How do ecological communities work? How will climate change and landscape change disrupt them? These questions motivate Dr. Diane Srivastava’s research. Dr. Srivastava is an ecology Professor in the Department of Zoology at UBC. Her work builds bridges between fundamental theory and applied solutions. Specific research questions in Dr. Srivastava’s lab group include: How will food webs be affected by climate change? How do changes in the landscape around a food web affect how it functions and which species compose it? Most of her research takes place in the tropics, especially Costa Rica and Brazil. She also makes use of archival data to perform synthetic data analysis, and is the Director of a national synthesis centre, the Canadian Institute of Ecology and Evolution, based at UBC. One of her group’s most recent publication focuses on the reasons why predators often occur in larger habitats than their prey. This study is based on 20 years of research on the predatory damselflies that live in Costa Rican bromeliads.
Her predisposition to become an ecologist was evident to everyone around her, even before she may have realized it. During her teen years, she was always interested in nature and environmental issues and her parents, both scientists, were always very supportive. It was during a summer job, where she was doing ecological research while canoeing the lakes of Nova Scotia, that Dr. Srivastava decided to become an ecologist. This experience motivated her to pursue a career focused on discovering more about the natural world and how she could help preserve it for future generations. Dr. Srivastava’s outstanding career is one that can inspire the next generation of women scientists. However, her journey also illustrates the challenges of becoming a successful scientist in light of gender and racial inequalities, and in an environment where much more is needed to balance opportunities.
Q. Why do you love being a scientist?
Dr. Srivastava: I love figuring things out, why a particular pattern occurs, or how a mechanism works. I also love being outside, and it’s pretty amazing to have the ability in my work day to tromp through rainforests looking at bugs and taking photos of jaguars. I love the independence in my work, and being able to brainstorm new ideas and then make them happen. Finally, despite what you might hear about academic workload and stress, I think it’s a great job for parents because of the flexibility: I can often work from home when I am looking after a sick kid.
Q. Did a woman in a leadership or mentorship role play an important part in your career path/choice? Can you elaborate? How has this impacted your research/life?
Dr. Srivastava: Every formal supervisor I have ever had has been male: undergraduate, masters, doctorate, postdoctoral. But one influential woman was Dr. Sandy Walde, one of my fourth year profs, who got me interested in ecological theory and coding. At that point I hadn’t done any coding, other than when I tried to get a stick figure to walk across my Vic20 screen as a 10 year old, so I think it was impactful to have someone believe that I could pick up coding again, and to show me how.
Q. Did you find that your experience in your field was different from others, being a woman? If you did, how did your experience in your field differ from others?
Dr. Srivastava: Of course. Science is part of society, and every barrier that affects women in society affect women as scientists. I know that I have had to speak a lot louder to be heard, I have had to jump a lot higher to be seen. And then, on top of the academic part, there is the sheer physicality of ecological fieldwork – my work has always taken me to rugged locations like the tropics or the Arctic – which makes these issues that much more accentuated.
Q. What do you think are the biggest obstacles or barriers for women in your field?
Dr. Srivastava: Other people’s assumptions about our limitations, made not only by men but as much by other women and – importantly – by ourselves.
Q. Have you noticed any positive improvements to these obstacles and barriers for women over the years?
Dr. Srivastava: My mother was the first woman to get a PhD from the Department of Zoology at UBC, and she did so despite encountering overt resistance. We were working together on publishing her account of this experience, but when I was offered the faculty job at UBC in 2001 she was worried about me making waves. I had to assure her that times had changed, and it was now okay to point out injustices. Ever since then, I have seen further improvements – largely thanks to many women who have made lots of waves, both within and outside universities. We are finally at a point where we are starting to see some of this grassroots effort become part of the university fabric. I think our challenge is to now widen what has been a tight equity focus on women to include all the diversity of our lived experiences, including an understanding of how race, culture, gender identity and sexual orientation are also part of the same conversation.
Q. How can we make this field more accessible for other women?
Dr. Srivastava: We need to be much more flexible around travel requirements; reduce out-of-work-day commitments; help women make the transition out of graduate degrees into scientific careers; advocate for equal parenting including leaves; ensure all competitions are open, transparent and accessible; confront systemic biases in teaching evaluations and grant reviews…should I keep going?
Q. What is your advice to aspiring young women researchers?
Dr. Srivastava: Assume that you are worthy of this career! And to gain your energy to keep going from the things that you love about science: the excitement of discovering new things, of designing your own experiments, of working in a supportive team, of generating new knowledge that can be used by others.
Q. How can we better address equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in your field?
Dr. Srivastava: All of the above, but also by realizing that this discussion is not only about gender. We are much more comfortable in Canadian society about discussing issues faced by women in science than those faced by visual minorities, Indigenous researchers or the LGBTQ community. And these aren’t separate boxes, it is fundamentally different to be a woman of colour than to be either a white woman or a man of colour. We need to talk much more about these intersectionalities. Inclusivity means creating an environment where there aren’t assumptions about what makes a good researcher, how good researchers act, and what they look like. Inclusivity means stopping to think through your words and their impact on others before speaking, and thinking about who you might even unwittingly exclude by your actions.
This article is one of the many stories celebrating International Day of Women and Girls in Science, which takes place every year on February 11. Spearheaded by the United Nations, this day promotes full and equal access to participation in science, technology, and innovation for women and girls. The Faculty of Science is supporting this day by featuring ten inspiring women researchers who are making their mark at UBC and beyond. science.ubc.ca/womeninscience.