Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-vvkck Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-29T22:42:21.560Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

ASTROMOVES: Astrophysics, Diversity, Mobility

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2021

Jarita C. Holbrook*
Affiliation:
Science, Technology & Innovation Studies, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom emails: Jc.holbrook@ed.ac.uk
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The US astronomy/astrophysics community comes together to create a decadal report that summarizes grant funding priorities, observatory & instrumental priorities as well as community accomplishments and community goals such as increasing the number of women and the number of people from underrepresented groups. In the 2010 US National Academies Decadal Survey of Astronomy (NRC10), it was suggested that having to move so frequently which is a career necessity may be unattractive to people wanting to start a family, especially impacting women. Whether in Europe or elsewhere, as postdocs, astrophysicists will relocate every two to three years, until they secure a permanent position or leave research altogether. Astrophysicists do perceive working abroad as important and positive for their careers (Parenti02); however, it was found that the men at equal rank had not had to spend as much time abroad to further their careers (Fohl12). By implication, women need to work abroad longer or have more positions abroad to achieve the same rank as men. Astrophysicists living in the United Kingdom prefer to work in their country of origin, but many did not do so because of worse working conditions or difficultly finding a job for their spouse (Fohl14). In sum, mobility and moving is necessary for a career in astrophysics, and even more necessary for women, but astrophysicists prefer not to move as frequently as needed to maintain a research career. To gather more data on these issues and to broaden the discourse beyond male/female to include the gender diverse as well as to include other forms of diversity, the ASTROMOVES project was created which is funded through a Marie Curie Individual Fellowship. Though slowed down by COVID-19, several interviews have been conducted and some preliminary results will be presented.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of International Astronomical Union

References

Cowley, A., Humphreys, R., Lynds, B., & Rubin, V. 1974, Report to the council of the AAS from the working group on the status of women in astronomy-1973. Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 6, 412423.Google Scholar
Fohlmeister, J., & Helling, C. 2012, Career situation of female astronomers in Germany. Astronomische Nachrichten, 333(3), 280286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fohlmeister, J., & Helling, C. 2012, Careers in astronomy in Germany and the UK. Astronomy & Geophysics, 55(2), 2.31-2.37.Google Scholar
Inno, L., Rotundi, A., & Piccialli, A. 2020, COVID-19 lockdown effects on gender inequality. Nature Astronomy,, 4(12), 11141114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ivie, R., & White, S. 2015, Is There a Land of Equality for Physicists? Results from the Global Survey of Physicists. La Physique Au Canada, 71(2), 6973.Google Scholar
Ko, L. T., Kachchaf, R. R., Ong, M., & Hodari, A. K. 2013, Narratives of the double bind: Intersectionality in life stories of women of color in physics, astrophysics and astronomy. AIP Conference Proceedings, 1513(1), 222225.Google Scholar
Mao, Y.-Y., & Blaes, O. (n.d.). 2013, Astronomy and Astrophysics Outlist, Retrieved 19 January 2021Google Scholar
Mavriplis, C., Heller, R., Beil, C., Dam, K., Yassinskaya, N., Shaw, M., & Sorensen, C. 2010, Mind the Gap: Women in STEM Career Breaks.. Journal of Technology Management & Innovation, 5(1), 140–151.Google Scholar
National Research Council 2010, New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics., National Academies Press.Google Scholar
Oxford English Dictionary n.d., ‘intersectionality, n.’.Google Scholar
Parenti, S. 2002, The European solar physics community: Outcome from a questionnaire. Solar Variability: From Core to Outer Frontiers, 506, 985990.Google Scholar
Shanghai Ranking’s Global Ranking of Academic Subjects 2020–Physics | Shanghai Ranking–2020 n.d., Retrieved 19 January 2021.Google Scholar
Venkatesan, A., Bertschinger, E., Norman, D., Tuttle, S., & Krafton, K. 2020, The Fallout from COVID-19 on Astronomy’s Most Vulnerable Groups. Women In Astronomy.Google Scholar