IDEA Committee Update
Published in the RSAA Lunations
Vol1 Issue37 1–28 February 2023
The RSAA Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access committee is starting 2023 with lots of interesting updates!
We hope everyone had a great holiday break and is back with lots of energy to be part of the February activities at RSAA.
As you may have seen in your inbox last week, the IDEA committee has been very busy preparing the Pleiades Application for Silver Level. The Pleiades Awards were originally launched by the ASA Chapter for Women in Astronomy to recognise organizations in Australian astronomy that take active steps to advance the careers of women through focused programs and strive for sustained improvement in providing opportunities for women to achieve positions of seniority, influence and recognition. Starting in 2018 the criteria for the Pleiades Awards changed to reflect this expanded goal of equity and inclusion at all levels, and across all people in the astronomical community. RSAA was awarded Bronze level in 2021 and now it is time for us to apply to the next award entry! We have distributed the application draft among all members of the School and we are welcoming feedback by Feb 7; please send us an email or contact any member of the IDEA committee with your comments and suggestions!
February is going to be a busy month! The semester is starting and students are returning to campus; we will also hope to see Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring buzzing with people. Last year, we had the culture survey workshop where we reflected upon the results of the culture survey and what we would like to improve at RSAA; the lack of community was the recurrent thought among every cohort. The IDEA committee is taking the lead on this. We are planning to organize some special social events soon to help rebuild the community feeling at RSAA. Stay tuned!
February is also the month where we celebrate the Day of Women and Girls in Science (Feb 11). This year Women* in Physics, Astro, and Engineering (WiPAE) are hosting a competition to raise awareness! The call is out for everyone to take the best photo they can while wearing purple that also reveals the kind of work you do; the best photo will receive a $200 prize! Entry is open to all members of RSAA, CECC and RSPhys. Submit your photo here by Feb 10.
CECC is also hosting another thrilling event on Feb 15! The CECC Diversity, Belonging, Inclusion, and Equity team is organizing a free screening of the film, The Leadership, an award-winning documentary that follows an international group of 76 women working in STEMM fields on an Antarctic voyage designed to transform them “into the sort of leaders they want to be.” The screening will be followed by a panel discussion about key issues around diversity and inclusion in STEMM and leadership for women. RSVP here if you would like to attend!
Last but not least, the College of Science has recently launched the CoS Community Events Calendar. We would like to encourage everyone to have a look, distribute it, and contribute to it!
As a final note, two interesting articles were published in January: “Leadership Diversity Through Relational Intersectionality in Australia”, and “It’s not all about gender or ethnicity”. Nice read for this summer!
Noelia Martinez-Rey
