FLEET Equity Chair A/Prof Jeff Davis
Three FLEET representatives at this month’s Catalysing Gender Equity 2020 in Adelaide.
“For me, the conference highlighted how many great initiatives are already in action, improving gender equity around Australia,” said FLEET Equity Chair Jeff Davis. “However, there is still a lot of work to do and everyone can and needs to help change the culture.”
FLEET Chief Operating Officer Dr Tich-Lam Nguyen
Attending from FLEET were:
- FLEET Equity & Diversity Chair Jeff Davis (Swinburne)
- Chief Operating Officer Tich-Lam Nguyen
- Education & Training Coordinator Dianne Ruka
“There is no silver bullet!” says Tich-Lam. “My main takeaway from the conference was that we need a multifaceted approach to accelerate change in STEM equity, diversity & inclusion. A systematic and cultural change is necessary and this needs to be driven both from the grassroots bottom-up approach as well as top-down approach with leadership & strategic planning.”
“We came away with many excellent ideas that we have taken on-board and will be implementing for FLEET throughout the year,” says Jeff.
Some initiatives by other organisations that looked particularly good were:
- USC scholarship for casual (sessional) academic staff – seed funding for their research projects to help them establish both teaching and research portfolio
- WILD: women in leadership development program which offers professional development training and mentorship (wildforstem.com), targeting early to mid career women in STEM
- Uni Adelaide’s WiSC – women in STEM careers program, also offering leadership and professional development training but for graduate students.
“I was encouraged to believe that we can make a difference,” says Dianne Ruka. “For example, addressing our own bias – something we all carry, but which is famously hard to self-identify.” Modelling shows that even a very small implicit bias (3% from models) makes a big difference to long-term outcomes.
Sharing the Centre’s own experiences, FLEET contributed a poster to the ‘equity gallery’, describing challenges, findings and impacts from our Women in FLEET Fellowship process.
FLEET Education & Training Coordinator Dr Dianne Ruka
The conference was guided by the Women in STEM Decadal Plan and was run by the Australian Academy of Science (AAS) and Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE).
Representatives from across higher education and research, industry, education and government celebrated success, showcased impact and growth potential, highlighted key action areas and fostered collaboration to achieve change.