My career history has been quite like a patchwork quilt where I have woven in and out of academia to work as a specialist environmental scientist (geomorphologist) and in environmental policy/management, alongside my husband’s career as an academic. This has taken me from a D. Phil at Oxford (2001) to a NERC Research Fellowship at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of East Anglia to Environmental Consultancy and the Environment Agency, before returning to academia in 2007 as a research, teaching and administrative fellow at the University of Exeter. In 2014 I gained my first lecturing position at the University of Glasgow, a first fellowship in 2015 (NERC Knowledge Exchange Fellowship) and promotion to Reader in 2018 and then to Professor in 2020.  

Photo of Larissa Naylor

Being a woman in higher education

As I have moved in and out of academia to enable myself and my husband to both have academic careers, I have experienced some of the challenges faced by academics who do not follow the ‘clear cut, traditional model’. The Athena Swan initiative has been great at addressing some of these challenges, but there is still more that can be done. I have been fortunate to be part of some innovations designed to help women scientists succeed: I job-shared an associate editor role on a leading journal in my field with another female academic. This was new for the journal and the publisher and worked extremely well for the journal and gave me a crucial indicator of esteem whilst working part-time. In 2018, I was honoured to be selected as the Gordon Warwick Award winner for my contributions to Geomorphology. I was the 31st recipient of the award and the 4th female to receive it. These two indicators of esteem helped me get my promotion to Reader.

How Athena Swan in GES has made a difference to me

I have found GES and the University of Glasgow an excellent place to work and to launch and sustain my lecturing career so far. GES has been exceptionally flexible and accommodating with part-time working arrangements for me. It was great to be in such a supportive workplace when agreeing the flexible working arrangements. This culture of flexibility and willingness around the ‘work and life juggle’ makes GES and the University of Glasgow a great environment to work in. I am also grateful for the support I’ve had from senior female staff that have helped broaden and extend my research profile overseas - helping expand the reach of my research and allowing me to shadow some very senior academics at the same time.

Most recently, I was asked to lead our school’s Athena Swan Silver renewal and deliver this very quickly! We rapidly assembled a task and finish group, created an engagement process that has been noted for its good practice and successfully received our Athena Swan Silver Award in early 2024. 

Outside of work, I have two lively boys to help grow into amazing adult human beings, so I’m kept really busy with that incredibly enriching task! We spent a lot of time outside, in nature, cooking, reading and playing board games together.

First published: 24 May 2023

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