International Day of Women and Girls in Science

The International Day of Women and Girls in Science happened on the 11th February. Did you know, women are typically given smaller research grants than their male colleagues and, while they represent 33.3% of all researchers, only 12% of members of national science academies are women. So… let’s take a look at some of the awesome women connected to IAGA! Remember, all jobs undertaken by IAGA members are on a purely voluntarily basis alongside their full time jobs. 

Mioara Mandea is the current IAGA President, meaning that she oversees all 6 divisions of IAGA and represents IAGA on the international stage. Originally born in Romania, Mioara studied engineering and geophysics in Bucharest and Paris. Currently she works at Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, where she is head of Science Coordination in the French Space Agency. She has won multiple distinctions over her career, most recently the Officier de l’Ordre National du Mérite, a French order of merit awarded by the President. Her research is centered investigating the Earth’s deep inner structure from magnetic field data and has been responsible for a number of scientific advances in ground- and satellite-based observations. Among her most noteworthy contributions are her work on geomagnetic jerks, sudden changes in the magnetic field generated by Earth’s core, and on short-term variations in the magnetic field. 

Monika Korte is the current Secretary General for IAGA and assists Mioara with all administrative duties for IAGA, including overseeing the IAGA Newsletter and assemblies. Monika has been involved with IAGA leadership since 2001! Monika is German and has worked as the scientific head of the Niemegk Geomagnetic Observatory at GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam. Currently, she heads the Geomagnetism section at GFZ. She specialises in modelling the Earth’s global magnetic field on historical to paleomagnetic time scales, with a particular interest in geomagnetic excursions and reversals, and separating magnetic field sources. 

Barbara Leichter is the Chair of the Interdivisional Commission on Education and Outreach. The main goal of the ICEO is to simplify international cooperation by organizing IAGA schools and workshops, international networking, encouraging young scientists, and promoting the work of IAGA to the general public. Barbara is Austrian and based at GeoSphere, Austria. She is also the Austrian Delegate of IAGA. One of her tasks is the data check of the geomagnetic Conrad Observatory in Austria, geomagnetic survey of Austria the repeat station measurements and Geomagnetic map calculations, and to keep the IAGA blog and social media team in order!

We’re so thankful for the hard work of all the volunteers in IAGA, especially the women! One thing that Wikipedian Kelly Doyle has been doing to improve the gender balance in science is by organising Wikipedia “Edit-a-thons”, where volunteers sit down to add more female entries. Less than 19% of Wikipedia biographies in English represent women. We can’t wait for the day when there is no need for promoting these brilliant women anymore.