Have you heard that female scientists exist but can’t actually name one? Ever wonder what they might be up to? You’ve come to the right place! ScienceGrrl Glasgow is serving up interviews with real-life female scientists – and they’re really interesting.
Dr Emma Carroll
Royal Society Rutherford Discovery Fellow
School of Biological Sciences
University of Auckland
Honorary Research Fellow
School of Biology
University of St Andrews
I am interested in developing better ways of monitoring natural populations. We live in an era of rapid environmental change and need quicker ways to assess how populations are doing. This involves using molecular and micro-chemical tools to provide information such as the identity and relatedness of animals, where and what they are eating and even how old they are. In my work on marine mammals, we can get all this information from a small skin biopsy sample from a free-ranging whale or dolphin. I then use statistical methods to combine the data and test a hypothesis – whether a particular behaviour shapes connectivity between populations for example.
What made you get into science?
Animals and the natural world were always things I felt a strong connection with and was always curious about. Science just professionalises curiosity!
How did you end up working in your specific area of science?
I didn’t actually finish high school, the last year or two weren’t a good fit for me. But, I had good grades and got provisional entrance at the University of Auckland. After doing a few different papers there I found that biology was what I really liked, focusing on genetics and animal behaviour. I did two summer studentships on pigeon navigation and although animal behaviour was awesome I decided that using genetics in an ecological setting was what I wanted to pursue, so I went and asked Professor Scott Baker about a masters project. The project combined genetics and population modelling, looking at how bad the population bottleneck caused by whaling had been in NZ right whales. It was lab work and maths – and I loved it!
After my MSc I went and worked as a scientific editor and did a bit of travelling before applying for a PhD scholarship. That ended up being really fortunate timing; it had been a decade since the previous surveys on NZ right whales and new field work was being conducted. I was able to do new genetic analyses on NZ right whales using 1100 samples collected in 8 different field seasons across 14 years. This information gave us a very good picture of the recovery of right whales from whaling and was a nice conservation success story that showed these whales can recover if we give them time and space.
My PhD work got me interested in how the behaviour of the whales plays a role in connectivity, recovery and recolonisation, which led me to work with Professor Oscar Gaggiotti and a global network of collaborators on the role of migratory culture in population connectivity in southern rights whales. That work is still being finalised, but I am now working on new ways to monitor populations. We’re using new methods for estimating the age of whales using DNA and new ways of investigating how connected animal populations are using the relatedness of animals within and between populations. I also co-lead a collaboration of researchers interested in how environmental factors are influencing the recovery of right whales, through the Southern Ocean Research Partnership (SORP).
Do you have a science heroine (and/or hero)?
I am inspired every day by the people around me, especially the women. The amazing female post-doc when I was a MSc student who first made me think that science could be a career. The senior women academics who have had to work harder than men to be treated the same and have broken down so many barriers for us – people who do amazing work despite going through tough times.
Do you have a favourite science fact?
A moon can have a moon – and it’s been called a moon-moon (although that’s not the official term yet!).
What is the best part of being a scientist?
Working with lots of great people and seeing the bits of the world that are still wild.
On a bad day, what inspires you to keep going?
The knowledge that I am incredible lucky to be able to do what I am passionate about – and that it’s not up to someone else to tell me what I can and can’t do.
What would you like people to know about your research?
That the history of a species or population is written in their genome; how big the population has been, how connected it is with other populations, what big historical events have shaped its habitat… If you know the right concepts and use the right methods the DNA will start revealing this history to you.
What does a scientist do in their spare time?
I love hiking and travelling – nature is inspiring.