Lively Exchange between Female Academics

February 21, 2017; tb

Much could be read about women with academic science careers during the past, but nothing can help more than the direct dialogue to women who have already chosen this path of life. The University of Stuttgart offers a Mentoring Program for Women in Science with the aim to motivate and support outstanding female scientists in their academic careers. As part of this program, the SFB-TRR 161 organized a discussion panel with Petra Isenberg – a research scientist at Inria, Saclay, France in the Aviz research group.

At the beginning of this month, about 10 students, doctoral candidates, and postdocs came to the Visualization Research Center (VISUS) to listen to this Science Talk. They wanted to benefit from the experiences of a woman already working in research. Regina Rapp, head of the Mentoring Program, coordinated the lively discussion between our guest and the female offspring. Petra Isenberg talked about her current work, her special focus, as well as about her career path, and the efforts to reconcile her working and family life, especially during the turbulent times of paper deadlines, conference visits, or even research stays abroad. During the one hour science talk a lot of open questions were answered to support the female participants in their decisions about their further career.

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Feedback from Tanja Blascheck, a young female computer scientist, currently working on her doctoral degree:
„My plan is to go on working in the field of computer science with a focus on visualization. That is why it was quite fascinating to hear about the experiences of Petra Isenberg, who is working in a research field similar to mine. Besides, the information about how she coordinates her family and working life was really interesting for me.“