Evening with 500 Queer Scientists

Head to The Calyx at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney on Wednesday 19 February from 6 – 9pm to enjoy An Evening with 500 Queer Scientists. Hear vibrant conversations and stories from LGBTQI scientists in Sydney who have successfully followed a career path in academia while being out in the lab and to their peers.

Over a glass of wine and nibbles, the conversation will provoke positive debate and help promote science and academia as an inclusive, forward-thinking, and viable career path for bright young queer minds!

This event celebrating Mardi Gras will be moderated by Dr Alice Motion, Associate Professor, Chemist and Science Communicator at the University of Sydney. Alice is recognised as a leading international science communicator and is the founder of the Breaking Good citizen science project, the co-host of ABC Science podcast Dear Science and has been the host of a weekly science slot on FBi Radio’s breakfast show since June 2015.

The 500 Queer Scientists initiative launched in June 2018 and highlights the real need for increased visibility of LGBTQI scientists in academia. The issues are complex, but visibility and role models are part of the solution.

Panel members

  • Dr Lauren Esposito is the Assistant Curator and Schlinger Chair of Arachnology at the California Academy of Sciences. She is also the co-founder/director of a science, education, and conservation non-profit called Islands & Seas, and the co-creator of 500 Queer Scientists, a visibility campaign for LGBTQ+ people working in STEM careers.
  • Lillian Lan is a final year medical student at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). She is also passionate about medical research, and completed an Honours in immunovirology at the Kirby Institute, UNSW. Lily is the current Queer Officer of UNSW Medical Society, helping to provide networking, support and advocacy for queer medical students.
  • Faelan Mourmourakis is a recent graduate with a Masters of Research at Macquarie University. They studied neuroethology in honeybees, presenting cognitive tasks to determine just how smart bees are (the answer may surprise you!). They have helped in upcoming research into the bias of the hypotheses space in homosexual research between human and animal studies, as well as running Western Sydney University’s queer collective for three years.
  • Lynn Ferris has been the lab manager at the Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) for 25 years. Lynn sees how diversity and difference breed innovation and how institutions are increasingly valuing this diversity. She loves “out of the box” thinking but laments the fact that all the safety rules and forms are actually in the box.
  • Dr Bob Wong is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow and a Professor of Behavioural and Evolutionary Ecology at Monash University. Bob’s research investigates animal mating systems, mate choice and parental care, and how human-induced environmental change affects wildlife behaviour. Bob’s research encompasses a wide range of species, from insects and humans to birds and fish.
  • Dr Arti Agrawal is an Associate Professor and the Director for the Women in Engineering and IT program at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). Her work is centred on developing numerical methods for optical components as well as applying these to optimizing designs. Dr Agrawal is the New South Wales representative for Australia’s newly expanded national QueersInScience initiative. Dr Agrawal was also co-chair for the Gay Women’s Network (UK) and founded the Gay Women’s Network Multicultural for LGBTQIA women from culturally and ethnically diverse backgrounds.

Event details

When: Wednesday 19 February from 6 – 9pm
Where: The Calyx, Royal Botanic Garden Sydney.
Cost: $35/$20

Register to attend

This event is organized by Dr Hervé Sauquet (RBG Sydney), with Perry Beasley-Hall (University of Sydney), Dr Hannah McPherson (RBG Sydney) and Prof. Marie Herberstein (Macquarie University).

An Evening with 500 Queer Scientists is proudly sponsored by the Foundation & Friends of the Botanic Gardens, Inspiring Australia, The University of Sydney Pride Network, Macquarie University and UNSW Sydney Science.