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 Ghent University 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 forward 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 European Union 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.