TO the average person, a patch of soil is just a bunch of dirt. But for soil scientist Dr Sunshine De Caires, there is a whole world happening just under our feet.

De Caires, whose PhD is from the UWI, was one of two inaugural recipients of the L’Oréal-Unesco Caribbean Women in Science Award.

The award ceremony was held last November at the UWI, St Augustine campus during the 23rd Biennial Conference and General Meeting 2023 of the Caribbean Academy of Science. She was honoured for her work on understanding the effects of climate change on soil quality and sustainable land management. The other winner was Dr Sarah Buckland, whose research at UWI, Mona, Jamaica, focused on microclimatic comparisons and their impact on agriculture.

Last month, De Caires participated in a Unesco Campus roundtable discussion on Fostering Girls’ Interest in Science through Innovative Education in the Digital Age at the Unesco headquarters in Paris.

Newsday spoke with De Caires about the trip, her educational journey, and the award during an interview last week.

She explained the round table on February 9 was part of Unesco's Closing the Gap in Science event, and in commemoration of International Day of Women and Girls in Science. The Unesco team decided to include one of the two winners of the Caribbean Women in Science Award and De Caires was chosen.

She described participating in the round table as "fun."

"I liked answering questions from the students and girls. They reminded me of myself."

She said one of the student questions she liked the most was how to be more confident.

[caption id="attachment_1067560" align="alignnone" width="1024"] PhD graduate Sunshine De Caires conducts research at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine. -[/caption]

"I was like, 'I am not confident. You just have to be yourself and you just have to talk about what you know. And the more you (are) yourself and the more you're comfortable (with) talking about your work...then your confidence will grow.'"

Asked if she felt a duty or a drive to inspire girls to go into the sciences, De Caires replied she would like people to follow their passion, whether it is science or anything else.

"I would like to inspire people who are on the fence about science because they have misconceptions about its difficulty or whether or not they're capable of it. So those are the people I would want to inspire.

"But I don't want to go out and tell everyone that (they) should do science. You should do what makes you happy and what you have the aptitude for."

She said if she did not have the aptitude, she would not have been involved in her field.

"But I think a lot of girls probably have misconceptions...

"I do have to go to remote areas and have to be physical. You have to be fit enough to walk long distances and do some manual labour. And if you're that type of woman, then you can get into environmental science. Because it's not a 'sit-behind-a-computer' kind of science job.

"But it's rewarding. You get to explore the country. You get