International Women's Day 2024

• Dr Mahsa Baktashmotlagh for Future Fellowship success with the project ‘Rethinking Topological Persistence’ to address the lack of transferability and uncertainty-awareness in AI models.
• Susan Beetson (2023 First Nations Change Maker Award), a finalist for this year’s Women in Technology awards.
• Dr Marie Boden for her nomination for the 2023 LeadHers awards (in the Community category) and her contributions to student outreach.
• Dr Saskia Bollman for her work with NeuroDesk and for receiving an ECR Philanthropic grant on Characterising Vascular Influences for the Interpretation of Functional MRI.
• Dr Liz Brogden, a climate action leader in architecture and recipient of a Churchill Fellowship
• Shina Chen was successful with her student-staff partnership looking at “Empowering Women in Engineering: Dispelling Misconceptions and Promoting Inclusivity”
• Associate Professor Jen Jen Chung was named one of the 50 Women in Robotics that you need to know about.
• Dr Sarah Costanza's pivotal role in the SMART CRC is forging robust collaborations with cross-functional teams.
• Elizabeth Delgado Alcantarino provided invaluable support and leadership during the transition between Centre Directors, and for driving multiple well-being initiatives in the Centre – a critical part of building a high-performance, team culture.
• Arabella Dow was the Valedictorian speaker at the Civil Engineering Graduation ceremony
• Professor Rebecca Gravina as sole CI has brought new collaboration to the School of Civil Engineering in the SmartCrete CRC, leading a large four-year project in the CRC.
• Dr Kelly Greenop, Carroll Go-Sam and Dr Kali Marnane worked on a project (The Future of Housing and Urban Design on Gununa) for the UQ/SLQ Purpose Built Exhibition
• Professor Helen Huang (and Associate Professor Sen Wang) for the successful $5M funding of the ARC Training Centre in Predictive Breeding for Agricultural Futures. Professor Huang has also been awarded a 2023 AI 2000 Most Influential Scholar Honorable Mention in Multimedia; ranked as the top 62 (worldwide) in the field of Multimedia.
• Sharon James, for contributing to the ACWEB’s world-leading international profile, building IWES as a sustainable and high-impact CPD business and organising multiple research conferences.
• Associate Professor Ruth Knibbe leadership of the EAIT Academic Women’s Network stands as a testament to her dedication and vision of equity, diversity, and inclusion in academia.
• Dr Eloise Larsen, for her organisational leadership of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Green Electrochemical Transformation of Carbon Dioxide (GETCO2) and the International Symposium on Green Transformation of Carbon Dioxide (ISGTCO2).
• Associate Professor Paola Leardini is part of an award-winning Urban Design Challenge team awarded AAUT Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning.
• Dr Yadan Luo, Mr Zijian Wang and Dr Mahsa Baktash have three papers accepted by ICCV 2023 (International Conference on Computer Vision) - one of the flagship conferences in the research area of computer vision, with enormous submissions and a very low acceptance rate.
• Dr Silvia Micheli is the co-curator of the forthcoming exhibition on the work of AIA gold medallist Enrico Taglietti, in partnership with the Canberra Museum and Gallery.
• Dr Julie Pearce’s ARC Industry Fellowship award had an ~8% success rate – a testament to her commitment to reporting great science and collaborating across disciplines, building relationships and trust.
• Associate Professor Dorina Pojani received a READ Fellowship to focus on transport gender barriers in peripheral, post-industrial neighbourhoods.
• Dr Lisa Pope for her tireless work on the ARC Training Centre for Bioplastics and Biocomposites.
• Associate Professor Pauline Pounds for her approach to teaching and working collaboratively, and the strides she's been making in the field of walking robots.
• (Soon-to-be-Dr) Natascha Rossi for demonstrating capabilities in progressing from PhD to emerging academic (including teaching), developing strong industry linkages in managing a remote field site, and mentoring junior PhD students, particularly in the drinking water group.
• Professor Shazia Sadiq for leading the Rapid Response Information Report Generative AI: Language models and multimodal foundation models 24 March 2023 (Australia’s Chief Scientist)
• Shiwei (Caroline) Tao for leading a provision patent for the development of flexible batteries. 
• Dr Denys Villa Gomez is a CI in the ARC Training Centre on Critical Resources for the Future
• Associate Professor Kathy Witt has contributed to and led key work streams for the Centre for Natural Gas, collaborating across future fuels, and renewable energy developments. She is also a Faculty Research Integrity Advisor.
• Steph Wyeth is working with Zonta on women’s safety in Brisbane, including undertaking safety walks at night.
• Dr Dan Yuan received an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award for her project Deciphering the mechanisms of object manipulation with viscoelastic fluids. She also contributed to the redesign of the Faculty Research Awards.

Awards

• Julia Cepon received the Thiess Prize (the top prize in the School of Civil Engineering) 
• Emily Cooper won both People’s Choice and First Prize at the UQ 3MT Final, with her presentation “The best mattress is a zinc mattress.” She went on to represent UQ at the Asia Pacific Finals. 
• Associate Professor Joy Wolfram was runner-up in the 2023 Letten Prize. The international prize celebrates young researchers’ commitment towards solving global human development challenges.

UQ Excellence Awards

• Karen Perkins

EAIT Staff Excellence Award Winners

• Sarah Flett, Kristen Pavasovic, Kimberley Nunes, Ruth Knibbe, Miao Xu, Gilda Carvalho, Whitney Jeffery, Steph Ranson, Rachael Woodman, Eleonore Bolle, Ilze Donderwinkel, Becca Forster, Gloria Milena Monsalve Bravo, Vanessa Santiago, Helen Lambe, Ingrid Chan

EAIT Research Awards 

• Dr Fernanda Ribeiro, Thuy Dao, Xincheng Ye, Dr Yadan Luo, Dr Haijiao Lu

Why is diversity important?

“It is very important these achievements are celebrated to highlight that the School and Academy is stronger for investing in the diverse expertise and leadership styles that our female staff and students bring to our community.  This celebration will both honour those staff and alumni and assist in accelerating the careers of all the female members of the School and Faculty”.    

Professor Tom Baldock
Civil Engineering 

“Investing in women in EAIT lights the spark of endless possibilities, driving innovation and shaping a more inclusive and prosperous future for our Faculty.” 

Professor Ross McAree 
Mechanical and Mining Engineering 

The Centre for Natural Gas collaborates closely with industry sectors that are traditionally male-dominated. Investing in women staff and leaders is key to addressing the status quo and helping achieve truly diverse and inclusive teams and workplaces. The Centre aims to understand and support the aspirations of its female professional and research staff, encourage opportunities that can broaden their internal and external standing in the workplace, and pursue leadership opportunities – we believe investing in women in this way is a key step in improving opportunity and, ultimately, diversity and representation.

Centre for Natural Gas Leadership Team

ACWEB recognises and supports our women researchers, and we are tremendously proud that many present and former female team members are in senior academic, industrial, and governmental positions at UQ, across Australia, and internationally. They continue to be an integral part of our success.

The Australian Centre for Water and Environmental Biotechnology 

When women succeed in EECS, they become role models for future generations. Their achievements inspire young girls to pursue STEM careers, creating a positive cycle of empowerment and growth. 

School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
 

*Banner image credit - Javeria Bashir (PhD candidate) "Mesoporous gold nanoparticles to use in biosensing devices for example for early cancer diagnosis."