What do you picture when you think “neuroscientist”? For a very long time, scientists and specifically researchers in biology have been mainly men. The big discoveries, the Nobel prizes, the inspiring scientists you read about in high school – all men, aren’t they? But at this point in time, the presence of women in science is increasing every year. My first year Biology class in university had more girls than boys in it. In the last few years, one of the leading figures in genome editing has been a woman, Jennifer Doudna. I don’t know what the working environment will be like yet, but I have hope that it will be welcoming of motivated young women just as my university is.
My experience at the University of Glasgow has been nothing short of great. Apart from really liking the subject, I always felt valued and respected. I moved to the UK to study and, before that happened, my high school experience in Italy was very different compared to my university one. Then, I felt like I couldn’t be as clever as the boys, and would always compare my grades just with the other girls in my class. That obviously hasn’t been the case during my university career, as every student is equal and valued for their skills and their capacity of understanding the subject. Even though most of my professors are men and most of lectures are about research done by men, I never feel like I can’t do something because I am a woman. This is thanks to the many inspiring and confident women, both students and staff, that during my university career have made me feel like I can overcome my insecurities and be like them one day.
Being in university and working is very different, as you can imagine. I have had to look for internships and placements before, and what is most nerve-racking about the whole process is that it has always been men who were my supervisors and did my interviews. I always end up overthinking my appearance and whether I am supposed to wear make-up to look more professional. I overthink whether something has sounded dumb during the interview, whether these men who are interviewing me have some form of stereotype for petite brunette girls who like fashion and female writers. I wonder whether it is okay to have varied interests apart from science and biology, and whether it is okay if I wear a mini skirt to work one day. I’m sure I’m worrying too much on my part, but I don’t think I would worry this much if I was a man. I feel as though I am a confident person, but when it comes to my degree and especially my job, I want to be able to say to a male professor “Yes, I know what I am doing”, and I am definitely not at that point yet.
I am slowly learning to ignore those insecurities and fears, and I am currently doing a one-year master placement in the Psychology department at Durham University. It’s very rewarding and I am so glad I went for it, even though it took countless unanswered emails, rejections and a couple distressing interviews before getting a positive answer. Obviously, I still feel like I might not be excellent at what I do, as I am still a student, but during this placement I have never felt I wasn’t as good because I was a woman. I think that’s some improvement. And I can only hope this will just get better and better in my future career after University, as I definitely want to pursue my big dream of becoming a researcher and discover something new about the human brain.
One of the things that have got me where I am now is always pushing myself out of my comfort zone. When something seems scary to me, I always try to go for it anyway and take the risk. When I have to do something I have never done before, I buckle up and put my best effort into it. If for a small second I think I can’t do it, I try and think about all the scary situations I have been in the past, and how they seemed so big and overwhelming. I overcame them, right? So I can definitely keep trying until I overcome these new scary situations too.
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