Woah, where do I begin?
2022 has gone by like a flash (and although it's the first of October as I start to write this blog post, I know that I am going to forget about it and probably finish it sometime in December just before 2022 comes to a close .. well sorry past Ayeisha but it's actually the last day of February and you still haven't posted this).
I had this idea of putting my key things that I have done, and achieved professionally and maybe a few personal ones here. It's nice to reflect and look back at the year and see what I've done, because I feel like it was a fair bit.
1. Biggest achievement in 2022
When I got the news that I was going to be one of the 50 Geospatial World 50 Rising Stars I was very excited. It's great to be recognised within the industry for the work and the community I have contributed to! And of course, it's great to be a rising start with so many other amazing people in the industry. I feel that the geospatial community is a very close nit group, even internationally so it's been great connecting with each other.
2. Speaking events 🗺️
I was lucky enough to be involved in several different online and in-person events, where I could present different work/ networks and talk about women in geospatial and geospatial in development.
GIS for a Sustainable World (May) https://www.esri.com/en-us/about/events/gis-sustainable-world/save-date?date=2022-05-10
Royal Queensland Geographers Society (September) https://www.facebook.com/events/442274754600491?ref=newsfeed
AOGEO Symposium (September)
GEO Week (October)
3. UNOSAT work
2022 was my 2nd year at UNOSAT as a geospatial and satellite imagery analyst. Again, 2022 brought new humanitarian confilcts and disasters and despite this I got to work on some very interesting stuff. Namely Ukraine Cultural Damage Assessment and Education Mapping! The best thing about working at an operational centre is being able to undertake analysis on different projects, spanning across several sectors. You literally never know what the world can bring. So you have to be ready to respond. 2022 was also the year when I moved out of the Geneva office and into my new home office in Sweden! I am super lucky to be able to move my job remotely and to continue working with so many amazing people, just from a little further away.
4. Women in Geospatial (W+G)
In 2022, I moved onto a new position and took on the role as Regional Ambassador co-lead with my fellow friend and W+G collegue, Daria. This has been a new experience for me and I am super happy to be volunteering agin this year.
Mentorship Programme
From Mid 2021 - May 2022 I was apart of the W+G Mentorship Programme where we had a peer mentorship group with 3 other likeminded women. We met on several occasions and formed great friendships together. https://womeningeospatial.org/legacy-gallery/
5. Twitter/ social media
Cartography Projection Cards
I was lucky enough to be involved in Daniel's twitter project, creating different geospatial projection cards! It was super fun to be apart of the cartographers who designed a card, and also then to purchase the cards and get a few different designs from other people.
I really loved this project and it was another show of the geospatial community coming together to create something fun and light hearted!
Of course November 2022 was the month of the #30DayMapChallenge2022! I did participate again this year, but my contributions were smaller than I had hoped. I was very busy with work and didn't have enough time to make so many maps. You can see all the maps here.
6. Personal Achievements
Personally 2022 was a very fun, busy and extremely exhausting year to put it lightly. The removal of COVID-19 restrictions meant that I could travel more, in Europe, and finally go back to my homeland (Australia) to see my family. I am so so very privileged and grateful for the life I live, but it doesn't mean that it's not tough at times.
In June 2022 we received the decision that my Swedish Residents Permit got approved, so I made the decision to move from Geneva, Switzerland to Lund, Sweden to continue my job/ work remotely. This helped me to keep a stable part of my life work, but also then I needed to adjust to a new environment, new language and new life - as soon after we got a puppy!
Winter in Sweden is another hurdle that I have been getting through the last months, as someone who grew up in the tropics winter darkness and cold isn't something I always enjoy!
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