TY - JOUR
T1 - Engaging rural Australian communities in national science week helps increase visibility for women researchers
AU - 2016 Catch a Rising Star Consortium
AU - Hardy, Margaret C.
AU - Desselle, Mathilde R.
AU - Allen, Jennifer
AU - Andrews, Katherine T.
AU - Barrington, Dani J.
AU - Borg, Danielle
AU - Butler, Kaylene
AU - Colvin, Rebecca
AU - Cooper, Tarni Louisa
AU - Furlong, Emily
AU - Hugo, Honor
AU - Johnston, Elecia
AU - Iacona, Gwenllian
AU - Kenkel, Carly
AU - Kuempel, Caitlin
AU - Khosla, Amie
AU - Langbecker, Danette
AU - Liddle, Jacki
AU - Lucia, Diana
AU - Lussini, Vanessa
AU - Nazareth, Lynn
AU - Peel, Alison
AU - Saunders, Megan
AU - Smith, Meaghan
AU - Velasquez, Johana Tello
PY - 2017/10/18
Y1 - 2017/10/18
N2 - During a week-long celebration of science, run under the federally supported National Science Week umbrella, the Catch a Rising Star: women in Queensland research (CaRS) programme flew scientists who identify as women to nine regional and remote communities in the Australian State of Queensland. The aim of the project was twofold: first, to bring science to remote and regional communities in a large, economically diverse state; and second, to determine whether media and public engagement provides career advancement opportunities for women scientists. This paper focuses on the latter goal. The data show: (i) a substantial majority (greater than 80%) of researchers thought the training and experience provided by the programme would help develop her career as a research scientist in the future, (ii) the majority (65%) thought the programme would help relate her research to end users, industry partners or stakeholders in the future, and (iii) analytics can help create a compelling narrative around engagement metrics and help to quantify influence. During the week-long project, scientists reached 600 000 impressions on one social media platform (Twitter) using a program hashtag. The breadth and depth of the project outcomes indicate funding bodies and employers could use similar data as an informative source of metrics to support hiring and promotion decisions. Although this project focused on researchers who identify as women, the lessons learned are applicable to researchers representing a diverse range of backgrounds. Future surveys will help determine whether the CaRS programme provided long-term career advantages to participating scientists and communities.
AB - During a week-long celebration of science, run under the federally supported National Science Week umbrella, the Catch a Rising Star: women in Queensland research (CaRS) programme flew scientists who identify as women to nine regional and remote communities in the Australian State of Queensland. The aim of the project was twofold: first, to bring science to remote and regional communities in a large, economically diverse state; and second, to determine whether media and public engagement provides career advancement opportunities for women scientists. This paper focuses on the latter goal. The data show: (i) a substantial majority (greater than 80%) of researchers thought the training and experience provided by the programme would help develop her career as a research scientist in the future, (ii) the majority (65%) thought the programme would help relate her research to end users, industry partners or stakeholders in the future, and (iii) analytics can help create a compelling narrative around engagement metrics and help to quantify influence. During the week-long project, scientists reached 600 000 impressions on one social media platform (Twitter) using a program hashtag. The breadth and depth of the project outcomes indicate funding bodies and employers could use similar data as an informative source of metrics to support hiring and promotion decisions. Although this project focused on researchers who identify as women, the lessons learned are applicable to researchers representing a diverse range of backgrounds. Future surveys will help determine whether the CaRS programme provided long-term career advantages to participating scientists and communities.
KW - Altmetrics
KW - Career advancement
KW - Career development
KW - Equity
KW - Research
KW - Social media
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85032018043&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1098/rsos.170548
DO - 10.1098/rsos.170548
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85032018043
VL - 4
JO - Royal Society Open Science
JF - Royal Society Open Science
SN - 2054-5703
IS - 10
M1 - 170548
ER -