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The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is #BalanceforBetter, which encourages a more gender-balanced world to drive change and progress. This extends to science and research, statistics from WISE stated that since 2011, there has been a year on year increase in the number of women in core STEM occupations. We need to continue this good work, and head for a future where women feel more empowered and supported to enter a career in science. 

To mark the day,  we spoke to Rupshi Mitra, Assistant Professor at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and author of a paper published on F1000Research for her thoughts on what  #BalanceforBetter means to her in her work and research.

Could you tell us a little bit about yourself and your work?

I like to call myself a scientist and an artist who also loves to teach. Currently, I am Assistant Professor at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), continuing my research on ‘fundamental mechanisms of stress-resilience: from behavior to neurons and molecules’ and also teaching University students the topic of ‘neuropsychiatry of stress and resilience.’ My scientific work constitutes understanding behaviour from a multifactorial standpoint of how individual animals behave, what are the associated changes in the brain and body’s physiological readouts. I am fascinated by the brain’s immense capability of translating all events of our environment into curves and turns of every neuron. Our brain is the most magnificent artist who accurately draws our life’s history into a unique neuronal network, which makes who we are as individuals.

Brain-Sky-Sea: Tying our understanding of art and science and the immense potential of our brain. By Rupshi Mitra.

Beside my University duty, I love to think of innovative scientific experiments particularly in realms of animal behavior as well as to create colour-rich art-work at the intersection of science and art. Some of my artworks have been selected and showcased in the International Neuroscientific Forum (FENS 2018).

Do you think there are any challenges to being a woman in science, and if so what are they?

Yes, there are many challenges at every level to women in science, starting from the early stages of our career till the conclusion. I think, to begin with, women in most of the world are not supported or encouraged as educationist/academic/scientist right from the beginning of primary education and secondary education. We lose out on most of the brightest minds early on, even before college education. Few who make it to college and Universities are heavily questioned either directly or indirectly about their capabilities, instead of being supported on the basis of their scientific rigour. The rare few who become professional scientist/academic still face the challenge of the unknown expectation of performance in a world of science still very much dominated by men-with-bias against women scientists. I will be careful here not to generalise this to 100% of the situations or times but more often than not.

Do you have any female idols who inspired your career, if so could you tell us about them?

I am inspired by Professor Marian Diamond, a pioneering scientist of neuroplasticity, who showed for the first time that brain cells, neurons, and glia could change with the environment. Her work on neuroplasticity in rats reared in enriched and impoverished environments shattered the long-standing belief that the brain is a static structure that does not change after birth.

Can you tell us about a challenge you faced in your career and how you overcame it?

One challenge was not being able to publish most of my work/papers from PhD, where I put in a lot of work. It was more frustrating because those suppressed papers constituted good data that needed to be shared with the broader scientific community.

Since that was truly a crucial time of my career, I had to publish high-quality papers. Fortunately, my postdoctoral time was very productive due to my own determination to publish and due to enormous encouragement from my mentor. It is during this time, I went on to publish some of my best scientific works that re-established my career as a scientist/academic. My work on amygdala neuroplasticity as a result of stress-hormone and gene-therapy to rescue anxiety constitutes some of my publications during this period.

What is one piece of career advice you wish you could give to your younger self?

Looking For My Memory: An individual on the far-reaches of a neuronal tree, from where he looks beyond the horizon, in quest of his neuronal history and life’s very many experiences. By Rupshi Mitra.

I would advise my younger self not to worry too much if you are under pressure/ stress but be more decisive in your choices at any point. I would also advise to spend some more time on self-care, both physical and mental to keep your balance well-formed.

Do you believe the diversity of a research team has any benefit to the work produced?

I believe the diversity of a research team has several benefits, number one being, fresh ideas and more objective views from diverse intellects in a group. The other significant advantage for everyone in the team is to learn to be a good team player, which is truly the call of the day for excellent research work.

What does #BalanceforBetter mean to you?

#BalanceforBetter means being mindful of your own internal and external environment at all times. I believe a balance needs to come from many different aspects, first, the inner balance from every individual, second and likely, more importantly, the balance between people who make up most of our social place, namely men and women. There needs to be more balance and understanding between men and women. I think we are moving toward a better world which can only be wholly worthwhile if men and women collaborate with respect, patience, sensibility, and sensitivity toward each other. In science, I think better standards of performance need to be laid down to reach this #BalanceforBetter.