DVC (Regional Futures) inspires women in STEM in the South West

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DVC (Regional Futures) inspires women in STEM in the South West

Wednesday, 17 May 2023

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On Wednesday, 3 May 2023, ECU’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Regional Futures) and Vice-President, Professor Cobie Rudd, presented at the Women in STEM Jumpstart Program event. Held in Bunbury, a number of inspirational and high-achieving women presented at the program dinner following the first day of activities of the two-day program.

The Women in STEM Jumpstart Program is a blended-learning course for women aged between 18-35 and is a three-month program including a two-day Boot Camp, mentoring and annual Connect Forum. The program aims to demonstrate the lived experience of STEM across the WA regions and encourage more women to embrace STEM, as it crosses over and into so many different areas such as; agriculture – production of livestock and plants; (AgTech), IT, machinery innovations, research and extension, marine biology, mining, finance and economics and running your own business.

Women continue to be underrepresented in the fields of Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), and ECU is seeking to address this inequity through supporting initiatives such as these. ECU is a member of Science in Australia Gender Equity Limited (SAGE) and the Athena Swan Charter in Australia, and strives to embed genuine and sustainable gender equity, diversity, and inclusion within our community.

ECU sponsored two students to attend the program, hosted by the Rural, Regional and Remote Women’s Network of WA (RRR Network) and Value Creators Pty Ltd and has funding support from the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s Office for Women. The Bunbury event was the second of six bootcamp in-person workshops for the 2023/2024 period, which included presentations from Professor Rudd and the Hon Nola Marino MP, Member for Forrest. Professor Rudd spoke to the participants about her experiences as both a leader and a woman in STEM, and both women provided advice on navigating ways to break down the barriers facing women in STEM and leadership and shared their career journeys.

"Presentations by Nola Marino MP and Cobie Rudd were inspiring."

"This Program absolutely exceeded my expectations."

"Genuine, authentic, real conversations. Highly recommended."

For more information about Athena Swan or ECU’s commitment to gender equality, visit our Gender Equality webpage.

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