Daniela Ávila García

I am a biologist with a master’s degree in Biological Sciences from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and a PhD in Sustainability at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Spain. Throughout my career, I have been interested in understanding the complex relationships between ecosystems and society to propose solutions that contribute to achieving a more resilient and sustainable future. In particular, during my PhD, I studied how alternative scenarios of climate change and land use/land cover changes, such as reforestation (including nature-based solutions) or deforestation to increase agriculture, can affect ecosystem services related to water provision and water quality at different scales in neotropical regions.

I think being a woman scientist is a lifestyle that helps you become a better problem-solver, because it allows you to understand a little bit more how the world works from different approaches and scales. Also, I consider myself a passionate learner, who loves nature and hiking, so as an environmental scientist, I really enjoy meeting new colleagues from around the world, developing my own projects, restoring landscapes, sharing my experience with younger generations, developing trans- and interdisciplinary work, and exploring new ways of protecting our bicultural heritage.

Being a woman scientist is not easy, particularly when you have to face difficulties in balancing personal life and career, gender stereotyping, and the scarcity of grants or funding, as well as some additional challenges that depend a lot on the socio-economical context of the country. 

Some of my role models--who are Mexican scientists, exceptional persons, female leaders, and experts in the field of sustainability--are Dr. Patricia Balvanera (UNAM) and Dr. Patricia Muñoz (IPN). However, in general, I admire all my female scientist friends who do science from different parts of the world. Each one of them showed me that you can achieve your objectives by doing what you really love.

From my point of view, although in recent years gender biases in science have received increasing attention in different parts of the world, there are still evident differences such as underrepresentation of women at the highest academic levels, including our participation at conferences or on publications as team leaders. Therefore, I think that not only are more policies needed to promote the participation of women and girls in science, but also more ways of doing science and a transformative change in both society and academic institutions to reduce some difficulties related to gender inequality, racial or gender stereotyping, and family-related barriers.

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