Celebrating small but important steps towards EDI
We proudly celebrate #WomenInScience at @geodatascience, although a few days late, celebrating the phenomenal women in our Lab who come from a series of diverse backgrounds in geography, economics, computer science, physics, mathematics, and beyond. I feel very privileged to be part of such a varied research group, collaborating with an amazing team of women and men.
That being said, I think celebrating #WomenInScience is a valuable opportunity to engage in discussions about the challenges women (and other minorities) face when navigating academia, with a particular emphasis on quantitative fields. The journey to break through is not straightforward, often with a dwindling number of women ascending the academic ladder. It takes perseverance and a resolve not to succumb to the enduring imbalances. It involves facing the intimidating atmosphere of rooms often dominated by a lack of diverse individuals. A challenge that I certainly faced as a young woman entering a quantitate academic field when I was a PhD student. A challenge many PhD students still face today. The shortage of diversity at higher academic levels can be disheartening.
Nevertheless, the push for change, for inclusivity, and for a diverse academic environment propels us forward. It’s crucial to foster an environment that embraces equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI), ensuring that everyone, regardless of gender or background, feels supported and empowered in their academic journey.
Despite the challenges, thank you to all the support systems (mentors and beyond), who play a pivotal role in providing guidance, support, and a vision of what is possible. I personally feel very lucky to have received such support from several mentor-figures so far, both men and women. There is also something about the power of collective support in advancing our journeys, which gives me strength.
Elisabetta Pietrostefani
Deputy lead of the Geographic Data Science Lab
Urban Analytics, spatial econometrics, new form of data, data for action
Hoping our picture inspires inclusion, #GirlPower and champions #Diversity.
Carmen Cabrera-Arnau
Urban analytics; human mobility; computational social science
Olga Gkountouna
Urban analytics, machine learning, data privacy, data science
Kawtar Najib
Social and spatial Inequalities, islamophobia and its spatialisation,
Heeseo (Rain) Kwon
Human behaviour; urban planning; computational social science
Meixu (May) Chen
Computational social science, human-environment interaction, deprivation, social-spatial inequality
Zi Ye
Socio-spatial inequalities, consumption, urban analytics, financial precarity
Jennie Gray
Neighbourhood processes, gentrification, geodemographics, urban dynamics
Wenjing (Wendee) Zhang
Urban geography, environmental sustainability.
Ruth Neville
Human mobility; computational social science; new forms of data
Alice Varley
Mental health, social and spatial inequalities, computational social science
Olivia Riley
Risk perception; natural hazards; social media
Giada Garofani
Urban spatial inequalities, educational attainments, labour markets and employment
Lilly Crellin
Sentencing, quantitative social science, criminal justice
Gladys Kenyon
Machine learning, hedonic modelling, housing
Maya Middleton-Welch
Spatial Statistics, Spatial Inequality