The Faculty of Science Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Awards category recognises and celebrates outstanding contributions to initiatives that promote a more inclusive and equitable environment.
This award recognises and celebrates outstanding contributions to the Faculty of Science to programs promoting equity, diversity and inclusion made by individuals or teams.
The winner(s) and nominees are:
Vanessa champions systemic change in academia through her leadership in EDI. As Chair of her School’s EDI Committee and a Homeward Bound alumna, she works to dismantle barriers in hiring, retention, and promotion. Her research on land and water management is matched by her commitment to equity, creating pathways for diverse participation in STEM.
Stuart’s Element Sets project distributed free STEM kits containing pure chemical elements to over 1600 schools across Australia, prioritising rural, remote, and low-SES communities. Reaching 58 per cent of government and rural schools, the initiative supports equitable science education and is projected to enhance 1.5 million student lessons on the periodic table over the next decade.
Melissa is a Senior Lecturer and ARC DECRA Fellow in the School of Mathematics. She is a committed EDI advocate whose work spans research, mentorship, and policy. Recently, she developed novel modelling approaches, incorporating rates of recruitment, retention, and promotion, to understand the patterns leading to unequal representation of men and women in academic staff in the Faculty of Science. Importantly, Melissa has extended this work beyond the descriptions of staff movement to incorporate interactive models and graphics that predict the effectiveness of specific interventions on the proportion of women at each academic level.
Eliot, a PhD candidate, fosters an inclusive academic culture by advocating for gender diversity in STEM. She highlights the historical contributions of gender-diverse individuals to physics and astronomy and promotes respectful practices such as gender-neutral language and pronoun pins. Eliot’s efforts create a welcoming environment for all, advancing equity in both teaching and research spaces.