FLEET COO Dr Tich-Lam Nguyen (right) on the ‘cool careers’ panel that highlighted multiple possible career paths
The inSTEM conference held in Brisbane 20-21 July, was a networking and career-development conference for people from marginalised or underrepresented groups in STEM, and their allies.
The 2022 inSTEM was a partnership of ARC Centres of Excellence, industry transformation training centre and Australian Defence, recognising the wide recognition of improving diversity to research organisations in Australia.
“I felt empowered by the attention given to the challenges that I have faced while pursuing my career, and I really enjoyed being able to interact with lots of other women in STEM.” – FLEET attendee Emma Laird (UQ)
The two-day event was an opportunity for scientists to:
- Connect with others from marginalised or underrepresented groups
- Develop valuable professional networks, building networking skills and strategies supporting personal career development
- Discuss strategies to improve Australia’s scientific diversity, increasing access, retention and success for diverse groups.
FLEET participation included nine delegates attending in-person and five attending virtually.
“The inSTEM workshop was a wonderful learning and networking experience. I have gained excellent professional training, insights into diversity and equity issues in STEM, and made connections with people I would not have met if not for this workshop. I would highly recommend all PhD students to attend this workshop in the future.” – FLEET attendee Yik-Kheng Lee (RMIT)
“It was also great to see three former FLEET Honours students attending, who have moved on to applying their science skills elsewhere,” said FLEET COO Tich-Lam Nguyen who shared her own experiences of transitioning from academia to research management on the “Cool Careers” panel at the conference.
“Ie, Coco Kennedy now working as a microfabrication specialist with the Department of Defence, Science and Technology, while Niken Priscilla and Kyla Rutherford are now pursuing their PhDs with the TMOS Centre of Excellence and the Centre for Exciton Science.”
inSTEM illustrates increased recognition in the science community that diversity extends wider than just the lack of women in STEM. A wider definition also includes under-represented groups in race, religion, culture, sexuality and gender identity, as also illustrated by FLEET’s Diversity fellowships/scholarships.
“Research has shown that diverse teams are smarter and produce better outcomes. People can only contribute their best when they feel that they are supported and respected and their contributions valued, regardless of their cultural, social-economic backgrounds, personal identity or beliefs. By creating equity in STEM, we are making the most of available grey matter and driving technological innovation and economic growth.” – FLEET COO Tich-Lam Nguyen.
In addition to Tich-Lam’s contribution to the careers outside academia panel, FLEET CI Jared Cole sat on a panel discussing how to use your power and privilege for good, FLEET EO Tenille Ibbottson and FLEET student Maedehsadat Mousavi were on the inSTEM steering and planning committees.
“Participating as a member of the inSTEM Steering Committee is a great opportunity to be part of an initiative that champions inclusiveness and equity while promoting the importance of STEM within broader society. It was also important to speak on behalf of FLEET during the planning process and share the positive impacts we have made regarding STEM equity and diversity.” – FLEET EO Tenille Ibbotson
FLEET was a bronze sponsor for the event, and one of multiple ARC Centres of Excellence and other scientific groups contributing to the planning and program, along with EQUS, Defence Science, ASTRO 3D, Centre for Quantum Computing, Climate Extremes, Australian Cobotics, Centre for Peptides and Protein Science, Exciton Science, OzGrav and TMOS.
FLEET encouraged and enabled early career researchers and student members to attend by providing travel grants that were co-funded and supported by the Centre’s Equity & Diversity and Education & Training Committees, with clear benefits to both areas of enterprise within FLEET.
Online attendance was facilitated to ensure participation for anyone not able to physically travel to the event because of family, illness or apprehension about covid.
After such a positive response to the inaugural inSTEM program, the template and ideas will be passed from EQUS to another Centre to host the next meeting, with the aim of making inSTEM a conference of choice for Australian STEM early career researchers.