Hi There!

​We are officially entering the second half of the year, and I hope most of you have the chance to pause for a while, spend time doing what’s important to you and get excited about what’s coming. For us at Huitaca, 2024 has been a year of changes, new directions and exciting news and this newsletter marks the achievement of one of our biggest milestones, the official presentation of our very own scientific journal. Yes, you read that right! After years of mentoring women in Latin America, understanding their struggles with publication, and witnessing the urgent need for fair and transparent publication systems, I decided to move forward with this project: The Global Women’s Science, Nature, and Society scientific journal.

This project aims to create a platform where outstanding scientists working to improve the lives of women from the Global South can collaborate in a massive network. Many people are behind this project, and I thank you all from the depths of my heart: those who come up with ideas, constructive feedback, solutions, and encouraging words to keep ahead. All editorial board members who believed in this project from the beginning and, without hesitation, joined our efforts.  Three people in particular, whom I deeply respect and admire, became beacons on this path:

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Dr. Nathalie Butt at The Nature Conservancy, an amazing mentor and ally who constantly opens doors for me and Huitaca. It was her idea to expand this project to touch on relevant themes of nature and conservation, pushing me out of my comfort zone in biomedical sciences and into the wonderful intersection of women and nature globally. I am glad I listened. Andy Nobes at the International Network for Advancing Science and Policy (INASP), pointed me in the right direction when this was just an idea.  He is part of the Open Access Journals Toolkit  project, which became the skeleton and the roadmap for this project.  Through chats and emails, he continues to cheer Huitaca up directly from the UK and shares his insights into the complexity of the publication systems and where the sector is heading. Finally, Dr. Faiza El-Higzi at the University of Queensland, with her extensive experience in industry, academia, and the public sector, has a global vision like no other. She understands our communities both abroad and at home. When this project was just a journal, Faiza inspired me to transform it into a community-driven initiative. She knows the importance of listening to the communities we aim to serve, allowing their needs to shape our approach. Instead of imposing models of research and publication, we aim to empower these communities to be active guides. Faiza reminded me of the big privilege I have to lead a project like this, the opportunity to create something new and better for us all, and the responsibility we have with ourselves and with each other.

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The Global Women’s Science, Nature, and Society is Huitaca's offering to you and the scientific community. In the coming months, we will be sharing the many different paths to join and support our project. For now, I let you read more about it and what has been going in our world.  

 

Thank you for being here!

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​Astrid R.