Deakin scientist receives state's first Inspiring Women Fellowship

Ecologist and conservation scientist Dr Emily Nicholson has become one of four women in science to receive an inaugural inspiring women fellowship.

The Fellowships were announced by the Victorian Minister for Small Business, Innovation and Trade, Hon Philip Dalidakis MP, at Government House today.

Valued at $150,000 over three years, the Fellowship will allow Dr Nicholson to remain competitive in her field, “enhancing the current talent pool and affecting cultural change.”

In August, Dr Nicholson received a 2015 Australian Museum Eureka Award for her work on developing a new framework for ecosystem risk assessment, called the Red List of Ecosystems.

This framework has been adopted as the global standard by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) - the world’s biggest environmental organisation - and by governments, researchers and NGOs worldwide, and has influenced Australian policy.

Dr Nicholson, a Senior Lecturer in Deakin’s School of Life and Environmental Sciences, was delighted to receive the Fellowship and explained that, importantly, the Fellowship offers flexibility to decide how the funding is used.

 “A key component of my proposal is to lead and host strategic workshops that will enable me to take a leadership role in the Red List of Ecosystems in Australia and globally, and in the IUCN,” said Dr Nicholson.

“Deakin has also been very supportive with this goal and recently funded an IUCN Red List steering committee workshop at the Burwood campus, where we created a draft strategic plan.”

A mother of three young boys, Dr Nicholson explained that travel presents one of the biggest challenges to balancing family and research.

“My leadership in the Red List of Ecosystems has been hampered by missing important meetings while on maternity leave,” she said.

“This funding allows me to bring the international and national experts to Melbourne.”

Deakin University Vice-Chancellor Professor Jane den Hollander explained that the new “Inspiring Women” Fellowships would help to ensure we don’t lose the expertise, energy and perspective of so many talented women in science.

“I am delighted that Emily has been recognised for her immense achievements as a researcher and role model for women in science,” said Professor den Hollander.

“Her efforts in raising awareness about existing inequities and ways of successfully juggling the challenges of family and career are an inspiration for us all.”

In addition to her impact on conservation theory and research (over 1000 citations by other scientific articles), her research is having significant practical and social impact.

Dr Nicholson is perhaps most well-known for an article in Science magazine in which she revealed how reframing her achievements could provide a way forward when she encountered a career brick wall after the birth of her third son.

Taking a scientific approach to her problem, she realised that reporting her productivity metrics to account for her time away from work, including numbers of publications, citation rates, and grant income - and showcasing her time away from work - would help to ensure she was judged fairly. The approach worked. She gained a tenured post in the next position she applied for, at Deakin.

When Dr Nicholson shared her tactics in Science earlier this year, she became a role model for women across the globe. Her article has been viewed over 21,000 times since being published in May 2015, and is in the top 1% of all articles measured by Altmetrics for social media reach.

Since 2009, when she had her first son, she has managed to produce 26 publications – despite only working 3.7 years FTE. As sole or joint Chief Investigator, she has also attracted $1.34 million in research funding, including two individual research fellowships and an ARC Linkage grant (2013-2017).

As a leader for women in STEM, Dr Nicholson has co-organised a plenary on gender equity for the 2015 Ecological Society of Australia conference and led research teams investigating gender bias in ecology positions within Australian universities and ARC grants success rates. She also participated in Deakin's Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment 2015 Gender Summit, to develop strategies to reverse the shrinking pipeline in STEM.

At Deakin, she is mentored by Professor Maria Forsyth, Australian Laureate Fellow and Alfred Deakin Professorial Fellow, in a university-wide scheme that provides insight into funding processes and the University system.