A visit to University of Stirling Institute of Aquaculture
Stirling Scotland, IWD2023, WiSA, Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Center
The beginning of Post - Covid Travel
It has been 3 years since I last travelled. Thanks to an invite from Dr. Amina Moss to visit the University of Stirling Institute of Aquaculture, the drive to share the formation of Women in Caribbean Aquaculture for International Women's week was the impetus that had me boarding a plane from Rome to Scotland.
Little known fact, did you know that the Jamaican flag is based off of the Scottish Saltire (flag)? Yes Jamaica and Scotland go way back.
Along with four other brilliant scientists I shared my journey into becoming an aquaculture scientist and my experiences in STEM. But more importantly it was the first occasion that I had the opportunity to talk on an international stage in person about the need for the next generation of scientists in Jamaica and the Caribbean.
You can listen to my presentation on YouTube at the link below
This event celebrated women’s achievements and contributions in STEM fields such as Aquaculture, Agriculture, and Technology, and to raise awareness of the importance of equity and equal opportunities for women in these fields.
The speakers were:
Dr Almas Gheyas (lecturer and geneticist at the IoA)
Dr Juli-Anne Russo (founder of Caribbean Women in Aquaculture)
Alison Younger (owner of Old Leckie farm and Scottish Agritourism Destination Leader for Stirlingshire)
Dr Georgina Robinson (tropical ecologist and aquaculture researcher at the Scottish Association for Marine Science)
Fiona Strachan (senior technical specialist and quality manager at the IoA)
March 8th is dedicated to celebrating the achievement of Women, to raise awareness about discrimination and to take action to drive gender parity.
Dr. Gheyas talked about her journey into STEM having grown up in Bangladesh. She made a very interesting point by including the stats to show that Caribbean Women Scientists make up a significant portion of women scientists globally
Incidentally, Stacy-Ann Gray who is a Marie Curie fellow was visiting the Institute for her research and was a few doors down from Amina. It was a historical event for our organization to have three Caribbean Women be at the Institute of Aquaculture at the same time. How amazing is that"!
After a year of online meetings it was a first for meeting each other in person. With the exception that Amina and I had met in 2017 at the World Aquaculture conference Asian Pacific Chapter in Malaysia when she was a PhD student in Japan. We were the only Caribbean nationals in the entire conference and we never dreamed that we would one day meet again. Now years later we meet again and reconnect. We often lament about being the only Caribbean nationals at conferences.
The cost of attending international conferences are out of reach for many of our Caribbean students and scientists and one of our goals is to help off set some of these costs. It is imperative to share our work by networking and collaborating on a global platform.
For one year Stacy-Ann and I have accumulated hours on the phone discussing, planning and comparing notes on how we could contribute to the aquaculture industry in Jamaica. We had never met and our first meeting was in Scotland. You can read more about Stacy-Ann in previous posts.
STIRLING UNIVERSITY, INSTITUTE OF AQUACULTURE
Stirling is the leading aquaculture center in Scotland and one of the largest in the world. So I felt quite priviliged to be addressing the needs for the Caribbean region for the first time to Lecturers and graduate students.
Founded in 1971, the Institute of Aquaculture is the leading international aquaculture centre and the largest of its kind in the world.
We provide high-quality research, teaching, training, technology development and consultancy.
We made a contingent of three Caribbean Scientists for the first time even for a few days at the Institute of Aquaculture.
Women in Scottish Aquaculture and the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Center
The trip could not end without meeting the founder of the Women in Scottish Aquaculture. I have to confess this organization was the inspiration for the formation of our own Women in Caribbean Aquaculture (WiCA). Stacy-Ann and I made our way in freezing cold Scottish weather over to the other side of the campus to the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Center to meet the CEO and Founder of SAIC & WiSA Heather Jones. How brilliant, and Innovation Center for Aquaculture development. Need I say more? Exactly what is needed in the Caribbean.
I would have to say meeting with Heather and the WiSA team was the highlight of the trip and a perfect example of women empowering women. After learning about the history and formation of SAIC, with much patience the WiSA team listened as we discussed our vision and goals for Caribbean Aquaculture. Then proceeded to brainstorm with us for an hour. Based on their experiences with starting SAIC and WiSA to help us produce an actionable to-do list for 2023 and 2024. We have no need to reinvent the wheel if we have amazing women such as Heather, Jill, Hazel and Matilda in our corner.
Of course we could not leave with out waving our flag in front of the lecture theatre. Its a Jamaican thing to carry our flag with us where ever we go.
