Girls in Science
A group of Wesley Years 11 and 12 girls celebrated International Day of Women and Girls in Science in February at Royal Women’s Hospital, which hosted this year’s Meet a Scientist event.
Accompanied by Michelle Vella, Science Faculty Coordinator at the St Kilda Road Campus, the girls joined 150 other girls and their teachers from 37 schools across Victoria to participate in hands-on, interactive and extremely engaging workshops – and gain an insight into the array of science careers ahead of them from 24 female research staff, scientists and PhD students.
The eye-opening workshops followed a ‘speed dating’ format, in which the girls met and talked with five scientists from different areas of research, who each presented their story and research field and answered students’ questions.
The broad array of workshop presentations ranged from Neonatal Consultant, Dr Louise Owen, demonstrating how pre-term babies are ventilated and how research is improving techniques used in Neonatal Intensive Care, to Dr Michelle Peate, giving an insight into her research and how she has made a difference. Personal stories about the exploration of endometriosis and how the HPV vaccination program has reduced its prevalence and new research on diagnosis testing in between were also presented.
The girls came away from the event with valuable advice and information that may potentially shape their own future careers in science and STEM more broadly, and the knowledge that not all scientists are people in white lab coats!
