Shannon Au

Shannon au nominated by tracey barrett

At Shannon’s Sunday school, her teacher would bring in biological specimens for the children to look at. Ten-year-old Shannon was amazed by the complex systems in nature, like the extraordinary organisation within a flower, and she longed to explore more. This curiosity to discover nature’s intricate mechanisms never waned and still fuels her desire to learn about the world around her. Her parents gave her the freedom and support to pursue her scientific interests, and a female cousin, a radiographer, made her realise that women could do well in science. Now, she’s an associate professor at the Chinese University in Hong Kong where her research focuses on looking at macromolecular complexes at an atomic level.

Tracey Barrett, who’s passing on the heirloom, says, “Shannon and I first met in the late 1990s at the Institute of Cancer Research. We had many insightful conversations on the way to and from various European synchrotron courses and her advice was always invaluable. It was obvious at this early stage of her career that Shannon was an exceptional scientist and was clearly a group leader for the future.”

Shannon says that women scientists in Hong Kong and China have a social and political role to request more support from the government in the form of funding and opportunities for women to work in science. ‘This is particularly important in mainland China where women in some underdeveloped areas have far fewer opportunities to be educated. Traditionally, in many rural areas they rely on agriculture as a career, and women don’t have much of a role or position in society. If we can convince the government to change the concept that women can do well in science by offering extra supports and opportunities, that culture will change.’

Changing Times

This, she says, has already started to change. Hong Kong and mainland China have embarked on collaborative exchange programmes, whereby Hong Kong universities receive students from mainland China, and vice versa. “Nowadays the situation is improving because, locally and overseas, we have different scholarship programmes that offer a chance for women researchers to develop their scientific careers. It would help to do more of these exchanges, not only in well-developed cities, but underdeveloped ones as well. But we will need sufficient support from the Hong Kong and Chinese governments.”

Traditionally, in many rural areas in China they rely on agriculture as a career and women don’t have much of a role or position in society.

Shannon Au

Perseverance and Focus

In her field of X-ray crystallography the ratio of men and women scientists is fairly equal; most of the crystallographers she has met have been women. That’s unusual. “I guess women are more interested in looking at things in smaller, focused detail, such as molecular life forms, from which we can elucidate the overall mechanism. Women also have stronger perseverance, which is needed because growing crystal takes days or months.”

“When I talk to male colleagues I find they usually start from a wider, macroscopic angle and think about applications immediately. Whereas, when I talk to female scientists, we tend to start with something more focused and in-depth, and later go on to think about the translation of research.”

Though Shannon would like to see more women as professional scientists, she doesn’t think it’s a must. Reaching a point at which in general one-third of all senior scientists in Hong Kong are female doesn’t strike her as realistically possible in the near future.

“Being a female scientist isn’t easy partly because of our physical fitness and family commitment. At a certain age we get tired more easily, while men can still work long hours. Physically we may not be as strong as men, but our characters are strong enough. We are persevering and tough.”

I ask Shannon what she thinks is causing the gender imbalance in science. “I once attended a workshop about the difficulties faced by women scientists. One of the concerns raised was about how women scientists can achieve a proper balance between work and family. When we start our career, it is often the time we also build our family. To a certain extent, this may lead to some delay for career development, or women simply don’t choose science as a lifelong career when supplementary support for them is unavailable.”

“Whenever I see a little flower, I very much admire the creation and all the intricate systems within it.”

Shannon Au