Climate researcher wins Women in Science Fellowship

A University of Adelaide climate researcher has secured a fellowship to use tree rings to help determine Australia’s future drought risk.

Dr Georgina Falster was awarded a prestigious L’Oreal-UNESCO For Women in Science Fellowship to analyse the physical and chemical characteristics of tree rings, which can reveal annual climate fluctuations in centuries gone by. She plans to combine the data gathered from tree rings with weather observations and climate model simulations in the hope it can be used to understand the likelihood of future extreme climate events—including decades-long ‘megadroughts’.

Dr Falster was one of only four female scientists from Australia and New Zealand to receive the award, which comes with $25,000 for her research.

“It is such an honour to be one of the four Australian and New Zealand scientists selected and the grant will make a huge difference to my climate change research in the coming years,” said Dr Falster, who is from the University’s School of Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences.

Dr Falster is planning to present research enabled by the Fellowship at the biggest international conference in her field —the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting —in San Francisco next year.

The L’Oreal-UNESCO For Women in Science Fellowship champions equality and visibility of women in STEMM. Along with awarding funding, each year’s Fellowship Alumni become mentors to the new cohort of PhD students through a dedicated Mentoring Scheme, providing ongoing leadership and development for women in STEMM.

For more information on the awards, visit http://www.forwomeninscience.com.au