Sometimes the path to science is a linear one. Take 16-year-old Sam Mason, for example. After long dreaming of becoming an astrophysicist, she's decided on a career in neuroscience. In a couple of years' time, after completing the HSC, she hopes to study biomedicine at the University of New England (UNE) as the first stepping stone to that goal.
Her mother Emma Porter has taken a rather more circuitous route. Since leaving school in Year 10 she has worked as a sign-writer, rock-climbing instructor, secretary, and, for the past 20 years, a self-employed myofascial remedial therapist. Enrolling to study biomedicine at UNE last year, at the age of 47, was the culmination of her lifelong dream.
"I'm trying to fulfill something that I wish I'd done years ago," says Emma. "I always wished that I had finished my HSC and gone into medicine. But I was a bit of a delinquent at school and, while I enjoyed it, I made a really big effort to do poorly in science.
"I'd grown up in a very scientific family. My mother was the chair of the Red Cross in NSW and my father was the head of the technical department for plasma physics at the University of Sydney. I spent most of my school holidays in university labs with Dad. He would show me what they were doing and set me up on machines to test stuff, but it was a very male-dominated world back then."
It's a different arena that Sam - who is currently studying three science subjects at school - will eventually enter. She's not cognisant of any gender biases or impediments to her future career advancement. Still, less than 30% of researchers worldwide are women and UNESCO data reveals that only 30% of all female students select Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) related fields in higher education. That's precisely what the International Day of Women and Girls in Science seeks to highlight and address.
"It's really exciting seeing the number of women becoming involved in science today," Emma says.
"I think there should be more. Males and females bring something different to science; we have different minds and approach things differently. I think women bring a little more patience, perhaps more balance and thoroughness."
Enjoying a week of work experience with UNE's "proud science nerd" Mary McMillan - a Senior Lecturer in the School of Science and Technology and member of UNE's Brain Behaviour Research Group - confirmed Sam's passion "for the research side of science".
"I find the brain and how it functions really fascinating," says Sam, who's been talking about studying science at uni since she was about nine-years-old. "It does so much for us and yet there is still so much to learn about it."
And the dynamic mother and daughter duo from Bellingen, in northern NSW, is already finding shared study opportunities. "Sam's doing stuff at school that I can help her with and she has already helped me with some uni things," Emma says. "It's really good to have each other to bounce off."
Sam is full of admiration for her mother's commitment to study. "I think it's pretty cool and it inspires me to do better," she says. "There's a lot Mum didn't cover in school that she's learning now for the first time. It takes a lot of courage and I'm really proud of her."
