My passions projects

I am particularly concerned by the low rate of female participation in STEM and STEM careers. As such, I have become involved in several associations aimed at empowering women and raising awareness and interest among high school girls.

I am the vice-president of the non-for-profit R-Ladies Melbourne Inc which is Australia's first R Programming community for women that exists to promote gender diversity. Our organisation was founded in September 2016 and since then, we have reached more than 1,300 members. Between 2016 and 2019, we have organised monthly events covering a wide range of R programming tools and we are pro-actively searching for women programmers that are willing to take the opportunity to present their work in a friendly environment. I recently received the Kellaway Excellence Award of Education for my involvement in this community.

Additionally, I was involved in the BrainSTEM high-school mentoring program across Victoria. Between March and June 2018, I mentored regional female high school students in the Regional Girls Innovation Challenge to lead a novel science innovation project.

I also joined the Women in Science Parkville Precinct (WiSPP), which is a collaborative effort across five of Australia’s largest medical research institutes to boost the number of women involved in science leadership. I am part of the individual development group that organises development workshops and events of high quality aimed at addressing the barriers and enablers behind the participation and leadership of women in science.

While offering technical skills workshops together with these associations is important, I also felt that there is a need to help women identify the individual factors that contribute to their participation, achievements and career progression. As such, I became involved in the Accelerated Leadership Program organised by Women & Leadership Australia. In this program, I conducted a survey that assessed self-professional worth and examined how to promote gender equality by identifying other individual factors that could contribute to women’s participation, achievement and progression.

Based on the results of this survey and information from the literature, I started to organise coaching sessions aimed at helping more women to identify the factors and limitations of their career progression and to empower them to achieve their professional goals. As a certified Organisational Coach from the IECL, I want to make a difference for women in science. I am really enthusiastic about my role as a coach because I feel it is helping me to achieve one of my long-term goals, which is to empower women by providing developmental opportunities for successful leadership among STEM professions and strategies to grow and thrive.