With the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, it is a good opportunity to commemorate the amazing women spearheading in one field to the other.
Their participation is more than an addition to strained research with high added value it is the turning stage making its way to introduce newer ways of thinking that addresses some of the most demanding problems of our era.
Consider a subject like Soil Science which even though it may not be on the front cover of the newspaper, is fundamental in how we end up understanding even climate change, or even food security. The forefront practitioners of this practice are women such as Dr. Deborah Bossio, who investigate the premises of healthy soils as the basis of sustainable agriculture. Dr. Claire Chenu discusses the mechanism of locking away of carbon in soils, and Dr. Johanna Wetterlind combines the latest technology to analyse soil characteristics with the unprecedented accuracy. And then there is Dr. Maria Uriarte who researches the boundaries between soil and forest eco-systems and makes us be able to talk about how our planet breathes.
DeepHorizon project is just another example of a revolutionary project that is changing the face of soil science today. Its visionary style in combining high-end technology and cross-disciplinary research represents a wide-reaching effort by the community of science at large to discover the latent power of our soils. Even as the innovative efforts of the previously mentioned scientists continue to transform the field, efforts such as DeepHorizon demonstrate that collaborative ingenuity can provide sustainable solutions to sustainability on earth.
DeepHorizon project in itself has been light of multidisciplinary research, making use of the skills of scientists in Europe in order to unravel the secrets of the subsoil. Collaboration is the strength of the project where women are quite instrumental in all the levels of operation. Their leadership has got DeepHorizon not as a mere run of the mill research project, but rather an eagle-eyed powerhouse that would nudge the boundaries of the things we know to be beneath our feet.
The special date we celebrate now is the day when we advocate the achievements we have achieved in the way of inclusivity in science but also on this special day we look at what is to come in the future. The success of women in Soil Science and projects, such as DeepHorizon, shed light on the way out the dream of all those persevering, innovative and amazing women.Their contribution does not only lie in the ground that they investigate or data that they can collect but also in the young generation of women who aspire them to become the next generation of geologists.
This anniversary is to remind the power of diversity in science. These women do not only transform the way how we see the earth, but also transform the world.
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