Kylie Walker, CEO of Science & Technology Australia (STA), has been named one of the Australian Financial Review’s 100 Women of Influence.
Recognised for her work to create better visibility for under-represented groups throughout the community, and lead improved equity, diversity and inclusion in the STEM sector, Ms Walker said she was humbled to be named among such an impressive group of leaders.
“The STEM sector is lucky to have a great diversity of women and men among its workforce, however there is much work to do to capitalise on this to achieve greater strength and success,” Ms Walker said.
“I am proud to play a part in celebrating the broad range of scientists and technologists working to solve some of the biggest challenges facing humanity, however, structural barriers persist that prevent many of them from reaching their true potential.”
She said STA was working hard to provide STEM representative organisations with resources for grassroots change to support better equity and inclusion in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
“To tackle the lack of visible female role models in STEM, I founded the Superstars of STEM program which has achieved significant progress in the two years since it began,” she said.
“Together with our 90 Superstars of STEM, we have increased the number of women speaking about science in the Australian media from one in ten to one in four; reached more than 15,000 students through face-to-face engagements across all states and territories; and reached more than 30 million people via social and traditional media.
“With my colleagues at STA we’re working on improved inclusion for all minority groups, with structural support and change this year focusing on including LGBTI+ scientists and Indigenous scientists.”
She said the momentum for better equity, diversity and inclusion was strong and she would use the opportunity as a Woman of Influence to continue advocating for change.
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Ms Walker is also Chair of the Australian National Commission for UNESCO, co-Chair of the National Research and Innovation Alliance, and a Visiting Fellow at the ANU Centre for the Public Awareness of Science.
Ms Walker joins 2019 Superstar of STEM Iona Novak; Superstar Mentors Lee De Winton and Shirley Chowdhary; and many other inspiring leaders across a range of sectors.
