Margaret Bradshaw, D.Sc. Lond.

What’s the work that you do?

As a geologist I study rocks and fossils, and as both a lecturer and a museum curator I have enjoyed attempting to inspire and educate both students and the general public in the difficult explanation of a complex subject.

I am currently retired but have retained links with both the University and Canterbury Museum as they hold most of the material I have collected, and for which I have given many lectures. The bulk of my research over the years has focused on the Devonian Period, a time when life was only just emerging from the sea onto land.

As a schoolgirl in Britain during the 1950s, I was asked by my teachers what I would like to do when I left school. I said I wanted to be a geologist, because I had just collected some amazing fossil ammonites on a WEA trip near my home town. After encountering negative attitudes from my teachers (why not try office work or nursing?), but not my parents, I wrote to the British Geological Society for help. They suggested I get high marks in my senior exams and to apply to a good university, such as London. This I did and here I am now!

What keeps you going?

The compulsion to finally complete and document my research in Antarctica, New Zealand and Australia. Time seems to go faster as you get older and one feels the pressure to get things published.

What’s your message to the world?

Stay focused, enjoy the world’s magic, and make sure you give something back.

I like to think that my experiences will inspire other women, and girls, to try beyond the norm. With a bit of enterprise and determination girls and women can do anything.