Gender equality and inclusion

Dr Adriana Orifici, 2025

The study investigated the views and experiences of academic staff at Monash Business School (school), with respect to programs and grants designed to promote gender equality and inclusion. As part of the study, we conducted a survey of staff in 2023 in accordance with approval received from the Monash Human Research Ethics Committee. Based on 144 responses to this survey, we delivered in-depth findings and a set of recommendations to the school in 2024.

These findings and recommendations were presented in several forums in the school, including to the school’s executive. The school responded to each of the recommendations, and key recommendations were subsequently incorporated into the most recent Business School Implementation Plan.

A range of changes have been implemented based on the findings and recommendations of the study, to date, which demonstrate its impact. For example, the school has:

• Committed to developing infrastructure—some of which may already have been delivered—to improve the dissemination of information about existing grants. This includes regular reminders, updates, and establishing procedures at the department or centre level to ensure staff are uniformly informed about these opportunities;
• Undertaken a review of the mentoring program, based on recommendations from the study, and is planning changes accordingly; and
• Commenced reviewing the eligibility requirements and application procedures for several of the grants we analysed, with the aim of making them more accessible, particularly to female staff, who were often the intended beneficiaries of such grants.