Hajer Srihi McF at LAMIH
What's your background?
I'm a mechatronics engineer and manager in business administration. I'm also a qualified doctor in automatic - productics
Today, I'm a teacher-researcher in automation and industrial computing at INSA hauts de France.
How do you reconcile your work and your new role as a mom?
It's all about striking a balance between your passion for science and managing your role as a mom, especially when the child is young and the mom is a young woman scientist at the start of her career.
We learn to adopt practices that enable juggling work and family life, and to define priorities while setting goals for each area. The right strategies make day-to-day life easier, and make it possible to combine parenthood with professional life in the best possible way.
The right organization is needed to reconcile the two roles.
What is the theme of your research?
I'm mainly involved in the field of automation and industrial computing, with a strong focus on themes linked to transport, functional assistance for mobility and health technologies (rehabilitation, PRM assistance, etc.).
Why did you choose to become a researcher?
Research is a rich field and the results are fruitful and useful.
It's about meeting needs and solving problems that are holding back collective progress. Doing science to accomplish objectives in the service of human beings and to make society more inclusive, where ideas are diverse and visions too.
Research changes society and improves the daily lives of those who benefit from it.
What advice would you give to a young girl who wants to become a scientist?
The lack of girls in scientific disciplines is a persistent and worrying problem.
I encourage girls to consider scientific fields and dispel misconceptions that science is too difficult for them.
I advise girls to be inspired by existing female role models in scientific disciplines and to believe in their professional dreams.
Each girl must make her voice reason and write her own singular story in whatever field she undertakes without psychological or societal barriers.
Achieving parity in research structures must be a legitimate and collective goal.
I invite them to fight the illusion that scientific research is a "man's job".
Parity in science is a matter for society as a whole, where all players are involved.
