[Music plays. Dr Verity Normington is seated on a chair at the Education Centre of Geoscience Australia in Canberra. Behind her is a wall and table displaying various facts, rocks, images and other items related to earth science.]
I’m Dr. Verity Normington. We’re here at Geoscience Australia today. My role at Geoscience Australia is as Executive Officer of the Office of the Chief Scientist.
My family comes from a mining region in South Australia where there are green and blue rocks all over the ground.
[A box apparatus appears containing different rocks, lined up in rows and exposed to lighting that illuminates their colours in varying degrees of blue, green, yellow, orange and other colours which indicates what element composition they may have. Dr Normington continues to speak in the background.]
So when you’re a kid, you might pick up a stone and think, “That’s a really cool color.”
[Image returns back to Dr Normington speaking.]
As a geologist, you’re not really doing anything more than that, you just know better what it is that you’re looking for.
[Dr Normington and a colleague is looking into the box apparatus with the rocks illuminated and showing different colours. Dr Normington’s voice over continues in the background.]
So we know that its green and blue colors are probably copper.
[Image returns back to Dr Normington speaking.]
In fact, I failed Year 12 and either went back and attended high school or studied again in Year 12. And they offered geology as a class, which I couldn’t do at my first high school. And within three weeks of taking my geology class in 12th grade, I changed all my plans and was going to become a geologist.
[Illuminated rocks in the box apparatus appears again with Dr Normington is in the background talking with a colleague. Dr Normington’s voice over continues.]
As I started and graduated from undergrad, I began to come in contact with government geologists working for state and federal governments. And I realized that that was actually the path I wanted to go down.
[Image returns back to Dr Normington speaking.]
So one of the things that excites me most about working in the earth science field and being a geologist is being able to actually affect social change. Many people think of geology as simply digging things out of the ground, but we do much more than that.
[A graph or scan appears briefly showing waves of earth tremors, while Dr Normington’s voice over continues in the background.]
If an earthquake occurs, help people…
[Image goes back to her speaking, followed by a moving image of what appear to be tectonic plates in white, red and blue appearing on a television screen on the wall.]
…We can use modeling to predict which houses will collapse, which ones won’t, and the kinds of things that are really, really important to everyday society and save lives.
[Image returns back to Dr Normington speaking.]
I think probably one of the things that shaped me as a geologist and as someone who works in this field is that I was the first person in my family to graduate from high school, definitely the first person to do so. . To reach the stage of obtaining a Ph.D. I also had to overcome some pretty serious chronic illnesses that sometimes kept me out of work for six months at a time. But I think all these things shape you into a better person. Because then you can empathize and sympathize with others who are going through it.
[Dr Normington appears speaking with a colleague, while her voice over continues in the background.]
I was really lucky. I have been in situations where I felt underrepresented as a woman in geoscience and geology, but most of the time this is not the case.
[Image returns back to Dr Normington speaking.]
Several times I was the only woman attending field parties. What that means is that if you’re getting your stuff ready for the night, you’ll need to do a little prep work. Think about where you were going to set it compared to others and things like that. But I’m lucky and honored to work with people who understand that. However, there were times when I was the only woman in a meeting with other people and no one would talk to me because she only talked to the man. It’s frustrating, but you have to find your own way to overcome it.
[Fossil remains and bone fragments of prehistoric animals in a glass display case is briefly shown, followed by Dr Normington continuing to speak.]
The biggest influence on my career journey was actually joining a professional organization and volunteering there. So I am in the final stages of my role as director of the Geological Society of Australia. I am one of the directors of the Geological Society of Australia.
[Dr Normington appears speaking with a colleague as they go through the various display cabinets of rocks, crystals, minerals and other geological specimens exhibited at Geoscience Australia’s foyer, while her voice over continues in the background.]
…And that opened up my world in the geoscience community to a lot more people than I would have gotten through my job alone.
[Image returns back to Dr Normington speaking.]
And obviously my parents and my parents and family were very supportive of my curious nature as a child. So I think parents have a huge influence on how their children and students are able to pursue their passions to the fullest. I think that’s very important, whether it’s science or something else.
Another important thing is how passionate and enthusiastic the teachers are. I was lucky that someone told me, “Don’t just come do Honors, but study a little extra afterward.”
And that’s actually what led me to the PhD program. During my doctoral studies, I was lucky enough to get a job at the Geological Survey…
[Dr Normington appears speaking with a colleague while her voice over continues in the background]
So, I decided to become a geologist and get a job.
[Image returns back to Dr Normington speaking.]
If I were going to do something different, I would try to be more confident in myself as a young and inexperienced scientist or geologist.
[Dr Normington is walking with a colleague through Geoscience Australia’s display of rocks, minerals, crystals and other geological material exhibited at the foyer of their building while her voice over continues.]
A lot of people say, “Oh, you have a chronic illness.”
[Image returns back to Dr Normington speaking.]
“I need to stop chasing this dream. I can’t do it anymore.”
And I absolutely tell myself not to listen to them. Because if you’re passionate about something, there’s always a way to make it happen. It may not be such a straight and linear path.
[Image of tectonic plates in white, blue and an orange snake-like path appears on the screen]
There might be a big snake nearby, so give it a try anyway.
[Image returns back to Dr Normington speaking.]
I talked about living with a chronic illness, and there are ways that organizations can support people who have a chronic illness or a disability of some kind, whether visible or invisible. It’s like when you onboard someone, you say, “Is there a way we can make it easier or more accessible for you to get the job?” It’s really important to have that conversation, especially if you checked the box on the form that says “Yes, I’m disabled” or “Yes, I have a chronic illness.”
So there are a lot of people who want to do STEM or become scientists, but they don’t have access to it. So the scary statistic is that only 1 out of every 20 kids attending a high school in a remote area thinks they’ll go to college…
[Dr Normington is with a colleague looking at grey earth material on a screen]
…Because they don’t think it’s an accessible path for them.
[Image returns back to Dr Normington speaking.]
So I think it’s really important that we think about the diversity of people that we already have, but also the diversity of people that we’re missing out on because they think it’s not for them. So we put more effort into saying, “Yes, you can. Here’s the pathway for you to make it happen and the support network you need to get to where you want to be.” I think you need to do this.
Don’t listen to anyone who tells you it’s impossible, stay true to yourself and seize opportunities. There’s nothing wrong with standing up for yourself. That’s science. It’s about exploring ideas.
And if you don’t do that very early on in your scientific career, you’re probably doing yourself a disservice. Because everyone has something to say, and it’s always valid.
[Video ends with a final panel showing the STEM Equity Monitor abstract artwork bordering the panel, the Australian Government crest and the monitor’s short URL: industry.gov.au/stemequitymonitor]