BSL Academy to promote women and girls in science for a greener planet

Ms. Sharika Senanayake

Prof. Neelika Malavige

Ms. Anjali Watson

Prof. Nirmalie Pallewatte

Ms. Shyamala Gomez

Biodiversity Sri Lanka’s academic arm – the BSL Academy – will host its inaugural event to mark the International Day for Women and Girls in Science – an international annual commemoration designated by the United Nations in order to achieve full and equal access to and participation in science for women and girls, and further achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. 

The planned virtual event will be held online via Microsoft Teams, at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, 23 February. Interested participants are invited to register for the event by emailing [email protected].

The subject of women and girls in science is currently of utmost importance, considering that only 39% of researchers in Sri Lanka are women. In Sri Lanka, female scientists in natural sciences, medicine, and agricultural sciences remain at 40%, 46%, and 38% respectively and while these proportions may not be too bleak, much larger gender differences exist in engineering and technologies (only 27% female) and social sciences (only 30% female). 

Longstanding biases and gender stereotypes are steering girls and women away from science-related fields, creating detrimental effects on fields such as conservation and environmental management, and having negative impacts on the potentially influential role of women in creating and maintaining a greener planet for us all.

While the theme set for the commemoration this year is ‘Women Scientists at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19,’ the BSL event will host a panel of prominent women from the fields of science, conservation, education, and the private sector. 

The panellists will include Prof. Neelika Malavige – Professor in Department of Immunology and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura who focuses her work on the immunopathogenesis of COVID-19, correlates of protection and virus strains; Prof. Nirmalie Pallewatte – Professor in the Department of Zoology and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, and the Director of the Centre for Quality Assurance of the University of Colombo, some of whose work include studies on Climate Change and Invasive Alien Species, as well as the development and quality assurance of university curricula; Anjali Watson – Co-founder and Managing Trustee for The Wilderness & Wildlife Conservation Trust, whose work focuses on the Sri Lankan sub species of leopard and the co-existence of wildlife with human populations; and Sharika Senanayake – Director Environmental Sustainability, a high achiever in the corporate world and advocate for gender equality in the workplace. 

The panel will be moderated by Centre for Equality and Justice Executive Director Shyamala Gomez, a human rights lawyer by training, with over 20 years of experience as an academic, researcher and activist. The event is being sponsored by BSL’s Patron Member - Citizens Development Business Finance PLC. BSL has been conducting learning events, roundtable discussions and technical capacity building programs on various topics towards the achievement of BSL’s objective to promote national cooperation and the exchange of ideas and information relating to biodiversity conservation. The scope of this objective was broadened further recently, in order to encompass a wider variety of topics which have influence and impacts on as well as depend on ecosystems and the environment at large. 

In order to bring all these events and programs under one recognisable umbrella, BSL has set up the BSL Academy – a unique, non-university, private unit which will operate as a distinctive part of BSL’s program.  This event being organised to commemorate the International Day for Women and Girls in Science will be the first event which will be carried out by the BSL Academy, leading the way to bigger, broader and bolder topics which will be explored through the academy in future.