Victoria
“Remember to not dampen down who you are and to know that resisting the box, this cage that society and people will try to put you in all your life, is essential to be your stunning self, to let your truest inner being shine and be visible to the world in all its glory. Breathe.”
Victoria, also known as Dr Vic, is a scientist and communicator whose career aspirations have led her from deepest corners of the Earth, studying marine life in the frozen continent of Antarctica. to lecture halls, to the Office of the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor, within schools, behind podiums and more. Her career path hasn’t always been linear, but everything she does is motivated by a desire to raise awareness - whether that be on the climate crisis or opportunities for youth, and specifically girls, to engage with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). She is determined to increase visibility of women in STEM fields while challenging the definition of what constitutes a scientist. She’s a passionate adventurer, researcher, advocate, polar plunge-r, fashionista, feminist and so much more. She’s also a mum, who is determined to see a future where there is space for girls - like her daughter B - to dream, innovate and also thrive. Meet Vic. This is her story.
P: Please introduce yourself!
V: Tēnā koutou katoa
Ko Aoraki te maunga
Ko Opāwaho te awa
Nō Ōtautahi ahau
Ko Metcalf toku whānau
Ko Victoria toku ingoa
Nō reira
Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa
Greetings to you all,
Aoraki is my mountain
Ōpawaho is my river
I am from Ōtautahi
Metcalf is my family
My name is Victoria
Greetings, greetings, greetings to you all.
I hail from Ōtautahi Christchurch, New Zealand but I am a recent arrival this year in Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, the capital city. I’m a mum to an 11-year old daughter, and I’m a scientist and a communicator. I am the Queen of Curiosity.
P: Describe or define yourself in your own words?
V: I’m an outgoing, curious, passionate, people-loving person committed to leading with aroha (love) to make a difference. I’m my father’s daughter - he was an expert on native New Zealand plants - and my family’s essence of being deeply connected to nature. I come from a maternal lineage of strong women and I’m so grateful for that. I’m unapologetically me.
As a scientist I've made many trips to the Antarctic, researching environmental change impacts on Antarctic marine life and also looking at New Zealand fish and shellfish species and how they will cope with a changing world. I’m so fortunate to have the privileged opportunities I have had, to go to places not many get to, including up in the stratosphere in the NASA SOFIA telescope plane for an overnight flight.
Antarctica is one turangawaewae (home) for me. Te Wai Pounamu (the South Island of New Zealand) is my main turangawaewae. And the moana (sea) is another. These are my happy places that ground me - that make me feel complete.
As a communicator and a storyteller, I care deeply about working with communities and their own baskets of knowledge, of building meaningful, genuine relationships and recognising that collaboration and teamwork means that we can do greater things because of our collective strengths. I want everyone to be enthused about STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) and to not be afraid of learning new things! Stay curious!
I’m a proud, fierce mama raising my daughter to be strong, to be kind, to be a feminist, to be herself, and to be deeply inqusitive about this amazing world.
I’m an excellent listener and a good confidante. I’m calm and calming, loyal, full of integrity, fun, sometimes cheeky with my wit, and I love adventures. I’m creative, and a highly reflective philosophical thinker. I’m a bit of a Pollyanna in trusting in the good in people and the good in the world, but I won’t change that.
P: What is your favourite thing about yourself?
V: My empathy, kindness, compassion, love (aroha) towards others, and towards all life on earth.
P: Tell us a story. Have you had an experience that’s defined you or made you stronger?
V: My life has been so full of both many amazing and blessed experiences interspersed with some incredible challenges, adversity and lows. People often can’t handle me talking about those lows, of sharing my story, my truth - including some truly hard career challenges, the impact of the Canterbury earthquakes as a new mum, of becoming a single mum, and so much more. Sadly, it’s too much for many people and they don’t know what to say. So instead I’ll tell a story of an epiphanous, game-changing moment.
In 2000 I found myself sitting on top of an island staring at a view. This wasn’t any ordinary island and in no sense was it an ordinary view. It was the most arresting vista I had ever seen. I was staring out at the vast Trans Antarctic Mountains that went as far as I could see in either direction. Like the Southern Alps, but on steroids. In front of the mountains, the sea was littered with icebergs and bergy bits – shades of blue and white and sculpted.
And before me, surrounding me on all sides were 1000’s of Adelie penguins - both adults and chicks, with their anthropomorphic behaviour providing hours of entertainment.
At the time I’d been doing my PhD on the evolution of a major blood protein. It was meant to be just on tuatara but my supervisors wanted me to practice my method skills before trusting me to let me loose on irreplaceable tuatara samples, so we started looking at a range of reptile and fish species.
Along the way my previous Biochemistry lecturer contacted me and offered me an Antarctic fish blood sample because he thought it might be interesting. It was- they lacked the protein I was studying and in the process it took me on a path to learning more about Antarctic fish and how fascinating they were and it also got me thinking about the icy continent.
So when I saw an ad in The Press calling for applications for a scholarship to Antarctica on an ecotourism boat, of course I was in.
Months went by and I heard nothing and assumed I hadn’t got it. Then the next January, I got a phone call to say I’d been awarded the scholarship and had 3 weeks to raise the $5,000 that was my share. I was off to Antarctica and the subAntarctic islands on a month-long ecotourism trip.
How flipping amazing. And so here I was, sitting on an island that we’d smelled ages before we got there, where the urea from 15,000 years of frozen penguin guano had fried our nostrils; the same guano I was now sitting on.
As I gazed out at the incredible view, with my feet for the first time on Antarctic soil, well bird-poo soil, I had an epiphany. I had a clear line of sight at that particular moment that this was what I wanted to do- to make Antarctic marine research my focus, to help understand and protect this incredible place.
And as the cacophony of the penguins filled my ears, and distracted me from the smell, I filled my lungs with the chilly Antarctic air, smiled a massive smile and felt completely and utterly at home.
The interesting thing about that story and that game-changing moment is that it took me on a pathway of years of Antarctic research. It could have been the happy ever after ending where that’s what I did for the rest of my life, but it wasn’t. My life journey has since taken me on different pathways, away from pure research and away from Antarctica itself (although I’m always still involved in Antarctic activities in some way, shape and form). A conviction and a direction at one point in time doesn’t mean that there won’t be subsequent other convictions and redirections down the track.
P: What is one piece of advice you’d give to your younger self?
V: Nurture that little child deep inside you, my love. Dive deep into self-compassion, mindfulness, yoga and meditation early, so that the necessary self work to know that you are beautiful and capable on the inside and out and that you matter and you are needed happens not when you’re all grown up, but all throughout your life. Remember to not dampen down who you are and to know that resisting the box, this cage that society and people will try to put you in all your life, is essential to be your stunning self, to let your truest inner being shine and be visible to the world in all its glory. Breathe.
P: What does being a woman mean to you?
V: Being a woman means standing in our truth, and listening to our Knowing. It means knowing that we have boundless strength, grace and grit. It means serving others and serving ourselves, nurturing, nurturing relationships. Of being part of the sisterhood, of leaning in with kindness, with compassion and with empathy. It means reclaiming our space and being tuned in to our emotions and believing in ourselves. It means knowing that a different heart-centred, ego-less, and more reflective leadership model can exist and that that is the way forward for the struggles we face.
It means healing, from all the hurt that has been done to us in a patriarchal society, and to our ancestors. It means feeling the weight of responsibility for our daughters and sons and for mother earth to change the status quo, to do what’s right inside us, what’s right. It means shining a light on ourselves so that men can see that a different way exists and so they can learn and listen too. It means fierceness and tenderness all wrapped up together. It means knowing that the right path may not be the loudest path sometimes, but rather the quiet, determined path.
It means owning our uniqueness and our special-ness and exposing our vulnerability so that others may do the same. It means leading our lives with Latitude & Gratitude - to offer kindness to others, accept that they are generally doing the best they can and accept them as they are, and be empathetic (classed together as giving latitude), whilst also focusing on our own inner peace (gratitude).
And most importantly to me personally, it means being a mama and knowing that most incredible love and attached connection. I love you B.
P: Who is one woman that inspires you? What would you say to her if she was here now?
V: I’ve always been inspired by Helen Clark. She was New Zealand’s second woman Prime Minister and the first woman to be elected into that role. She left politics here to then become Administrator of the UNDP for several years, and now runs her own foundation, is highly active in how to address climate change, and last year co-chaired the WHO’s panel examining the WHO’s Covid pandemic response.
I was privileged enough to be awarded the Zonta Science Award here in 2006 (a biennial award to an all round emerging woman scientist in New Zealand) and Helen Clark presented me with the Award in Parliament as the Prime Minister at the time. It was such an honour and a very treasured memory to give a speech in front of her and to also have the opportunity to converse.
I’ve met her once since a couple of years ago at an event launching her book Women Equality Power and she was equally gracious.
Helen, I would let you know that the honour of presenting in front of you, speaking with you and receiving that award was amazing validation of the fight I’d had to be a woman in science thus far and that despite the award and that moment, there were many much more challenging times ahead that would truly test me. I have no doubt that you can relate, and some. Thinking about your grit, your fairness, your leadership, your strength and tenacity and that of many other amazing wāhine is inspiration for me to dig deep, to keep on being me and believing in myself and to know that I too can contribute good things to this world. I know that things haven’t always gone your way and when I see someone like you pick themselves up in the arena, carry on focussing on your vision and your mission without paying much heed to the crowd who may be yelling loudly from the sidelines, but aren’t there facedown in the arena with you, then I too want to do the same. Thank you.