To celebrate International Women’s Day 2025, we are excited to share a collection of blog posts showcasing the work of some of the BES community. In each post, they discuss their experiences in ecology, as well as what this year’s theme, ‘Accelerate Action’, means to them.

What work do you do?

I am a conservation biologist working at the Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London. My research aims to inform environmental and wildlife management, supporting decision-makers in identifying options that are likely to best support nature recovery in times of rapid global environmental change.

I have been involved with the BES for many years: I was a founding member of the Equality and Diversity Working Group; I chaired the Conservation SIG and now co-chair the Rewilding SIG; I served as an editor of Journal of Applied Ecology for many years and was a member of the Policy Committee. Most recently I led BES and ZSL’s joint land use symposium and report, detailing how large-scale government-driven changes to UK land use could restore biodiversity, tackle climate change and provide a wealth of benefits to people.  

How did you get into ecology?  

As a child, I didn’t know what ecology was and had definitively not computed that you could have a career trying to advance our understanding of the living world. I never had any ecology lesson at school – just biology ones. Although I enjoyed learning about physiology and cellular processes as a teenager, and had some great (and memorable!) biology teachers, I didn’t see myself working in that space. I actually didn’t even consider a career as a scientist – I simply had no idea about what that would entail, and never had anyone talking to me about that kind of options.

All changed at university: I did a BSc in general sciences and had a series of lectures in ecology; we also had practicals led by PhD students, who told us about what they do and what a career in research looks like. I got hooked at that moment, and the rest is history.  

Who inspires you?

I find it difficult not to find inspiration in others, should you be willing to spend the time looking for these stories that follow you through your life. If you think about it, different aspects of our lives crave inspiration at different points in time, while some stories only inspire us many years after we first encountered them. But I am partial to the trailblazers, the collaboratives, the empathetics, the entrepreneurs and the nonconformists.  

How do you think we could ‘accelerate action’ within ecology and science, to move towards gender equality?

One of the best ways to forge gender equality is to understand what works and to do more of this, faster. In that respect, we know that conducting and enforcing legal and policy reforms, promoting economic empowerment through eg equal pay for equal work, and increasing women’s leadership and representation are critical steps for diversifying the STEM work force.

But, from a personal experience, having the right people around you is very much key. Without a doubt, much of my career has been shaped by the STEMM women in my life and I wouldn’t be where I am without them. They were the ones that understood what I was going through, knew what to say at the right time, and how to support me as I was trying to establish my career. I hope I can be to many what they were, and still are, to me.