Memories of UC - Micaela Jemison

I grew up on a dairy farm near Echuca and was always a fan of nature and animals. My childhood was filled with fishing trips and catching frogs, spiders and snakes on my family’s farm. Like most environmentalists of my generation, the documentaries of Sir David Attenborough ignited a spark within me, and I desperately wanted to pursue a career in environmental conservation. So I enrolled in a Bachelor of Science (with honours) at the University of Melbourne.

Micaela and Grey-headed Flying Fox

Living at UC, I formed lifelong friendships and found my husband there too. University College enabled me, as a country kid, to explore the expanding world of the city and university life with a sense of security and belonging. I had an instant family and support network living at UC. While many of my UC friends have moved around the world, I am still in contact with most of them.

Some of my fondest memories are of the events held at college, like UC Day, the in-house ‘tern’ parties and the university balls. But beyond the parties, the camaraderie found in the dining hall at breakfast and the dressing up for high-table dinner are also special. To my non-college friends, running around in our robes like Harry Potter at high table dinners sounded like incredible fun. And they weren’t wrong. But beyond the events themselves, UC gave me opportunities to see what life outside the sheltered world of university could be like. The external guests invited to events like high table allowed me to have conversations with experts and professionals that shaped my aspirations for my career outside university.

UC also gave me opportunities to get out of my comfort zone and develop my own confidence in non-academic areas. My first and only experience in the theatre was as a soldier in UC’s production of South Pacific. Singing in public was something that I would not have attempted had it not been for the supportive culture of UC. Looking back now, it is a treasured memory from my third and final year living at UC.

After graduation, I worked for six years as a threatened species biologist at the Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research. Whilst there I conducted a wide range of research, from grassland monitoring to Southern Brown Bandicoot conservation. But working on our threatened bat species was my passion. My time working with Greyheaded Flying Foxes and the Southern Bent-wing Bat gave me a window into the fascinating lives of these animals that so few get to see. From this realisation, I started the next phase of my career as an environmental advocate and science communicator.

I moved to Washington DC (USA) where I was fortunate enough to spend two years working and learning from some of the best communicators in the world at the Smithsonian Institution – the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex.

As a science communicator in the Central Office of Public Affairs, I was given a front row seat to the wide range of fascinating research being conducted across the Smithsonian’s 21 museums and the National Zoo.

My decision to go abroad was directly influenced by my time at University College. In my second year at UC, a handsome American exchange student moved into the room across from mine. After six months together at UC and two years long distance afterwards, Cory would return to Australia to be with me. We have always been grateful to the wonderful staff at UC who helped us with the various immigration paperwork we needed over the years. Cory is now an Australian citizen and we are married with two wonderful young boys, Hamish and Riley.

Of course I moved for love, but I would also say it was the best move I could have made for my career. Academia can be incredibly rewarding but it can also be hard to see change happening out of the research you publish. I personally found it very frustrating when the research I was involved with seemed, to me at least, misconstrued or just not being acted upon. At the time that I did my masters, the discipline of science communication was in its infancy in Australia. Moving to the United States I was able to connect with experts in the field and see the power of science communication and the impact that could be made by engaging communities and other stakeholders.

Cory Jemison, Micaela Main and T’mir Julius

Washington DC is an epicentre of not only academic research, but also world leading conservation organisations and, of course, politics. My experiences there really have shaped my view on what it takes to get action on environmental issues.

Conservation is a team effort across a wide range of people – scientists, government environmental staff, land managers, fundraisers, communicators, politicians, community leaders, and much more.

We need all of these people to make conservation happen. Scientists alone can only help us understand the problems.

In my opinion, the Smithsonian is one of the most amazing places to work in the world. Only my passion for bat conservation could tempt me to leave. I went on to join Bat Conservation International as their Director for Communications & Public Engagement and spent three years promoting the organisation’s work to conserve threatened bat species around the world.

Now, having returned to Melbourne, I am working to raise a voice for all of nature, including bats, with the Wilderness Society. As their Manager of Content and Collaboration, I work on environmental campaigns that unite everyday Australians in a movement to protect nature. Through my journey, I have come to realise that science alone will not save our endangered species. We need the community behind us and the political will to do so. That is why I am proud to be advocating for new national nature laws in Australia to help end our extinction crisis.

To view some videos of Micaela’s exciting work, please scan the QR code.

Career highlights

As a threatened species biologist:

• Co-authoring the National Recovery Plan for the Southern Bent-wing Bat.

• Spending months exploring old gold mines and catching bats to help determine the range of one of Victoria’s threatened bat species.

• Conducting studies that involved catching, handling or observing up close many of our amazing native animals like bettongs, quolls, bandicoots, bats, Leadbeater’s possum, greater gliders, smokey mouse, goannas, skinks and more.

• Talking about microbats and introducing kids to a bat called George on Channel Ten’s Totally Wild.

As a science communicator:

• Helping a team of scientists push a preserved giant mountain gorilla through a CT scanner. This was part of a project to digitise mammal specimens for scientists to access from around the world.

• Holding a kiwi while interviewing her keeper at the Smithsonian National Zoo.

• Interviewing the world’s leading palaeontologists while making a documentary about the Smithsonian’s dinosaur collection – they might study fossils but they had amazing stories!

• Being a member of the mammal department at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. I was assigned keys that allowed me to open any drawer in the collection. It was amazing to delve through and discover one of the largest collections of mammal life on Earth – from thylacines to the world’s largest bat collection.

• Holding an Emmy award won by Bill Nye in the American National History Museum.

As a conservationist:

• Being featured on the TODAY show in the United States talking about bat conservation in front of the largest bat colony in the world (Bracken Cave, Texas with over 20 million Mexican freetail bats).

• Taking bats to the White House including some of Australia’s Grey-headed Flying Foxes! This was part of an annual event at the White House during Easter that celebrated nature and conservation.

• Working with senators and holding events at the US Congress to further bat conservation efforts.

• Back in Australia, being part of a national movement that is raising nature protection and climate change as top political issues in the country.

Micaela with the Smithsonian mammal collection