Around the world people are marking International Women's Day. We are joining them by celebrating the contributions and achievements of women in our department.
Melanie Moser
Staffing Administrator
Bartlett School of Environment, Energy and Resources
Melanie is a staffing administrator who works across the Bartlett School of Environment, Energy and Resources.
My advice to women working in a similar role as mine in a university is listen to the people around you. Join HR networks, communities of practice, ask senior or junior members of your team for their experiences, you can learn from anyone.
Read more about Melanie's experience
Dr Abbie Chapman
Research Fellow, Sustainable and Healthy Food Systems
UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources
Abbie is a biodiversity scientist currently working on the Sustainable and Healthy Food Systems (SHEFS) project, which is investigating the environmental and health impacts of dietary changes in South Africa, India, and the UK.
There’s always more time and more work but there’s only one you, so remember to look after yourself mentally and physically… Some of the best scientists I’ve met manage to maintain a healthy work-life balance but it takes being strict with yourself and others to treat time as the precious commodity that it is.
Read more about Abbie's experience
Emily Jennings
Centre Manager ERBE and LoLo Centres for Doctoral Training
UCL Energy Institute
Emily is the Centre Manager for ERBE and LoLo CDT’s, which are part of the Energy Institute, and focus on energy resilience of the build environment. She’s also a BSEER green champion.
I’ve found that trying to see the benefit of the elements of your role that you don’t necessarily enjoy (e.g. finance-based tasks, having difficult conversations, managing conflict) as learning opportunities, instead of shying away from them, has made me much more confident.
Read more about Emily's experience
Dr Katherine Curran
Associate Professor
UCL Institute for Sustainable Heritage
Katherine is leading an ERC Starting Grant project called COMPLEX which explores the degradation of plastic-based museum artefacts
It’s a cliché but I am often struck by how often gifted women write off their achievements and see themselves as inadequate…I think we could all be kinder to ourselves and take time to reflect on how far we have come.
Read more about Katherine's experience
Dr Gesche Huebner
Lecturer in Sustainable and Healthy Built Environments
UCL Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering and UCL Energy Institute
Gesche is a lecturer at IEDE and a researcher at the EI working on the link between mental health and climate change. She is also an Equality, Diversion & Inclusion lead at BSEER.
Work does not own you and you don’t owe work – that is, when it comes to important decisions, base them on your circumstances, preferences, and wishes, not on what you think is good or appropriate for your workplace.
Read more about Gesche's experience
Dr Isabela Butnar
Senior Researcher in Bioenergy Systems
UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources
Isabela joined UCL in 2016, she is a researcher currently investigating sustainable transition pathways to net zero greenhouse gas emissions.
I think my main advice would be to trust yourselves that you can follow and deliver your dreams, even when it all feels overwhelming, and you feel you run out of brains at the end of the day. Learn to prioritise and don’t hesitate to delegate and empower others on the way.
Read more about Isabela's experience
Prof Maria Kamargianni
Professor of Transport Systems Innovation and Sustainability
Head of MaaSLab
UCL Energy Institute
Maria is head of MaaSLab, a research group which focuses on new mobility technologies for passenger and freight and their integration with the existing transport systems.
I am proud of several things about my work. Getting funding for doing research, publishing papers, supervising doctoral students, teaching, supporting my department, are all things that make me happy. However, the thing that makes me the most proud, is combining motherhood with a demanding schedule in academia; that I do not always achieve, but at least I try.
Read more about Maria's experience
Joanna Payne
Teaching Programmes Administrator
The Bartlett School of Environment, Energy and Resources
Joanna Payne is a teaching administrator working across The Bartlett School of Environment, Energy and Resources. She is also a BSEER Green Champion.
be your own cheerleader. Remember to pat yourself on the back and not be your own worst critic, proactively use constructive feedback to learn and develop, take time to focus on your wellbeing (mentally and physically) to create a healthy work/life balance and crucially, learn when to say yes and when to say no. I find this applies to all aspects of life, not just work.
Read more about Joanna's experience
Sahar Nava
Doctoral Researcher / Senior PGTA
UCL Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering
Sahar is a Doctoral Researcher and Senior Postgraduate Teaching Assistant, her research aims to explore a participatory approach to developing a Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment and Analysis framework for the appraisal of estate regeneration schemes.
We have come so far, believe in yourself and don’t give up, things will get better."