In this newsletter:

 Editorial  Past events  Upcoming events  In the news  Portraits of the past: J. E. Hodgson & B. Tinsley  Portraits of honorary members: M. Temmerman & V. Dehant

N° 03 December 2010

Editorial Past events

Uncertainties and fragile political visions BeWiSe mentoring pro- have marked the passed year. In its wish to MAY consolidate and reinforce its solidarity gramme (part 2) 2nd workshop for 14 mentees among early career scientists and notably 27 and mentors. Location : Royal female scientists within the scientific com- 2010 Belgian Institute for Natural munity, BeWiSe is continuing and further Sciences (RBINS), Brussels developing its mentoring programme. The programme is continued, not only because it JUNE was a successful first experience, 14 BeWiSe General Assembly Location : RBINS, Brussels mentees from all over Belgium benefitted 11 from the programme, but also because it 2010 was felt as too short (6 months) in time for the majority of the participants, see an ex- cerpt of its evaluation herein. The need for JUNE EPWS General Assembly targeted but also gathering events is felt 10-11 Women in Present and Future and this is why BeWiSe proposes some “Fo- European Research 2010 10-11 June 2010 cused Lunches” once a month for several Location : RBINS, Brussels mentees interested on a topic dealt with by a mentor experienced in this field. The next Upcoming Events year will be thus full of nice and fruitful in- teractions between mentees & mentors with more opportunities for them to meet also Outcome and new per- JANUARY other mentors. spectives of the BeWiSe mentoring programme 13 Recommendations from other BeWiSe is also very proud to announce the 2011 forthcoming celebration of two new honor- Belgian mentoring projects & training for new participants ary members, in casu Prof. Marleen

Temmerman from the Location : RBINS, Brussels and Prof. Véronique Dehant from the Royal Observatory of Belgium. Both are por- Programme: trayed in this newsletter (consult the section 09h30 - 12h30 Outcome & new perspectives on portraits of women scientists). The cere- 12h30 – 13h30 Lunch 13h30 – 17h00 Training for new participants mony will be a great opportunity to learn from these two remarkable women, both of Contact: [email protected] which are playing an important role in their Registration deadline: Jan,5 th 2011 respective scientific field. Their presence and lectures will motivate not only all early ca- reer scientists but also the more experi- Ceremony for new BeWiSe Spring honorary members & enced ones! Watch the date to be 2011 General Assembly announced in the beginning of 2011… Location : RBINS, Brussels

Finally, in the name of the entire BeWiSe Steering Committee, I would like to wish Contact : [email protected] you an excellent Christmas Season and I look to meeting you in 2011! In the news Carole Paleco President of BeWiSe  About the BeWiSe 2010 Mentoring Programme. This programme is reach- ing cruise speed and definitely answers a

BeWiSe Newsletter n° 3 - December 2010

In the news (continued)  EU report examines the achieve- ments of 10 year-long policies at the need among young scientists. They have level of the to en- been able to tap their mentors’ experi- courage participation of women in ence on many topics. Els De Roeck science, especially in decision-taking (Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sci- bodies. ences) already shared about job search- ing, CV preparation and publication strategy with her mentor. It also helped Results are poor: the target levels of her to precisely define her career goals, recommended participation (a/ 25% of an important starting point for managing women in science at the decision-making one’s career successfully. For Sophie level and b/ 40% in projects during the Hermans ( Université catholique de Lou- 5th & 6th framework programmes) have vain), this programme is a “dream be- been only sparsely reached. Several ob- coming true”. All mentees appreciated stacles to progress were identified in the the open atmosphere of their sessions. report, such as the discontinuity of the Mentors are equally positive. They have political support. This means that every found mentoring to be a rewarding expe- time actions are proposed, the necessity rience. For Tatjana Parac-Vogt (Katholie- of such actions needs to be reinstated. ke Universiteit Leuven), it is a way of re- Another major issue is a lack of support turning to others the mentoring she from the scientific community itself, benefitted from during her own career. probably reflecting a lack of awareness Common grounds and understanding more than anything else. This lack of were easily identified while mentors in- awareness includes women themselves. vested a lot in building the relationships One way to achieve more awareness is as well. On the whole, all involved enjoy to involve institutions, not only individu- the experience, and believe that the als. The report also highlighted the need programme will be beneficial. for more role models at all levels , start- ing at school level to encourage girls to consider scientific fields of study. Men-

 Conference “Gender Dimension as toring programmes have also been found Driver for Science Innovation and st successful to help retaining women in Excellence in the 21 Century” in their scientific careers. A degree of con- Brussels, Autumn 2011 fusion is noted when it comes to the in- clusion of gender issues in projects This conference is organised by the FP7 submitted and evaluated by the Com- project on Gender in Science (genSET) mission. Does this relate to the composi- in collaboration with the European Sci- tion of the project in terms of human ence Foundation. GenSET looks to build resources, or to the inclusion of gender capacity among the European science in- topics in the research itself? Evaluators stitutions to mainstream gender in re- felt they were not competent to judge search and in the science enterprise. The either in any case. Full details on conference will be held in autumn 2011. http://www.bewise.be/ . More information can be found here: www.genderinscience.org

Registration

Want to join the BeWiSe network?

To apply for membership, go to our website:

http://www.bewise.be

BeWiSe Newsletter n° 3 - December 2010

In the news (continued)

 First event “Greenlight for Girls” in Brussels on Nov 20th

The goal was to motivate girls of age 11- 14 years for science by organising a full day of hands-on experiences and fun workshops. Answering the call launched by BeWiSe, the Royal Observatory of Belgium participated to this effort with a workshop entitled “The Songs of Stars”. This event, held in Brussels in last No- vember, gave the opportunity for young girls from different schools in or near “Greenlight for girls” is an international Brussels to meet with scientists, mathe- NGO whose objective is to encourage maticians, engineers, etc. Kelly Torres young girls to consider a future in math, (Royal Observatory of Belgium) says she science, engineering and technology. is “very glad to have contributed to this More details on this can be found here: special day for young girls”. www.greenlightforgirls.org

 Aware of any relevant news items or interesting information ? Pls send it to [email protected].

BeWiSe Newsletter n° 3 - December 2010

GENERATIONS OF WOMEN IN SCIENCE

Portrait of the P ast #1 Portrait of the Present #1

Name: Jane Elizabeth Hodgson Name: Marleen Temmerman Age: 57 Lived: 1915-2006 Function: Full professor, UGent From: Minnesota, USA Other: Flemish Senator Education: Education:  Medical school, Minnesota  Universiteit Gent  Instituut voor Tropische Ge- neeskunde, Antwerpen

 Vrije Universiteit Brussel Jane Elizabeth Hodgson was born in rural Minnesota. As a young girl she often accompanied her father, a Marleen Temmerman was born in 1953 in Lokeren. country doctor, on his rounds. She soon showed She graduated as a medical doctor from the Ghent how gifted she was, and entered college for an un- University. She then specialised in tropical medicine dergraduate degree in chemistry at the age of 15. at the Prince Leopold Institute of Tropical Medicine Four years later, she considered the then classical in Antwerp, and in gynaecology and obstetrics at the options for women, either marrying or teaching, but Vrije Universiteit Brussel . She also holds a Masters decided that none were for her at the time. Thus, in public health. She is a full professor at the Ghent she entered medical school. While being an intern, University, where she heads the International Centre she met the man she would marry and spend her for Reproductive Health. She furthermore manages life with. She graduated in 1939. the women’s health service of the Ghent University Hospital. She is taking part in a number of commit- In 1947, she opened a practice of gyneacology and tees and administrative boards concerned with child obstetrics in Minnesota. Her practice soon became care, women’s health, as well as with gender equali- very successful. While she had been taught that ty. Since 2007, she is a senator for the Flemish so- abortion was immoral, she recalls the large number cialist party. of patients that hoped for one at that time. Seeing the deep distress of these women, as well as the She spent several years in Kenya, where she carried consequences of failed illegal abortions, she started out research on HIV/AIDS and lectured at the Uni- reconsidering her position; for her, this was an issue versity of Nairobi. She worked in the Pumwani ma- of public health, more specifically of women’s health. ternity hospital in the slums of Nairobi, and after that never ceased to fight for the improvement of In 1970, she performed an abortion on a woman health care for poor people and for the reproductive who had been infected with rubella during her preg- and sexual rights for women. nancy, a disease that carries a risk of birth defect. She was taken to court, and was the only person When she joined the Ghent University in 1992, she ever to be convicted in the United States for per- was the first professor of gyneacology in Belgium. forming an abortion in a hospital. The sentence was She has published over 250 scientific articles and eventually overruled by the Supreme Court. She four books. In 2009, she received the BMJ Group later appeared in court again over abortion for mi- Lifetime Achievement Award. nors, and lent her name to other related court cas- es. Sources : - The British Medical Journal

Though she faced much intimidation throughout her - http://www.senate.be life, she remained active well into her seventies in various clinics, as a scientist publishing on reproduc- tive health, and as an advocate of women’s (voting) Sources (cf. portrait of V. Dehant below): rights. She passed away at the age of 91. - http://www.observatoire.be/FR/research/acti Sources : - The New York Times ve_rota.php - http://homepage.oma.be/veroniq/ - The American Bar Association - http://www.academieroyale.be/n679/Véroni que.Dehant - http://www.wikipedia.org

BeWiSe Newsletter n° 3 - December 2010

GENERATIONS OF WOMEN IN SCIENCE

Portrait of the P ast #2 Portrait of the Pr esent #2

Name: Beatrice Tinsley Name: Véronique Dehant Age: 51 Lived: 1941-1981 Function: Head of section From: Chester, UK Other: Professor (UCL) Education: Education:  Bachelor in Science, Univer-  Bachelor in mathematics and sity of Canterbury physics, UCL (1981-1982)  PhD, Universit y of Texas,  PhD, UCL (1986) Austin (1966) Véronique Dehant currently heads the operational Beatrice Tinsley was born in Chester, a town near direction Reference Systems and Planetary Science the prime bombing target Liverpool, United King- at the Royal Observatory of Belgium (ROB). She dom, from a historian father soon to be ordained studied mathematics & physics at the Université minister, and a musician mother. In 1946, the fami- catholique de Louvain (UCL), obtained a PhD degree ly relocated to New-Zealand, where Beatrice started in Sciences with highest honours and a tenure in her education. She was a bright student and always 1992. Until 1993, she was first a fellow, later a sen- keen on interacting with her peers. At the age of 14, ior research scientist at the National Funds for Sci- she decided to become an astrophysicist. entific Research (FNRS). In 1993, she obtained a permanent position at the ROB where she began At the age of 17, she entered Canterbury University developing projects which required spacecraft ob- where she obtained a bachelor’s degree with first servations for planetary missions. class honours in 1960. She then got engaged to physicist Brian Tinsley, whom she married in 1961. Her main research lies in the realm of geodesy and The couple next moved to Texas, United States. In geophysics. In particular, she addressed the theo- 1963, she completed her Master in Science with first retical computation of the orientation of the rota- class honours. Beatrice received her PhD from the tional axis of the Earth in space. The variations of University of Texas, Austin, completing it in about the Earth’s rotational axis are called precession and two years. Her thesis was entitled “Evolution of Gal- nutations and are caused by the gravitational attrac- axies and its Significance for Cosmology”. While her tion of the Sun and the Moon, as well as of the oth- work was praised, she found it extremely difficult to er planets of the solar system. This requires adequa- progress professionally in Texas. Only after leaving te modeling of the interior structure of the Earth, the Texas and her family, did she finally receive profes- study of its free oscillations, internal convection, as sional recognition and did she get hired, first in San- well as the influence of its oceans and atmosphere ta Cruz, California, then in Yale. In 1978, she be- to be able to model the resulting tiny displacements. came the first woman professor of astronomy (Yale). This also requires very stable spatial reference frames in which the displacements can be accurately She died at the age of only 40, after having strug- measured. Recently, this research has been extend- gled with cancer for several years. This happened 10 ed to the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars.. and to the days after having submitted a paper to the Astro- icy moons of the solar system. Véronique and her physical Journal, which was accepted without revi- team are presently actively involved in the radiosci- sion and published posthumously. ence experiment aboard the ESA spacecraft MarsEx- press to study the planet Mars in great detail. Her research on the evolution of galaxies and the universe profoundly impacted the then prevailing She already received various scientific awards and knowledge of cosmology: it changed the way in authored more than 315 publications. As an exam- which the size and the age of galaxies were evaluat- ple, she obtained the Descartes award of the EU in ed, which also lead to reconsider the expansion of 2003. This summer, she was nominated Academi- the universe. As a matter of fact, her work is still cian of the Académie des Sciences, des Lettres et today considered as fundamental for the current des Beaux-Arts de Belgique . As a person, she is a knowledge about galaxy evolution. pleasant and appreciative colleague who is also ea- ger to learn about the research of her colleagues.

BeWiSe Newsletter n° 3 - December 2010

Current Board & Steering Committee

The Board and steering committee meet minimum 3 times annually.

The Board

 President: Carole Paleco Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences [email protected]

 Vice-President: Isa Schön Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences [email protected]

 Secretary: Noëlie Bodin Université catholique de Louvain [email protected]

 Treasurer: Marianne Schlesser Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences [email protected]

Steering Committee members

Wilfrida Decraemer - RBINS Christel Moons - UGent

Anne Franklin - RBINS Huguette Reynaerts - UGent

Mietje Germonpré - RBINS Michèle Vanmaele - UGent

Patricia Lampens - Royal Obs. Belgium Sophie Vanwambeke – UCL (Newsletter editor) (Webmaster)

VZW/ASBL BEWISE

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Femmes et Sciences en Belgique URL http://www.bewise.be Rue Vautier 29, 1000 Bruxelles Contact us: [email protected]