Winner of the 2016 Woman of the Year award, Professor Carole Mundell is Head of Astrophysics at the University of Bath. Here, she describes what this recognition means to her and the responsibility of being a role model for the next generation of women in STEM.
First of all, congratulations on winning the Woman of the Year award for 2016! How has this recognition impacted you both personally and professionally?
It was a huge honour to win it. In fact, personally, it’s very exciting to have that recognition for the work that I’ve done and my role as a woman in a male-dominated field. I think, for me, that personal recognition has been a great boost. Professionally, of course, it is a very prestigious and competitive award – there were many brilliant female finalists, let alone all of the winners.
There is a huge amount of impact and it’s fantastic to have this kind of award recognise the work and the impact that women are having in the field of technology, which still has a stereotypical image of something that men do. ‘Boys with their toys’ are the sorts of phrases that you hear used with any kind of technology, so awards like these are fantastic for actually showcasing the talent that is out there across the fields of science, technology and engineering. It was really fantastic to meet the other winners – female leaders in different fields – as I don’t think our paths would have crossed otherwise and now we’re setting up networks with one another.
What has spurred your interest in astrophysics?
I was always very good at physics and maths at school and it was these subjects that got me into astrophysics. Seeing Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell give a talk to the student Astronomists Society in Glasgow as an undergraduate was the turning point for me. Her talk was fascinating and inspiring and I was just mesmerised by the idea of how stars form and evolve. It brought the subject to life for me and showed me that there was an eminent, successful, incredibly smart woman inspiring the audience. I think all the young women – and there weren’t many of us in that class – were really inspired by her talk.
My area of expertise and interest is really in black hole driven phenomena in the universe. I’m an experimentalist, an observational astronomer, so I work and develop the use of technology to study the universe and in particular to catch light from across the electromagnetic spectrum, that comes from objects from across the universe. With this technology, we try to diagnose the physical processes that drive those phenomena. Black hole driven phenomena are the most extreme environments in the universe in terms of the physics – huge magnetic fields, very strong gravity, high acceleration speeds of materials of these systems.
We’re entering a very exciting time in modern astrophysics. I would say we have probably surveyed most of the sky across most of the electromagnetic spectrum, but we haven’t looked to see how it changes with time. We know, by looking at exploding stars that produce gamma ray bursts, that these appear as transient objects. They can last less than a second. That’s what we have been prototyping our technology on. Now what we’re looking at is a whole range of new international facilities that will start to deliver repeat measurements across the whole sky at radio wavelengths, such as the square kilometre array.
You are Head of Astrophysics and Professor of Extragalactic Astronomy at the University of Bath. As part of a relatively small number of female academics in technology, what were the key factors that facilitated your career path?
One of the most important factors is working with good people. People who you trust with your ideas, with whom you can make mistakes and say: ‘Hey, I’ve got this idea, can we work through it?’ Actually making mistakes is an important part of the success that you ultimately have. You tell a success story, win an award at the end and that’s fantastic, but it’s actually working with people who will energise you when you hit the tough times that is the most important thing for perseverance.
Another key aspect is having good mentors and role models, men or women. I’ve had some very influential male mentors, scientists who I have looked up to and who have guided me in developing as a scientist. I think that’s very important for the journey along the career path. Being flexible to take opportunities is also helpful, there doesn’t need to be a fixed career path. For some young people that will be true, someone will decide they want to be a doctor and there are certain steps along the way that you have to take. My career has really developed because I have done things that have fascinated me. I’m very fortunate that opportunities have come along, but I have already made opportunities for myself. I haven’t had a fixed preconceived idea of where that path has to be.
At present, what are the greatest challenges facing women in science?
First of all, bringing women into science starts at the very youngest age. I know there are campaigns like Let Toys Be Toys, and that has been a fundamental change in how young girls see science and technology. Many reports and studies highlight the passive service nature of some toys biased to girls and the more creative, engineering and potentially violent toys for boys. I think the growing call for toys to be gender neutral at that young age is important because it gives those very young girls the permission to follow science and technology if that‘s what interests them.
In schools, teachers sometimes use the ‘stereotype threat’ where they give this impression that girls are not good at maths so they need extra help. I think that has to be challenged and is changing, but you have to show that everyone is capable of doing STEM and there are many different kinds of roles within those sectors. Diversity is very important.
Once girls come through into science, it’s very important that we make a safe, respectful and enabling environment for them to do science. You hear about the leaky pipeline in science and how women stop their careers to be with their families. I have a family, and I don’t think being a successful scientist and having a family has to be two different choices. We need to have more family friendly environments where both young men and women see their career path as integral with their family choices, whatever they are.
As a role model for women in science, how do you hope to inspire and support more girls to follow a STEM career?
I think being visible is the very first step, showing that it’s possible. For me, the turning point was seeing Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell as a successful senior woman scientist and showing that it’s possible, exciting and inspiring.
I also think the media can help with this. A colleague said to me a short while ago that he had noticed some potential bias on the TV, where men tend to do all the physical science programmes and women do the social science programmes. As a research professor, making a TV appearance can act as a pull through effect for young women. Seeing female researchers in senior positions like me, still being active in their field, shows that it’s possible. We also have a responsibility as senior scientists to make that path less onerous for the women coming behind us.
Science is a wonderful career and it’s a privilege to be able to work in this area with great people internationally. Certainly in my field, but all science and technology is international and it breaks down those cultural barriers, as well. We don’t just stay in those national silos and I think that’s really important for progress.
10 Categories for the WISE Awards 2016
The WISE Awards 2016 celebrate the talented women and men whose work impacts on science, technology and engineering in the UK. Nominations for the 10 different categories will be opening soon and the deadline for submissions is 9am Friday 3 June. You can view all the different categories and make a nomination on the WISE Awards website.
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