JJ Eldridge

Researching exploding binary stars while exploding the gender binary

JJ Eldridge (@astro_jje) is an astrophysicist and associate professor at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. Their research focuses on how binary stars affect galaxies, supernovae, and gravitational wave events. They give frequent public talks on their work and are a member of the Inclusive, Diverse, Equitable Astronomy (IDEA) committee at the Astronomical Society of Australia. They also lead queer student groups on campus and act as a support for gender-diverse students in STEM fields and academia.

This interview was conducted in February 2020 and has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Tell me your “origin story” — how did you end up in your field?

"So when I was at school, I read a lot of science fiction books. There were also episodes of Doctor Who, The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, SPACE:1999, Star Trek and Star Cops on TV. I also watch factual programs like Equinox, Horizon and Tomorrow's World. It just started an interest in science. At the same time, when I was 5 or 6 my parents bought some computers. The ZX81 for my brother and the ZX Spectrum for me, and later they bought us an Amstrad CPC 6128. This meant I was using computers from a very early age, writing programs and playing games. I was one of the first to experience what nearly all children today experience, a world with computers everywhere.

At school, after a poor start, I became really good at maths. Then, I started learning physics and other sciences and I didn't really look back. Studying those subjects was interesting to me because it was the way I could get to live the life I saw on Star Trek: The Next Generation, to explore the Universe. Of course I didn't realise that was possible until I spoke to a careers adviser who took his time to explain to me about university and degrees. This hadn't occurred to me before and I was the first in my extended family to go to University. Even then, I didn't know where I was going to end up until I took a course on the structure and evolution of stars. Looking back, it excited me that we could study and understand stars in so much detail, and that using computers was key to doing that. When I eventually got my Ph.D. placement, I ended up studying with the lecturer of that course, Christopher Tout, and recently just wrote a textbook based on it. But it has led me to today, where I'm trying to lead the work in attempting to understand how stars and their deaths in supernovae shape the evolution of galaxies and the Universe by using both physics and computers.

It's a path that began with science fiction and computer games. Sometimes I sit down and realize how I am a bit like Doctor Who, exploring the Universe across space and time, educating young people about how exciting it is and trying to help them overcome the barriers that make it difficult to study."

What do you do in your current role at the University of Auckland?

"It falls into three broad categories.

Research. I have many research projects but they're all really about studying how binary stars affect stellar populations in galaxies and the Universe. What I find most exciting are the transients – these are the explosions of dying stars and dramatic events where a lot of the elements we need for life are formed. This involves working with collaborators around the world and with staff and students at the University of Auckland. In some ways, this branches into teaching, as the students are learning how to do research as well as the astrophysics they need to learn to be able to create new knowledge. My research got a big boost in 2019 when I won a large research grant from the New Zealand government in the Marsden Fund which is run by the Royal Society of New Zealand. This is allowing me to do some really excellent science and build on my earlier work.

Teaching. This does overlap with research when I have project students which I set interesting problems for. It also includes lectures, labs, and tutorials depending on the course. One other thing that isn't so obvious and not mentioned by many people is course design. A few years ago I took a course in academic practice, effectively a tertiary course in how to teach. Academics normally get a job by their research track record rather than their teaching ability and we don't know much about the research done in education. This course allows us to hone our skills and also take a more pedagogical, research-inspired, approach to teaching. This has led to me, for example, redesigning our entire second year physics program with some positive success in student achievement. It's also allowed me to grow and become much better at teaching.

Service. This includes refereeing journal articles, mentoring students and other colleagues, giving public talks or being interviewed on the radio, or even this interview! And much more, including things like organizing conferences and writing references."

You lead several LGBTQ+ campus groups and participate in a committee on diversity in astronomy. What do those groups mean to you, and why do you feel it’s important for you to take those additional roles outside of teaching and research?

"We're expected to take on these service roles. Normally, they are assigned to us, but I assigned these to myself. This was because I was a lecturer and could see that I could use my privilege to improve the academic environment for these groups. It's led me to learning a huge amount about being inclusive in academia and about myself. It's also led to me writing an education article about being inclusive of transgender and gender-diverse people in academia, something I would never have imagined that I would do back when I started university study over two decades ago.

But it's funny – this kind of work is also an element of what people do in Star Trek and Doctor Who, the concept of helping people, making life better for all. It's something I've only realised recently. I was raised by my parents with this philosophy: "If you see a problem, fix it, don't wait for someone else to do it.""

What goes on day-to-day in your work with these queer student groups?

"This is tricky. Day-to-day, it's really organizing regular meetings and trying to think of things we can do. At the moment, I'm concentrating more on trans and gender diverse students. One session we're going to try to run soon is around how to be a teaching assistant, and other sessions will hopefully have similar useful discussions around being in academia. The problem we're currently trying to solve is around toilets and names. For the former, it's trying to put together a good guide around where the good or safe toilets are on campus. For the latter it's making sure the preferred name the student enters is progressed through the IT system, and the same for any legal name changes, as a few problems have cropped up. Rarely, a student contacts me with a serious issue that we try to get resolved as soon as possible and that frequently means interacting with the University's equity office."

You are also very active on Twitter, about your research, science, and your personal life. How did you choose to be so open on social media? What have been the benefits and/or consequences of that choice?

I fell into being open on Twitter. I was inspired to join because of @AstroKatie. Once I joined, I was able to connect with people in a similar situation, like transgender and nonbinary people. I was always open about struggling with things or being upset but it wasn't until I outed myself as trans that I became a sort of role model for others. It was another way of doing good by raising awareness and being a positive trans role model.

There are certainly dangers. I use block lists to protect my account and freely block other accounts that are transphobic. This probably limits the reach of my account but does increase my safety and privacy for my family. There is a lot I am open about, but also many things I don't share and drawing that line is something that is a delicate balance. I also have to be careful about retweeting some accounts to make sure they aren't then open to abuse by others."

Do you see science communication or advocacy as a key part of your work, or is it more a byproduct of your Twitter presence? Do you consider yourself a science communicator?

"This is a really good question. I guess like Doctor Who says, time travel is all "timey-wimey spacey-wacey", my academic career is all "academicay-busy-wizzy". I probably do too much and at times, it can all be a bit of a mess. I think I am a science communicator and I've always enjoyed trying to explain the most recent research in a way that everyone can understand it. I want everyone to share in the excitement of discovery.

My advocacy for the inclusion of trans and gender-diverse people is in some ways still science communication. Many of the myths around trans people come about because people don't understand the science of people. So my experience in explaining complex issues for all to understand does come in handy.

I guess in the end, my activity on Twitter is responsible for a lot of good and positive opportunities. And while it might look like everything I do is planned, it really does feel more like a mess. I can't wait to find out what I might do next!"

What might you tell past-you if you could go back in time?

"That is not an easy question to answer. I only have the life I have now because of the choices I made, and there are many things I don't want to lose. Sure, I could have told myself that I'd eventually get closer to working out who I am and being me but that might have made it much more difficult to get to where I am today. Getting my current job and being promoted within this job may have been far harder if I transitioned earlier. Then, if I knew success, would I have worked as hard as I did to solve difficult problems?"

What has your identity journey and transition been like in academia? How has this time in your life affected your outlook on academia and your career?

"The thing is, transition is ongoing. It never stops, you're continually outing yourself. Although at the start, it's challenging to get people to use correct names and pronouns. It's annoying when people slip up, but fantastic when people get it right. Most challenging is being myself in different countries when I go to conferences. It's slowly getting better, but travel is still scary, especially when I have to decide how to present while travelling to do so safely and comfortably. Otherwise it's been mostly okay. It's been positive for my career as there have been lots of new opportunities that wouldn't exist otherwise. However, negative things include people with anti-trans views at conferences and at universities I visit, which is always a worry.

But most importantly, I am happier and more confident in myself and I am so much more productive because of this. There are of course still worries, but I deal with those as they arise."