Hardy, MC, Desselle, MR, Allen, J et al. (22 more authors) (2017) Engaging rural Australian communities in National Science Week helps increase visibility for women researchers. Royal Society Open Science, 4. 170548. ISSN 2054-5703
Abstract
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) program flew scientists who identify as women to 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 provide career advancement opportunities for women scientists. This paper focuses on the latter goal. The data show: 1) a substantial majority (> 80%) of researchers thought the training and experience provided by the program would help develop her career as a research scientist in the future; 2) the majority (65%) thought the program would help relate her research to end users, industry partners, or stakeholders in the future; and, 3) analytics can help create a compelling narrative around engagement metrics and help to quantify influence. During the weeklong 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 program provided long-term career advantages to participating scientists and communities.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2017 The Authors. Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited. |
Keywords: | altmetrics, career advancement, career development, equity, research, social media |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Civil Engineering (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 25 Sep 2017 11:56 |
Last Modified: | 23 Jun 2023 22:36 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Royal Society |
Identification Number: | 10.1098/rsos.170548 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:121609 |