than faculty members who were men, but this gap could be accounted for by the fact that women published fewer articles overall and have shorter career lengths. The

faculty members who were women also appeared to be more likely to engage new co-authors over time. The researchers also found that the field of molecular biology had the greatest gender gap, with significantly fewer published papers written by women.

>Australia leads the United States in women at work< 05 October 2016 | United States Study Centre at the University of Sydney

www.ussc.edu.au/analysis/women-at-work-australia-and-the-united-states New report compares key differences between Australia and the US when it comes to women in the workplace. Australia has caught up to - and on some measures surpassed - the United States in female labour force participation and in relation to women’s representation in senior and strategic organisational roles, according to the new report from the United States Studies Centre.

>Why aren’t there more women in science? The industry structure is sexist<31 May 2016 | The Guardian

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/31/women-science-industry-structure-sexist-courses-careers Opinion piece on sexism in science. The article tends to suggest that differences in men’s and women’s careers in STEM might become apparent when women are starting child bearing. In this case, family-friendly policies are not enough if the women are in short-term post-doctoral or research fellow contracts. In addition, men in STEM often have non-STEM partners who give up a career, while women in STEM often have STEM partners with careers, so there is additional workload for childcare. [See also book of Annabel Crabb: “The Wife Drought: Why Women Need Wives and Men Need Lives”.]

>Academic Science Isn’t Sexist<31 October 2014 | The New York Times

www.nytimes.com/2014/11/02/opinion/sunday/academic-science-isnt-sexist.html?_r=0 This opinion piece argues that women in mathematically intensive STEM disciplines can thrive, providing that they have early education in Maths, to enable them to progress in mathematically intensive disciplines. The authors also argue that the academic careers are rewarding for many – men and women alike.This provisio concerning early education is important as it probably arises in high school by year 9-10, when most students are not focused on future careers.

Articles and resources

9 | Women in CUDOS

>It’s time to dispel the myth that women’s choices cause the gender pay gap<

08 September 2016 | Sydney Morning Heraldwww.smh.com.au/lifestyle/news-and-views/opinion/its-time-to-dispel-the-myth-that-womens-choices-cause-the-gender-pay-gap-20160907-grb9bd.html

>Women ask for pay increases as often as men but receive them less, study says<

06 September 2016 | Guardian Australiawww.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/05/gender-wage-gap-women-pay-raise-men-study

>The Remarkable Woman founder Shivani Gopal wants to close the gender gap<

26 August 2016 | Sydney Morning Heraldwww.smh.com.au/business/workplace-relations/the-remarkable-woman-founder-shivani-gopal-wants-to-close-the-gender-gap-20160825-gr1jol.html

>Australian men paid an average of 20 per cent more than women<

23 August 2016 | ABC Newswww.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-22/gender-pay-gap-alive-and-thriving-in-australia/7775244

>Program tackles gender disparity in startup economy<

01 August 2016 | University of NSWnewsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/science-tech/program-tackles-gender-disparity-startup-economy

>‘She didn’t ask for it’: is this why women don’t get the top job?<

25 July 2012 | Sydney Morning Heraldwww.smh.com.au/business/she-didnt-ask-for-it-is-this-why-women-dont-get-the-top-job-20160724-gqck04.html?platform=hootsuite

Articles on the gender pay gap

Women in CUDOS | 10

CUDOS: Congratulations on being awarded your PhD recently.

Caitlin: Thank you, it has been quite a journey to reach the finish line!

You did your undergraduate degree in physics at the University of Sydney. What made you decide to pursue a PhD and when you started, did you have a clear idea of what you wanted to do at the end?

After my honours year with CSIRO, I felt like I had done more bumbling around than performing any feats of “real” science. I also wasn’t sure what I want-ed to do out in the “real” world. So I asked Professor Martijn de Sterke if he would take me on as a PhD student and he said: “A PhD may seem the easy option, but trust me, it isn’t!” I should definitely have heeded his advice more carefully as in hindsight, I bumbled 10 times more in my PhD than in honours!

What have been the highlights (and low-lights) of the last four years?

When you are researching mostly by yourself (between meetings with my four supervisors), it is very easy to get caught up in your own mind. The lowlights of my PhD were when I was so close to my work that I couldn’t see the bigger picture – how will this stuff be useful to anyone? But the highlights were at conferences or meetings with other peers who were actually interested in the work we were do-ing. It always feels good to have your work validated by others. You have made a significant contribution to CUDOS’ Outreach & Community Engage-ment Program. What is it about outreach that you particularly enjoy?

I find it extremely rewarding to surprise students and teachers. The surprise comes from two unexpected facts: Firstly, science isn’t magic - with only a couple of “rules” you can do amazing things, and secondly, anyone can learn the “rules”. In an age where trust in

science and research is vital to the future of Earth, it is important to share these two secrets with every-one. The Sydney node of CUDOS will have pro-duced 30 PhD graduates over its seven year period but only 3 will have been female (yourself, Irina Kabakova and Atiyeh Zarifi expected to complete in 2018). Why do you think these number are low and what can we do about it?

That is a very complicated question. I think women feel discouraged in tackling higher academic roles or study due to a variety of reasons - lack of hours flexibility, not many long term career prospects, the “big deal” about being a “female scientist”, and sub-tle feelings of isolation. Add to that the very common myth that “women just don’t want to do science” and you get low participation numbers. The solution isn’t simple but I think it will certainly include more limelight for role models, education on subconscious gender bias for all, and ironically, making less of a big deal when a female person happens to do some science.

What’s next for Caitlin Fisher?

I haven’t really decided what I want to do yet, so I’m currently doing a bunch of things. After nine years of studying at the University of Sydney, I’m still here! But working with the Outreach and Engagement Unit in the Faculty of Science. It’s great to be behind the scenes and see what goes into organising a public science lecture or a big networking event for first year science students. I’ve already had a couple of opportunities to put my science research and com-munication skills to good use in an outreach capacity and am hoping to do more of the same for the short term. In the long term - who knows! I might end up in data analysis or have my own science Youtube channel. Or maybe something completely different!

Thank you for the interview and all the best!

Profile: Dr Caitlin Fisher“In an age where trust in science and research is vital to the future of Earth, it is important to share these two secrets with everyone.”

11 | Women in CUDOS Dr Caitlin Fisher with her supervisors Professors Ross McPhedran, Lindsay Botton and Martijn de Sterke, April 2017

Women in CUDOS | 12

As this Newsletter goes to press we learn that Dr Shaghik Atakaramians will be leaving CUDOS and the University of Sydney at the end of May 2017.

Shaghik joined the University in 2011 and started working on CUDOS related projects in 2012. She was awarded an ARC Discovery Early Career Re-searcher Award (DECRA) in 2014 and was a co-re-cipient of an ARC Linkage Grant in 2016. Throughout this time Shaghik has juggled the logistics of her academic career with the demands of raising two

young children - seven year old daughter Biayna and Shirak who is now three and a half!

Shaghik has been a resolute supporter of and con-tributor to the initiatives CUDOS has implemented to promote gender equality and acknowledge the important contributions of women in science.

In our next newsletter we will catch up with Shaghik and discuss her new role.

We wish Shaghik unbounded success!

Stop Press:ShAGhIK ATAKARAMIANS is leaving CUDOS

Women in CUDOS | 12