Associate Professor Kathryn Fitzsimmons: Be brave and don’t be daunted
Associate Professor Kathryn Fitzsimmons
For Associate Professor Kathryn Fitzsimmons, an ARC Future Fellowship awardee in 2025, the story of Earth’s deserts is a story about people, climate, resilience, and deep time.
Her research uncovers how desert landscapes formed, how they have shifted over hundreds of thousands of years, and how human societies have adapted to these changes. “Almost half of Earth’s land surface is made up of deserts,” she explains. “Understanding how these landscapes work is urgent, especially as climate change is likely to make them increasingly unstable.”
Kathryn’s fascination with the natural world began early. She spent much of her childhood out bush, hiking and exploring with her family. “I had fantastic women science teachers who showed me that science wasn’t all about ‘men in lab coats’,” she says. Discovering earth sciences, a discipline that allowed her to be outdoors while investigating the planet’s history, was transformative.
Today, her work spans continents and cultures. She is deeply committed to decolonising science, a principle that shapes both her research and her collaborations. In Central Asia, she has worked with local academic partners and supervised students to improve access to scientific skills and knowledge. In Australia, she co-designs research projects with Indigenous communities, ensuring that scientific inquiry is grounded in respect, reciprocity, and shared purpose. “These aspects of my work are just so rewarding,” she says.
One of the defining moments of her career came in 2017, when she was awarded a major project to study thick blankets of wind‑blown dust, loess, in Central Asia. Some of these deposits contain up to a million years of continuous climate information. Collecting samples required abseiling down cliffs as high as 130 m. “Those years were formative,” she reflects. “Not just because of the data we generated, but because of the life lessons and the collaborative relationships we developed.” The field team, fittingly, was majority women.
Kathryn’s journey has not been without challenges. Working in male-dominated fields, conducting research in countries with traditional gender roles, and navigating life as a single parent working overseas have all tested her resilience. “I overcome many of these challenges by building my village,” she says. “Supportive colleagues and friends who have my back.” She also speaks candidly about the realities of balancing fieldwork, travel, and parenting, especially during the pandemic.
Her mentors, two male PhD supervisors, remain important sources of guidance. But she also emphasises the value of building networks of women scientists who understand the specific challenges of gender in science. “The air is quite thin at this stage of career,” she notes, “but the women around me are still inspirational role models.”
Kathryn’s advice to young women entering science is simple and powerful: “Be brave and don’t be daunted. Seek out experienced women for advice: we’ve walked this road and want you to reach your potential too.”
Looking ahead, she hopes to see more young women, Indigenous Australians, and scientists from the Global South contributing to earth sciences. “One of the great things about this stage of my career is being able to foster the next generation,” she says. “My research offers so many opportunities for diverse young people to explore what science can be.”
Outside of work, Kathryn returns to the landscapes that first inspired her, bushwalking and spending time out bush with the people she loves. And she shares one fun fact that captures her spirit perfectly: “I was afraid of heights when I was awarded that project in Central Asia. But I knew the only way to collect the samples was by abseiling down cliffs. So I started rock climbing!”
Her story is a testament to courage, curiosity, and the power of science to connect people across cultures, landscapes, and generations.
This piece is part of our International Day of Women and Girls in Science profile series. Read more here.
Further information
Silvia Dropulich
Marketing, Media & Communications Manager, Monash Science
T: +61 3 9902 4513 M: +61 435 138 743
Email: silvia.dropulich@monash.edu