Events

In this talk I will be sure to introduce, or reintroduce, you to the different dimensions of the LGBTQI+ community, what all those letters mean – and why this is both one community and many communities, made up of individuals who can be found across the world of astronomy. We often like to think that science is a process of the pure pursuit of knowledge in which anyone can equally engage, but the truth is that science is conducted by humans, interacting with other humans and society. While the astronomical community, especially in countries like the Netherlands, is accepting of the LGBTQI+, I will explain many areas of inadvertent, unconscious, and society driven pressures that lead astronomical institutions to not be such safe spaces for the LGBTQI+ community as they could be, and what we can do about it.

Dr Richey is currently Project Scientist for the Europa Clipper mission, and  was the Chair of the American Astronomical Society's Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy from 2015-2017, was the co-Chair of the Division for Planetary Sciences' Subcommittee on Professional Climate and Culture, from 2015-2017. They are also known for their education about bullying and harassment in the workplace, and in the planetary and astronomy communities. 

While a robust national STEM workforce benefits significantly from diverse constituents, deaf and hard-of-hearing (HOH) participation in STEM fields is currently limited due to the presence of significant barriers.  This presentation will include a discussion of the current challenges deaf/HOH students encounter as they pursue physics and astronomy degrees in the United States including statistics that clearly highlight the divide between deaf/HOH individuals and their hearing peers.  I will showcase large-scale efforts that address some of the more challenging barriers, including an initiative to address the language barrier that exists in technical fields, an all deaf NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates program and specific recommendations gleaned from education intervention studies in astronomy courses.

Jason Nordhaus, Ph.D. is a theoretical astrophysicist and Assistant Professor of Physics at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID), one of the eleven colleges that comprise Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and one of the premiere institutions for deaf education in the world. Professor Nordhaus is committed to increasing the participation of deaf individuals in physics and routinely involves deaf students in research work (11 undergraduate and 1 Ph.D. student to date).  Before joining RIT, Professor Nordhaus was an NSF Astronomy & Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow and a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Rochester in 2008. 

I will tell the stories of three eminent female astronomers who lived between 1750 and 2016, and reflect on the position of women in astronomy around the world today.

Scientific research globally is typically conducted in organizational cultures that reflect the structural and systemic racism, sexism, ableism and homophobia present in society. Research cultures continue to be constrained by the myth of meritocracy which limits inclusion and stifles creativity. To move towards research cultures that reflect inclusive excellence we must address the structural inequities, challenge the status quo and be intentional about developing strategies that attract, retain, support and promote the widest breadth of research talent and ideas. This talk will discuss building the toolkit for change and suggest actions that individuals or institutions can take towards sustainable inclusive excellence in research.  

Dr. Imogen R. Coe is a professor of Chemistry and Biology and former founding dean of the Faculty of Science at Ryerson University in Toronto. She is also an affiliate scientist at St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto, where her research group studies drug transporters. In addition to being an academic scientist, Dr. Coe is one of Canada's leading advocates for organizational change towards inclusive excellence in research, particularly in science and medicine. She runs a consulting company providing advice and training on inclusive excellence and has advised federal and national funding agencies on how to integrate equity, diversity and inclusion principles into diverse research cultures. She has published on inclusive leadership, misogyny in science and the need for intentional policy around EDI-infused organizational culture in diverse venues. She is much in demand as a speaker and has received numerous awards for her advocacy work

Social justice issues, such as race relations, gender equality and disability rights, are often seen as irrelevant to us as scientists in the research community. The global pandemic and the groundswell of reaction after the murder of George Floyd has brought these issues to our doorstep in way that leaves unable to ignore them any longer. In this talk, I will discuss my new role as equity and inclusion officer for Dutch astronomy. I will also touch on the importance of social justice in science research and how we as a community can work together to identify and rectify the challenges we are facing.

Dr. Tana Joseph is a South African astronomer, science communicator and social justice advocate for the sciences. In her role as Equity and Inclusion office for Dutch astronomy, she will work with stakeholders across the astronomy community in the Netherlands to implement evidence-based interventions to create meaningful and sustainable change. Dr. Joseph believes that science is for everyone and that together we can make a more equitable, accessible, inclusive and productive environment where we can all thrive. In addition to her social justice work, Dr. Joseph continues her research career as in observational astronomy, working on extragalactic X-ray binaries.

Christine Holtkamp gives this talk as Relation Manager for the Workplace Pride Foundation. The Workplace Pride Foundation has many (international) members, of which one is the NWO, the Dutch Research Council. The Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON), as well as The Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON) are both part of the Dutch Research Council as Institutes and therefore connected to the Workplace Pride Foundation.

Christine Holtkamp started her career as a nurse, specialising in mental health and public health sectors; subsequently, she has been active in many different national and international organisations as a human rights activist, a trainer, teacher, organisation consultant, manager, coach, innovation and D&I specialist, project coordinator and social entrepreneur. Christine’s fields of work are in Health Care & Welfare, Education, Advocacy, (Central) governments, Housing corporations, NGOs and innovative organisations. 

Early-stage researchers (ESR) are at the forefront of research-intensive universities globally. Boosting ESR careers requires coordinated and continuous effort from all levels of faculty. In this seminar, I will give a brief overview of the current landscape of doctoral education in the Netherlands and in Europe. I will share some of the challenges ESRs face with regards to furthering their (scientific and non-scientific) careers, and present a variety of strategies that have the potential to boost the careers of ESRs, both within and outside of academia. The strategies presented here are aimed at enabling departmental heads, HR professionals, university leaders, policymakers, and funders to contextualise their own practices in supporting ESRs.

Sanjana Panchagnula (she/her) is an astrochemistry PhD candidate at Leiden University (The Netherlands). Her research takes an interdisciplinary approach using laboratory techniques and computational chemistry to investigate the photo-processing, reactivity, and spectroscopic characteristics of interstellar polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Sanjana is also active as an equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) advocate and is a member of the Netherlands Astronomy Equity and Inclusion Committee (NAEIC), the chair of Leiden Observatory’s EDI Committee, and a Junior Board member for the women-in-STEM faculty network Researchers in Science Equality (RISE) at Leiden University.

The process of decolonisation is often viewed as a largely completed effort and something that applies only at the highest levels of geopolitics. In reality , decolonization is an ongoing practice that has implications for us all, from individuals through to nation states. In this talk I will give an introduction to decolonization in the context of global astronomy. I will highlight some areas that showcase current colonial practices in astronomy at large as well as specific examples of colonial frameworks still present in our community. I will also touch on ways we can start to rethink and dismantle such outdated and harmful practices and start to reimagine what post-colonial global astronomy could look like. 

Dr. Tana Joseph is a South African astronomer, science communicator and social justice advocate for the sciences. In her role as Equity and Inclusion office for Dutch astronomy, she will work with stakeholders across the astronomy community in the Netherlands to implement evidence-based interventions to create meaningful and sustainable change. Dr. Joseph believes that science is for everyone and that together we can make a more equitable, accessible, inclusive and productive environment where we can all thrive. In addition to her social justice work, Dr. Joseph continues her research career as in observational astronomy, working on extragalactic X-ray binaries.

Join via Zoom: http://stem.ooo/NAEICseminar

or YouTube Live: http://stem.ooo/NAEIClive

(Links may not work prior to the event!)

We often talk of the extreme reactions that arise following a public scandal that transforms into a movement, such as #MeToo. We now need to talk about the silence that follows these movements, and where the silence is often deepest – from positions of power in the organizations and systems that enabled the events. Instead of being change-agents, in many leaders and leadership groups rises a quiet worry that further demand for truly safe environments, inclusion and equity of treatment will turn lens of judgment on them personally. Justified fears or not, it is this silent movement #MeNext? that is the bottleneck to enacting the needed changes in a system to allow better praxis and accountability. A discussion on the ways and means to calm the fears that stymie progress in unhealthy systems.

Jessica Dempsey is the Director of the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, ASTRON. She spent over a decade in Hawaii as Deputy Director of the JCMT. She is a proud member of Event Horizon Telescope team. Dempsey has a background in radio interferometry, with a scientific focus on wide-field, transient surveys of the galaxy at radio wavelengths and on the frontiers of big data science pipelines for astronomy. She has a passionate commitment to creating greater diversity, equity and opportunity at all levels of astronomy and to enhancing opportunities for girls to become future leaders in science and technology careers.

ASTROMOVES is a European Union Horizon 2020 funded project focused on astrophysicists and their career decision making and career moves. The project centered diversity across many domains. How diversity was achieved will be discussed. The research findings use an intersectional lens to show patterns of decision making, emotions connected to having such precarious careers and the impact of COVID. Clips from the upcoming documentary film will be used to illustrate points.

Dr. Jarita Holbrook holds a doctorate in Astronomy & Astrophysics from UC Santa Cruz, granted in 1997 for her observational work on star formation regions in our galaxy. Holbrook is the fourth Black woman to be granted a PhD in Astrophysics in the entire History of the United States. Jarita is the sitting president of the International Society for Archaeoastronomy & Astronomy in Culture (ISAAC), is the lead of the IAU Division C working group on Ethnoastronomy & Intangible Heritage, and is a member of the joint RAS-IAU-AAS working group on Culturally Sensitive Sites. AAS has honored her as an AAS Legacy Fellow and they are a fellow of the UK Royal Astronomical Society. Holbrook is currently an EU funded Marie Curie Fellow as a Restart Fellow at the University of Edinburgh in the Science, Technology & Innovation Studies Department. Holbrook is an award-winning filmmaker and you can see their nerdy family in the web series “The Science Tourist” on YouTube.

We often talk of the extreme reactions that arise following a public scandal that transforms into a movement, such as #MeToo. We now need to talk about the silence that follows these movements, and where the silence is often deepest – from positions of power in the organizations and systems that enabled the events. Instead of being change-agents, in many leaders and leadership groups rises a quiet worry that further demand for truly safe environments, inclusion and equity of treatment will turn lens of judgment on them personally. Justified fears or not, it is this silent movement #MeNext? that is the bottleneck to enacting the needed changes in a system to allow better praxis and accountability. A discussion on the ways and means to calm the fears that stymie progress in unhealthy systems.

Jessica Dempsey is the Director of the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, ASTRON. She spent over a decade in Hawaii as Deputy Director of the JCMT. She is a proud member of Event Horizon Telescope team. Dempsey has a background in radio interferometry, with a scientific focus on wide-field, transient surveys of the galaxy at radio wavelengths and on the frontiers of big data science pipelines for astronomy. She has a passionate commitment to creating greater diversity, equity and opportunity at all levels of astronomy and to enhancing opportunities for girls to become future leaders in science and technology careers.

Academic institutions in The Netherlands are actively engaged in discussions about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (https://tinyurl.com/4wm8rpaz) , social safety (https://tinyurl.com/3sa7uz4j) and recognition and rewards (https://tinyurl.com/mbvr8yd). There’s a real risk that we have these discussions in isolated bubbles, whilst the topics are deeply intertwined. I’ll provide some perspectives from the national Advisory Committee Diverse and Inclusive Higher Education and Research and hope to engage in an interactive discussion with the participants.

Vinod Subramaniam is a biophysicist and president of the University of Twente. He has been director of AMOLF and the rector magnificus of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He is chair of the national Advisory Committee Diverse and Inclusive Higher Education and Research (see www.dihoo.eu) appointed by the minister of education, culture and science.

The word “privilege” carries a lot of weight and has very different meanings in its use in the language outside of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion community. This has the (hopefully) unintended consequence of activating the self-conscious emotions of shame and guilt in many who are more connected to the various vernacular uses of the word [maybe you, certainly me!]. These reactions are not helpful to anyone, and are important to understand both by EDI advocates, who may use phrases like “check your privilege”, and those who hear these phrases as an “accusation” of being privileged. In this talk (and conversation) we will, via five tales of privilege, have a full and frank discussion of “the P-word” – how it is used in language to imply very different concepts; what it actually means and entails in terms of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion; how those inside the EDI community can mitigate its emotional baggage; and how we can learn to hear the word and recognise our privilege without shame or guilt, and why, indeed, it triggers those emotions. We will also discuss the race-to-the-bottom in some kind of “privilege scale”, and what “recognising your privilege” can mean in a positive and constructive way.

Jake Noel-Storr is a lecturer in astronomy and academic team leader in astronomy, physics, mathematics, and biomechanical engineering at the University of Groningen, where they are also a member of the Teaching Academy Groningen EDI Community of Practise. They are the Co-chair of the International Astronomical Union Executive Committee Working Group on Astronomy for Equity and Inclusion, and were the founding chair of the EAS working group (now advisory committee) on Equity and Inclusion in Astronomy, and the long-term President of the Association for Astronomy Education. Jake got their PhD in Astronomy from Columbia University in New York (on supermassive black holes in radio galaxies) then working at the University of Arizona and Rochester Institute of Technology on research and practise in Astronomy Education and Outreach; before then running a global STEM education NGO for 5 years, then returning to Europe. Jake identifies as an #LGBTQI+ #ColourBlind #StudentAdvocate and stands by the principles of Access Astronomy, and Astronomy for All. Their choice of they/them pronouns is not about being non-binary, but about convincing people that the English language has the capacity to be gender neutral in its use... and none the less remains a self-identified white, western-european, male, astronomer.

Science communication is an essential piece of sharing research, gaining interest, and getting in front of the folks who need to hear your message. At times, the people who can invest in you are not in the same discipline, or in science at all, so learning how to distill your message into easy-to-understand chunks that are accurate yet understandable can be a challenge. In this seminar, Lori will share some of the tools and techniques her team at Thinkubator Media use to support scientists and their research. 

Before starting her own company, Lori served as communications director for the College of Science at Northeastern University. Her experience as a communicator has allowed her to work with leading researchers tackling some of the most significant issues of our time, such as climate change, renewable energy, and drug discovery. Lori’s work spanned many communication disciplines at Northeastern, including strategic planning, messaging, public relations, editorial writing, digital marketing, and communications, content development, marketing and communications for recruitment, and email marketing strategies and implementation.

At Northeastern, Lori was a member of several communications groups, the College of Science Diversity and Inclusion Committee, and an advisor for NU SCI, a student-run science magazine. Before working in science communications, Lori spent several years in television news, first at New England Cable News, then at WBZ-TV Boston. At a time when websites were uncharted territory for news organizations, Lori joined a team that helped revolutionize the way users consume news—breaking stories, producing exclusive content, and developing interactive opportunities to boost a reader’s engagement. During her tenure at WBZ-TV, the website earned the Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Broadcast Affiliated website for a large market in 2005 and 2007 and the Associated Press Award for Best TV/Media website in Massachusetts Rhode Island in 2006, 2007, and 2008. Lori has helped cover elections, Super Bowls, major local news events, and our beloved Boston Marathon. Lori currently lives with her teenage daughter in Sharon, Massachusetts, where they spend a lot of time walking arm in arm, eating fun foods, and contemplating the complexities of life 

Join via Zoom: http://stem.ooo/NAEICseminar

or YouTube Live: http://stem.ooo/NAEIClive

(Links may not work prior to the event!)

The South African Radio Astronomy’s human capital development programme (SARAO-HCD) was established to ensure that a sustainable and demographically representative workforce of highly skilled engineers, scientists, technicians and artisans would be available to build, operate and use the SKA, MeerKAT and AVN radio telescope facilities, as well as other local radio astronomy experiments.

Since its inception in 2005, SARAO HCD has successfully grown – from a very small pool - a diverse, interactive, globally recognised and transformed radio astronomy community in South Africa. This community participates and exploits the scientific and technical research opportunities that have been made available through South Africa’s strategic investments in radio astronomy, particularly the MeerKAT and SKA projects, and thereby continues to secure the country’s return on its investment. It has enabled the growth of SARAO’s social license to operate with local communities, and is a critical success factor in ensuring the long-term strategic objectives for radio astronomy investment in South Africa is attained.

The programme has been able to accomplish its objectives thus far through a highly directed, deliberate and strategic approach that has been internationally recognised and supported – evidenced through the diverse range of international collaborations and partnerships it currently manages. When South Africa submitted its expression of interest to host the SKA in 2003, there were less than five radio astronomers in South Africa. Since then, over 1400 grants to postdoctoral fellows, postgraduate and undergraduate students doing science and engineering degrees and research at universities, and universities of technology, and students training to be artisans, have been awarded by SARAO - a significant return on South Africa’s investment in the international SKA effort, and the construction and operation of MeerKAT. Grants have also been awarded to local universities to create teaching and supervisory positions at the universities. In addition, the project funds five Research Chairs. The Research Chairs initiative is designed to attract and retain internationally rated researchers, to further increase the number of researchers able to supervise postgraduate students, and to manage SKA and MeerKAT related research.

The intention is for SARAO’s HCD programme to continue in the era of the SKA project because the construction and operation of the SKA, as well as the significant science opportunities the telescope will provide, necessitates that relevant capacity development continue, at least at the current annual rate.

Dr Mthuthuzeli Zamxaka holds a Doctorate in Environment Microbiology and Nanotechnology from the University of the Witwatersrand. He is currently managing the Research and Capacity Development under the Human Capital Development (HCD) division at South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO). His main responsibility is to build Research capacity for the MeerKAT and SKA project by identifying and managing the Undergraduate, Postgraduate, and Postdoctoral Fellowship programmes, including the Visiting Professorship and the University Research Groups as well Chairs Programme.

He has been managing, science communication and Information dissemination of nanotechnology outreach and awareness programme as well as HySA Public Awareness Platform that reside at NRF|SAASTA that are funded by the South African Department of Science and Innovation

He has been a member of a number of Boards including, Child Welfare South Africa, Non-Profit Organisation, Roodepoort since March 2018 – Current. He has been an Advisory Board Member at the Centre of High Resolution Electron Microscopy (CHRTEM) at Nelson Mandela University (NMU) from October 2014 – December 2017.

Dr Zamxaka received a number of awards and scholarships including Ford Foundation scholarships, and University awards, which had helped him to perform parts of his PhD research in overseas in countries such as Sweden and Italy. He has mentored and help a number of students and graduates/ interns of whom some are managers and leaders of companies.

Dr Zamxaka’s passion is to build up the supply of tomorrow’s scientists and innovators by engaging the public with the phenomena of science, engineering and technology thereby building up their appreciation of the benefits of science so as to improve the quality of life of all people.

Dr Zamxaka is a Pastor at Assemblies of God. He believes that there is life after death and is accessed through Jesus Christ (John 14:6). He also believes in the African proverb that say, “If you want to go FAR, go together and if you want to go FAST, go alone”. His slogan, is that, “not all closed doors are locked”,

He likes statement made by President Nelson Mandela that says “It always seems impossible until it's done.”

Join via Zoom: http://stem.ooo/NAEICseminar

or YouTube Live: http://stem.ooo/NAEIClive

(Links may not work prior to the event!)