The 8th International Day of Women and Girls in Science (IDWGS) on 11 February 2023 is focused on the role of women and girls in science in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in review at the High Level Political Forum happening later this year. Those are:

• SDG 6 – Clean water and sanitation
• SDG 7 – Affordable and clean energy
• SDG 9 – Industry, innovation, and infrastructure
• SDG 11 – Sustainable cities and communities
• SDG 17 – Means of implementation

To celebrate IDWGS, we caught up with a few leading women researchers from Future Earth to learn about their work, and how some of it is focused on advancing one, or several, of the above SDGs.

Listen below as they discuss their research and the importance of women and girls’ participation and leadership in science.

Dr. Joyashree Roy is a Professor of Economics at Jadavpur University in Kolkata, India, Inaugural Bangabandhu Chair Professor at Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand, and is on the Steering Committee of the Global Carbon Project. Dr. Roy is among the group of scientists who shared in the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the IPCC, has been involved in a number of national and global reports, and has written dozens of articles in peer-reviewed leading journals and books.

Dr. Kathryn Bowen is Professor and Deputy Director of Melbourne Climate Futures, Professor of Environment, Climate and Global Health at the University of Melbourne, and is on the Steering Committee of the Future Earth Health Knowledge-Action Network. Dr. Bowen has worked in global health research and policy since 1999 across public, private, and university sectors. She is also a Lead Author of the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report..

Photos provided by: NTU Shaoxing Programme and OurCityLove

Dr. Sue-Ching Jou is a Professor of Geography at National Taiwan University and has been involved with Future Earth for several years. She was part of IHDP Taipei, a global environmental research program upon which Future Earth was built, starting in 2010. Her research interests include urban studies, cross-border investment, and smart living technologies. Dr. Jou’s work is highly related to collaborative governance in sustainability sciences and is proud to work with colleagues, students, NGOs and government officers across Taipei.

Video editing by Stephan Useche