Dr Marissa Betts
Lecturer in Earth Science - University of New England
Bachelor of Science (Honours, Geology and Palaeontology) & Doctor of Philosophy (Palaeontology)
November 2021
Dr Marissa Betts is a Lecturer in Earth Science at the University of New England, Armidale, Australia. Being a lecturer means she mainly does teaching and research, but also activities like public outreach or participating in departmental committees and panels.
As a lecturer, Marissa teaches undergraduate units and supervises Honours and PhD students who are doing their own research projects.
Marissa’s research is in geology and palaeontology, where she investigates the Cambrian time period (542 – 509 million years ago) of South Australia, Antarctica, Canada, China and Mongolia. Her work spans timescale development, how fossils are preserved, and palaeobiological reconstructions of ancient organisms. She has described ten new fossil species!
Marissa working with her student, Steph Richter Stretton, during field work in the Ikara-Flinders Ranges, South Australia.
What does your role entail?
My job is a mixture of mostly teaching and research, but also “service” activities (these are things that support our department but also fun things like public outreach). I am a geologist and palaeontologist so I am often doing fieldwork or working in the lab when I am not writing up papers.
I started at UNE as a postdoc which meant that my job was almost 100% research, so I could work on my projects every day. Now as a lecturer I don’t get as much time to do my projects because I teach two undergraduate units; a first-year geology subject and a second-year palaeontology subject. Teaching is great fun and I love getting to know our students and teach them about how the Earth works. I also supervise Honours and PhD students now who are doing their own research projects.
I have recently launched a multidisciplinary Earth science research and teaching community at UNE called Litho Lab UNE (LLUNE). It’s been great building this up with my colleagues Dr Luke Milan and Tim Chapman. We have lots of student projects on offer based around the amazing New England Tablelands and beyond! I am very excited to see where we take LLUNE in the future.
Marissa in the palaeontological collections in the Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm.
Why did you choose this career pathway?
As a young person, I didn’t have a clear focus about what I wanted to do as a career so I mostly ended up “following my nose”. I suppose I made decisions that at the time just seemed to feel right and enabled me to keep doing things I thought were interesting and fun.
I have always loved nature and I wanted to work in a museum, so that prompted me to go back to uni and study science after dropping out of Visual Art a few years previously. As soon as I took a few geology subjects I was just hooked. This was almost certainly a combination of finding the subject matter really interesting, but also the amazing friends I made studying geology.
I always worked in casual or part time jobs while I was studying and that was enough to keep me going. My family also never put pressure on me to do anything specific with my career or my life which gave me a lot of freedom and looking back, I appreciate that very much.
As I got deeper and deeper down the academic path though I became quite set on it – I enjoyed the projects I was working on and I liked the autonomous nature of academic life. So, during my “early career” stage I have become quite strategic (rather than relying on happy accidents) in developing a competitive edge that has helped guide my career pathway.
Collecting samples in Salaany Gol, Gobi Altai region, western Mongolia.
What are the best parts about your job?
What are the hardest parts?
Academia has a lot of awesome aspects, but it can be an incredibly tough gig. It’s extremely competitive and there is often a lot of pressure, especially on researchers that are just starting out. Job security is often quite poor and researchers can spend many years on short-term contracts before they land something permanent. This is often very stressful, especially if they have a family to support. It is also highly likely that they will have to relocate for work, possibly overseas.
Knowing all these things I still decided to give it a try after I finished my PhD. I thought that it might be an opportunity to travel and try some new things and make connections, and if it didn’t work out then I would try something else. The network I built doing this has probably served me better than anything else and provided a way for me to become involved with awesome research projects and ultimately to land a permanent role.
The most awesome part of my job is fieldwork in amazing locations like the Flinders Ranges in South Australia, western Mongolia, China and Canada. But I love all aspects of the research process from collection and discovery all the way to writing. I also feel very privileged to be an Earth Science teacher and a mentor to my students who are just starting out on their own research journeys. Seeing them get excited about their projects and celebrating their successes is a great part of my job.
Marissa teaching high school students on the Great Barrier Reef, Heron Island, Queensland.
How well did your degree prepare you for your career path?
Doing higher-level study like an Honours or PhD after your undergrad is kind of like an apprenticeship, meaning that you learn a lot “on the job”. I use a lot of the things I learned in my undergrad every day, but as I transitioned into a PhD and beyond my research has become more specialised I’ve had to build additional skills and knowledge on the way.
There were some subjects I took later in my undergrad that were not directly relevant to the research I do, but that knowledge is now incredibly helpful with my teaching. I also use skills I learned working in hospitality all the time and also draw on my brief time studying visual art. You never know when something might come in handy!
Marissa and her colleagues testing their waterproof gear during field work near Lake Khuvsgul, northern Mongolia.
What does your career progression look like from here?
After your PhD, if you find a postdoctoral research position somewhere it is usually in what is called a “Level A” position. This is the lowest (usually fixed-term) position. From there it is possible to be promoted to Level B (Research Fellow or Lecturer) and then to Level C (Senior Lecturer) and eventually to Level D (Associate Professor) and Level E (Professor). Somewhere in the early-mid stages of that process the hope is to gain a permanent position!
To earn promotion from one level to another you need to demonstrate that you are kicking goals in all of the three key areas: Research, Teaching and Service. So, it is a matter of keeping all those balls in the air and trying not to drop them, which is not always easy.
Something to highlight that I have learned: Your network and the community you build around you is one of the most powerful ways to have success in those three areas. Anything you can do to build your network in meaningful ways is a great investment.
Side hustle shout out!
It is important to have side hustles I think! It gives you an outlet to be creative or try different things and build new skills. Outreach is an important thing for scientists to do – it helps us hone our communication skills and helps build scientific literacy in the public.
This year I have started Sci Flicks at the Belgrave as a regular public science outreach event. I have teamed up with the local cinema to show films with science themes with a talk from a UNE researcher at the start and a Q+A with the audience after the movie. It has been fantastic! We love hearing all the questions from the audience after the movie. Real science AND a movie, what more could you want?
Marissa hugging a giant ground sloth at La Brea Tar Pits, Los Angeles.
Fieldwork digging up dinosaur remains at Lightning Ridge, NSW.