Supporting the next women leaders in wheat research
Working to improve the representation in wheat research of women in senior management roles.
I am just back from A fantastic couple of days at CIMMYT-Obregón working alongside Diane Saunders on the Rosalind Franklin Women in Wheat Champions supporting the next leaders in wheat research.
Wheat is an important crop with a huge amount of research behind it. But a challenge for the wheat community is that women are under-represented in senior management roles.
The good news however is that gender diversity in wheat research is more equal across early and mid-career levels - So now we need to ensure women in these roles continue into senior leadership. Training and community building offer two approaches to help.
The Women in Wheat event at this visit to CIMMYT-Obregón focused on provided early career women researchers with science and supporting skills, including:
🤝 Networking & public profile 📝 Science writing 💬 Influencing others and institutional change
Community was at the heart of this work, and it was fantastic to seeing the training forge new connections, linking young researchers across institutions and cultures. The room was one of smiles, sincerity, warmth and laughter ✨
The visit culminated unexpectedly in us joining one of the researcher’s, Jazmin Rodriguez Walldez, local softball games after the training - the wheat training team piling into the stands, cheering and joining for photos with the trophy when Jazmin’s team won the final.
It was a beautiful evening of mutual support and celebrating the success of a new colleague many had met only days before - and wonderful metaphor for the community we want to build to lead the field and inspire others.
I’m excited to see the future of these inspiring researchers.
Many thanks to CIMMYT (particularly Flavio Breseghello and Sayzetti Balderas) and John Innes Centre for all the support throughout.
There were also some fantastic updates from this visit on the JIC-CIMMYT strategic partnership. More on that soon in another post.