A new hybrid video & seminar series: Season 3 of Science Sisters is on its way!

Science Sisters is a YouTube video and seminar series hosted by Dr. Iris van Zelst. Lighthearted in tone, it explores different career paths, academic life, and science communication in the planetary and geosciences. The guests on the show represent a range of role models to celebrate the diversity of people working in STEM. They are interviewed by Iris on their personal experiences on different topics. Past seasons have included topics like ethical fieldwork, switching careers, science communication, postdoc life, leadership, women in science, job applications, postdoc hopping, outreach, publishing, feeling incompetent, astronaut training, toxic academia, and how to build a research group.

We are now proud to announce that the production of season 3 of Science Sisters has wrapped and post-production, such as the editing of the videos, is in full swing. Anticipated to launch in fall 2025, the new season of Science Sisters will consist of the traditional interview videos and a hybrid online seminar where a viewing party of the episode is combined with an after-show discussion between Iris, the guest, and any research groups and individuals interested in joining.

This hybrid form of Science Sisters has proven to kickstart conversations in institutes and increase the cohesion within institutes by creating a more understanding atmosphere. Early career scientists in particular say that Science Sisters is extremely useful to learn about life as a researcher and they enjoy the chatty, entertaining quality of the interviews.

In season 3, the main topics across our 7 episode series are:

• PhD life

• Failure (and how to deal with it)

• Working at NASA

• Motivation (or lack thereof)

• Science management

• Lab work

• Academic motherhood

Of course, each episode also features individual experiences of (non-)academic career paths to show the diversity of ways in which people can interface with science and work in academia.

Using the hybrid form of videos and online webinars, Science Sisters therefore continues to contribute to promoting and supporting inclusivity in the planetary and geosciences.