{"id":9135,"date":"2016-03-11T12:00:35","date_gmt":"2016-03-11T12:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/?p=9135"},"modified":"2016-03-17T12:41:28","modified_gmt":"2016-03-17T12:41:28","slug":"women-in-physics-personal-perspectives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/2016\/03\/11\/women-in-physics-personal-perspectives\/","title":{"rendered":"Women in physics: personal perspectives"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following the IOP\u2019s \u201cTaking Control of your Career as a Female Physicist\u201d event<\/a>, Dame Professor Athene Donald and Professor Val Gibson spoke with Helen Cammack about their careers within academia.<\/h2>\n

Guest contributor Helen Cammack<\/em><\/p>\n

Since I entered the third year of my PhD, my future career has been increasingly on my mind. I\u2019ve been to a few careers events with stands full of free USB pens and glossy brochures, but always came away disappointed, unable to see myself in the roles they had advertised. The IOP\u2019s careers event was different; there, people shared my aspirations and were sympathetic to my concerns. The opening talk<\/a> by Prof Athene Donald was inspirational, and there was a variety of guest speakers who had used their physics training to build successful careers. I came away from the day with a new buzz, excited about my career possibilities.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"DSCF8031-small\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

What has been the most enjoyable part of your career?<\/strong><\/p>\n

AD<\/strong>: My postdoc in the U.S.: postdocs offer a combination of independence and freedom that you don\u2019t often get later on in your career.<\/p>\n

VG<\/strong>: Being a postdoc is one of the most exciting times of your life. When I had my CERN Fellowship I was free to do what I liked, and I ended up running my own experiment and working with some fantastic people.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Do you think quality or quantity of papers is most important for a young researcher just starting out?<\/strong><\/p>\n

VG<\/strong>: I think you need absolute enthusiasm for your subject and the quality of your research is key. It\u2019s not about the quantity of publications.<\/p>\n

AD<\/strong>: And it\u2019s not impact factor. I\u2019m a signatory for DORA<\/a>. My postdocs push me about where to publish and I feel that\u2019s the wrong way to go. In my field, people wait until results are absolutely complete rather than putting out results quickly to stimulate further debate.<\/p>\n

VG<\/strong>: In my field, the papers we put out now have been internally reviewed by the large collaborations to death, and sometimes you can wait six months to a year for results to come out. It\u2019s highly demoralising for the young researchers \u2013 you have to go through so many reviews and editorial procedures that by the time the paper comes out you\u2019re exhausted.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As you progress in academia, you start to pick up other commitments such as teaching, supervising and sitting on committees. Are these unwelcome distractions from research, or a breath of fresh air?<\/strong><\/p>\n

AD<\/strong>: It\u2019s variable. When I was relatively junior, I was put on a grant committee which was a real eye opener. However, you can get stuck on committees that aren\u2019t very interesting but can be time consuming. One of the skills is learning when to say no<\/a>. When you\u2019re junior, any committee can be eye opening.<\/p>\n

VG<\/strong>: Research tends to suffer when you take on other commitments, but as you become more senior in academia, you most likely have a research group working with you. At some point you don\u2019t have time to do the day to day technical aspects of the research, but you can look at the overall picture, and guide your research group towards what you think is worthwhile. I think that\u2019s a very big step for an academic, to stand back and let your research group run, working with them on new ideas.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What\u2019s the aim of gender equality, and do you think this is an achievable goal?<\/strong><\/p>\n

VG<\/strong>: I believe we can ultimately achieve a so-called \u201chorizontal leaky pipeline<\/a>,\u201d such that the percentage of women in physics remains constant throughout career levels. The trick is to increase the percentage of women who come into physics in the first place, and that requires a major change somewhere in earlier education and within the home environment. In school, boys tend to do science alongside subjects such as computing and engineering, whereas girls who study physics often haven\u2019t acquired those other useful skills.<\/p>\n

AD<\/strong>: Undoubtedly the problem starts way before university. But I\u2019m not convinced that 50:50 in every subject is the right place to be; we don\u2019t actually know where the balance lies. Within academia, there are still men and women who think that a women\u2019s primary role is to bring up a family, and it\u2019s those attitudes that will continue to hold women back The view that men are the breadwinners is endemic in our society \u2013 there\u2019s the belief that men \u2018need to get on\u2019 and that the system should make that possible.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dame Professor Athene Donald<\/strong> is Professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Cambridge and Master of Churchill College. From 2010-14 she was the University\u2019s Gender Equality Champion.<\/em><\/p>\n

Professor Val Gibson<\/strong> is Professor of High Energy Physics at the University of Cambridge, a Senior Gender Equality Champion, and Fellow and Director of Studies at Trinity College. She is also Chair of the Institute of Physics\u2019 Juno Panel.<\/em><\/p>\n

Helen Cammack <\/strong>is a third-year physics PhD student studying Open Quantum Systems at the University of St Andrews and is a member of the Scottish Doctoral Training Centre in Condensed Matter Physics (CM-CDT).<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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