Women in Ornithology

We thank Roberto Alfonso Apicella for the picture

As part of the initiatives aimed at celebrating The International Day of Women and Girls in Science promoted by the United Nations, the CISO – Italian Center for Ornithological Studies – has shone a spotlight on the wide representation of women engaged in research, protection and dissemination activities regarding birds. On the occasion of this international day that celebrates women’s inclusion in the scientific world, on the 11th of February, the CISO launched a series of six conferences in which the protagonists were the researches and the initiatives conducted by women.

The various conferences, broadcasted live from the CISO Facebook page, allowed us to cover a wide range of topics. We have ranged from migratory to sedentary birds, from the conservation of threatened species to the management of alien species, from nocturnal to diurnal birds of prey, from scientific laboratory research to birdwatching and much more. Each meeting allowed us to get to know a multitude of ornithological topics united by the common thread of the commitment and the passion of our speakers.

In Italian ornithology, women presence in the last twenty years has progressively increased. At the last Italian Ornithology Congress in 2019, female ornithologists accounted for 35% of the total number of participants and we expect, and hope, that parity will be achieved within a few years. Women in Italian Ornithology are not a rarity, but a fundamental component in the implementation of research projects or bird conservation projects. Precisely for this reason, we have involved a wide and varied representation, which however is only indicative of the quantity and quality of the initiatives carried out by women in the ornithological field.

The episodes have been recorded and can be viewed at any time, both on our Facebook page and from the links on this page.

At the following links, you can find the program and registrations of individual meetings (in Italian). The live shows were conducted by the members of the CISO board: Gaia Bazzi, Giulia Masoero, Rosario Balestrieri, Maurizio Sarà. The series of meetings was opened by the greetings of the CISO President Giuseppe Bogliani.