A remarkable journey continues

Palaeo Jam

Just over 12 months ago, as part of National Science Week, we spoke with Eleanor Beidatsch, in an episode titled, “A Journey into accessibility: Digging for fossils from a wheelchair.” Since that episode, Eleanor has graduated from the University of New England with First Class Honours, been awarded the $130,000 #ElevateSTEM scholarship for postgraduate research from the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, and has started her Masters!

As we noted in the notes to last year’s episode, “as a nine year old, Eleanor dreamed of being a palaeontologist, but always presumed her advanced physical disability, and use of a wheelchair would make “digging about in the dirt for fossils” impossible.”

In this episode of Palaeo Jam host Michael Mills chats with Eleanor about another remarkable 12 months, and about what lies ahead as she continues her brilliant journey in the world of palaeontology, and follows her fascination with prehistoric velvet worms!

Check out this story from the ABC about Eleanor’s graduation…

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-26/eleanor-beidatsch-graduates-first-class-honours-geoscience/103839886

Here’s a link to last year’s episode with Eleanor…

https://palaeojam.podbean.com/e/a-journey-into-accessibility-digging-for-fossils-from-a-wheelchair/

Check out this video from Eleanor’s YouTube channel of her remarkable adventure in 2016, to a paleontological dig in the opal rich desert town of Lightning Ridge, New South Wales…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTGxIR_yaNo

Here’s a story about Eleanor’s journey on the University of New England’s website…

https://www.une.edu.au/connect/news/2022/09/unearthing-discrimination-in-science

Along with studying palaeontology, Eleanor is a disability rights journalist, and writes for the ABC…

https://www.abc.net.au/news/eleanor-beidatsch/101651018

Here’s a link to the Elevate STEM website…

https://www.atse.org.au/what-we-do/pathways-into-through-stem/elevate/

You can find Eleanor on Instagram at…

https://www.instagram.com/eleanor.beidatsch/

And on Twitter at…

https://twitter.com/EBeidatsch

Here’s a link to Eleanor’s blog Accessible 4 Me…

https://accessible4me.wordpress.com/

For more information on the research being undertaken by the team at University of New England’s Palaeoscience Research Centre, head to

https://www.une.edu.au/research/research-centres-institutes/palaeoscience-research-centre

You can find Michael at @heapsgood https://twitter.com/Heapsgood

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At Palaeo Jam, we now have an Instagram account at https://www.instagram.com/palaeo_jam