Our headlining keynote speaker for the event was the inspirational Dr. Jane Goodall. The theme for the conference this year was "Inspiring Science" (ambiguous emphasis for a reason) and it is hard to find a more inspirational figure, particularly for young women in science, than Jane Goodall.
As a young girl growing up in England, she loved animals and always dreamed of learning more about them and (after developing a slight infatuation with Tarzan) studying them in the African jungle. When given the opportunity to go to Africa, she ended up working with the famous archaeologist Louis Leakey as an assistant. He was the one who gave her the opportunity to study the behaviour of chimpanzees in the wild, and later encouraged her to go to Cambridge to get her PhD so she could earn her way in the scientific community in her own right.
Dr. Goodall (or Dr. Jane as she apparently likes to be known) has spend most of her life since the days observing the chimpanzee's acting as a conservationist, travelling more than 300 days a year. While her own circumstances and rise to prominance were rather exceptional, she is a real role model to all, and a shining example of the power of compassion and hope.
(I am trying to upload a video of Dr. Jane talking about her source of inspiration, but blogger is fighting me. Instead, here's a really bad picture - we weren't allowed to use flash... and another of my friend Kerstin asking her a question!)
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