Dorothy Hill Women in Earth and Environmental Sciences Symposium

Dorothy Hill Women in Earth and Environmental Sciences Symposium

UQ St Lucia campus, Brisbane

8 November 2022

Delivered by Professor Deborah Terry AO, Vice-Chancellor and President, The University of Queensland

Thank you, Patrick.

I, too, acknowledge the Traditional Owners and their custodianship of the lands on which we meet today. And I would like to pay my respects to their ancestors and their descendants – as we walk together on the path to Reconciliation.

I’d also like to acknowledge:

• Representatives from government and industry
• UQ colleagues
• Distinguished guests

It’s a pleasure to welcome you all here this morning for the biannual Dorothy Hill Women in Earth and Environmental Sciences Symposium.

Over the years, much has been done to improve gender equity in STEM fields, including Geosciences, and we have made some good progress.

Symposiums such as this one and the Women in Earth and Environmental Sciences in Australia Network, which was born out of this Symposium, are doing important work – supporting, amplifying, and advocating for women in this sector.

However, as we all know, there is still much to be done. At an individual institutional level, in academia, women make up between 23% and 52% of total geoscience departmental or school staff in Australia.[1]

However, at more senior levels, there is a far more significant gender imbalance, which is also reflected within the general membership, committee roles, and in award recipients of Australian geoscience professional associations.

In fact, within the Geological Society of Australia, only 4% of past award recipients for national and general awards were female.

And, in unwelcome news, an Academy of Science report published earlier this year[2], found that the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated pre-existing gender equity in the STEM workforce across the Asia-Pacific region.

Primarily brought about by the blurred boundaries between work and home, created by remote working and learning, and the increased domestic and caring responsibilities which disproportionately burdened women during the pandemic.

And the impact of these additional and competing priorities was unfortunately plain to see, particularly when it came to productivity outputs for women, such as academic journal publications.

I bring this up for a few important reasons.

Firstly, because it is critical that we acknowledge the hurdles we face if we have any chance of one day clearing them.

Secondly, to make the point, that we must continue to be vigilant, to not assume that progress is linear and to remain steadfast in our advocacy for women in science.

And thirdly, to highlight the genuine remarkableness of the woman whose life and career inspired this Symposium.

If the field of earth sciences is still largely dominated by men now – in 2022 – you can only imagine what it was like for Dorothy Hill when she began her studies at UQ in 1925.

To have had the career she had, at the time she lived and worked, makes her not only an extraordinary researcher, academic, and lecturer, but also a truly special woman – and a trailblazer.

Because among her many career highlights and achievements, Dorothy was:

• The first woman to graduate from UQ with a gold medal, the highest accolade for an undergraduate at the time.
• The first woman president of the of the Royal Society of Queensland.
• The first woman professor at an Australian university.
• The first woman fellow, and then, the first woman president of the Australian Academy of Science.

And that is not even an exhaustive list of all of Dorothy’s ‘firsts.’

She was an inspiration for generations of women and took her responsibility as a role model seriously, advocating strongly for young women to take up the study of science and to fight gender inequality by example.

In an address to graduating students in 1971, Dorothy said, and I quote:

“The need to be a pioneer is particularly apparent for women. Do not wait for the world to offer you what you might think to be your due. It is up to you, with your training and knowledge, to persuade industry that you can indeed play an active and not only decorative part in it… you have the opportunity to open more careers to women by your successful example.”

And I would like to dwell on this quote for a moment, because it’s one of the things I admire so much about Dorothy.

She was someone who I believe we would refer to today as a ‘woman’s woman.’ She formed many close friendships with female colleagues early in her career and drew inspiration from them as she rose through the ranks as a female researcher and academic – as I’m sure they also did from her.

And very importantly, she saw one woman’s achievements as opening the door of opportunity to another woman. Which is something I want to encourage all of you to emulate.

Over the next two days, you will hear from some incredible women who are working in Earth and Environmental Sciences in Australia.

Each of these women are doing amazing things in their individual careers and are making significant contributions to the field. But they are also paving the way for the next generation of female earth and environmental scientists.

It’s a path which certainly still has its fair share of obstacles – some of which have even been exacerbated recently.

However, conferences like this, are a great place to continue the important work of creating a more equitable and inclusive environment that allows more women in science to lead and excel.

I encourage you to get to know one another, learn from one another, and like Dorothy, draw inspiration and strength from each other’s achievements as you progress in your studies and your careers.

It now gives me great pleasure to introduce the first keynote speaker of the 2022 Dorothy Hill Symposium – Caroline Tiddy.

Caroline is an Associate Professor in Geosciences at the University of South Australia and a Professorial Lead within the Future Industries Institute.

She completed her undergraduate, Masters and PhD degrees at Monash in the late 1990s and early 2000s. And prior to joining UniSA, spent 10 years at the University of Adelaide in various teaching and research roles, and 2 years with the Geological Survey of Western Australia.

Her research priorities lie in addressing the global issue of decreasing rates of discovery of mineral resources, coupled with an increase in demand for metals. 

To address this, she is currently working on developing new geochemical tools and drilling technologies for mineral exploration and mining that will improve exploration techniques, to ultimately increase the rate of discovery.

Please make Associate Professor Caroline Tiddy welcome.