Let’s talk solutions

About

Since sharing our Dialogue Starter in March 2023 we’ve heard from a range of people about the barriers and challenges they face in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). This includes the fact that the acronym STEM can be a barrier itself, with some relevant people not identifying as a STEM professional.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed so far. Key themes emerging include:

leadership, accountability, governance and inclusive cultures are crucial for creating positive change
the power dynamics involved in representation, engagement and decision-making were discussed as both barriers and opportunities
responses delved into how to interpret ‘STEM’ and why it’s important to have diversity and inclusion
responses also highlighted that evidence and data must underpin action.

We’ve also already had suggestions come through for how we can increase diversity and inclusion in STEM.

We have provided a snapshot below to share more of what people are saying.

New questions to continue the conversation

We’re keen to hear from you again and we invite you to share your solutions for how we can increase diversity and inclusion in STEM.

We want to hear about what’s working now and what can be improved in the future. You can do this by answering the following questions.

Note: if you haven’t already answered questions in the Dialogue Starter you can answer these as well as the new questions below when you make a submission.

1. What solutions will increase diversity and inclusion in STEM?

2. How can efforts to increase diversity and inclusion in STEM be better and have more impact in future?

3. What would you like to come out of this Review?

4. Is there anything else you’d like to tell us?

We’ve gained some great insights from people eager to improve diversity and inclusion in STEM.

Find out what’s being said so far.

Respondents have highlighted leadership, accountability, governance and inclusive cultures as crucial for creating positive change.

“If we can get systemic changes in that give us more levers, then I don't have to fight to create every single one of those myself.”
- Professor Kat Faulkner

“Think about how the experiences that we have shared have been similar to, or differed from, your experiences, and how other people’s experiences are different again. Think about how you might have contributed, knowingly, or unknowingly to the environment or the stereotypes we are describing.”
- Margaret

“… we recommend serious consideration is given to STEMM leadership, the criteria applied by organisations in appointing leaders: ongoing education and support of STEMM leaders in matters relating to gender, equality, diversity and inclusion; and more robust accountability measures to track performance on gender equality and diversity measure.”
- Professors Denise Cuthbert, Kay Latham, Nicola Henry, Associate Professors Robyn Barnacle, Ceridwen Spark, Dr Leul Sidelil

“Technology can help overcome some of the need to be working in a lab from 7 am, or till late at night, which is often how things are in lab work…The requirement to be in an office from 8:30 - 5:00 is a cultural shift, but in Science, people are very conservative compared to other disciplines so are often reluctant to change and shift their expectations.”
- Anonymous

“In industry, I've personally experienced and witnessed obvious gender and cultural bias when it comes to both hiring and promoting employees. Toxic working environments, biased language during recruitment (both external and internal) and lack of appropriate HR policies is one of the fundamental reasons I left the mining industry to start my own tech business.”
- Jo Minney

“While there is a still a lot of work to be done to continue to drive change, to capitalise on diversity, and to create a culture of inclusion, the embedding of the SAGE program as business as usual is an important marker of the commitment to GEDI [gender equity, diversity and inclusion] in STEMM and beyond.”
- Anonymous

“But the most significant place where there's been progress is the fact that diversity and inclusion is being seen now as a legitimate business conversation and worthy of the time and the commitment of the leaders of Australia's biggest institutions and worthy of resourcing and worthy of a broader commitment. Now that's not universal across the economy, but that didn't exist when I started in this space.”
- Lisa Annese

Power dynamics involved in representation, engagement and decision-making have been discussed as both barriers and opportunities.

“The best way that these barriers can be addressed is by increasing awareness through discussion and interaction with both neurodivergent and neurotypical people.”
- Anonymous

“There is a lack of resources available to students in remote and regional areas and targeted programs…helped to even the playing field and allow those students to identify and develop their own capability in STEM and be able to compete with their better resourced peers.”
- Australian Science Innovations

“… since becoming part of the transgender community, I’ve come to see a wide array of transgender individuals engaging in STEM activities on a daily basis. Every single one of these people has a story that is fascinating, the kind of story that if I’d heard growing up might have made all the difference in letting me know I wasn’t alone and potentially changed my life and career trajectory. I do not regret where my path in life has taken me, however I acknowledge that I have also experienced much privilege that is often denied many transgender and gender diverse folk. It is for them, and the children of tomorrow that we stand up and show our support for them.”

“You can't be what you can't see. So through meeting Mik, seeing how deadly she is and what she is doing and this amazing space and, you know, she obviously has that technical brain as well. … this amazing really complicated work that she's doing in terms of embedding Indigenous knowledge into these complex digital systems. That's when I was like, I want to do that. And so when there's more representation and more visible representation, like seeing what Indigital does, their work speaks to young mob.
This is what I look at a lot in my research is algorithmic bias, for example, people yarn on about how algorithms are objective but they're not objective, they're based on values that are embedded by the software developers. The majority of these software developers are men, if all of them are men they they're going to be embedded with gender biases. We also know that algorithms are embedded with racial biases, that's a huge issue as well… I don't think the solution is just through more representation. There needs to be a little bit more of a dismantling of the current power dynamics that exist there.”
- Peta-Anne Toohey

“People with disabilities are one of the most underrepresented people in the medical profession. To build a representative medical workforce, colleges need to do better and establish supportive policies for prospective students.
Integrating people with disabilities into the medical workforce will be transformational in reversing the negative attitudes society holds about us. Representation is so important and medical colleges have the opportunity to make real, impactful change here.”
- Anonymous

“… but we've really built a bridge for science in this country and STEM from Indigenous people to known Indigenous people, like when the fact that our kids, when they describe a scientist, they describe Thomas Edison or Albert Einstein. But now they're talking about David and they're talking about Mikaela. They're talking about Kirsten Banks.”
Corey Tutt OAM

Responses have delved into how to interpret ‘STEM’ and why it’s important to have diversity and inclusion.

“Science is a deeply human endeavour, it is the story of how we have tried to understand ourselves and the world around us…diversity is really about justice, democracy and equity. Is everyone going to get a chance, or will your fate be dictated largely by the lottery of birth?”
- Anonymous

“Australia is a melting pot of cultures, diversity, capability and capital…”
- Dr Astha Singh

“STEM professionals not only include those who research, invent, innovate, produce and use technology but also those who develop policy and governance, commercialise, market and communicate its benefits.”
- Kath Smith

“The school and university sectors have predominantly been the focus of efforts to drive participation in STEM, however, the vocational education and training sector can and does contribute to the development of STEM skills.”
- Ai Group

“The Diversity in STEM review is an opportunity to widen the focus from women to include other underrepresented groups, who experience both similar and unique barriers to career progression, and to consolidate these efforts to reduce the burden on the sector to continue to champion these initiatives in a fragmented fashion.”
- The Australian Academy of Technological Sciences & Engineering

“Because I see people who get to the age of 40 to 50 and still have a lot of things to give, but are either made redundant or they can't see their way staying in the situation they're in.”
- Professor Lyn Beazley AO

“If issues of intersectionality in STEM programs and initiatives are not addressed, many talented and diverse people will not be supported to achieve, advance, and succeed in STEM and Australia will have failed to realise the full potential of existing investments in STEM diversity programs and initiatives.”
- The Australian Academy of Technological Sciences & Engineering

“I think we need to promote these types of things to young people considering STEM.
STEM is about discovery, excitement, passion, connection, collaboration, global doors opening, solving real world problems. It's not about introverted people working in isolation day in, day out in lab coats and glasses which sadly is probably still what most people think about when they think about scientists.”
- Anonymous

“…not just for First Nations people but for a lot of people they don't recognise that they probably do play a role in STEM, because as a woman in STEM you think that you need to be a software designer or mathematician or whatever it may be, and if you don't have that kind of technical capacity, then maybe you don't fit in that basket.… but I still think it's really important to think wherever you start your journey, it's probably important to feel more included in that community.”
- Peta-Anne Toohey

Responses highlighted that evidence and data must
underpin action.

“We still give money to non-Indigenous organisations to work in this space, despite the fact we have Aboriginal people that work in this space. That does not have the same impact because one, they're not Aboriginal, they don't understand community, they don't understand how our kids think, and it just perpetuates.
We can't build self-determination in our communities if the money continues to go through to non-Indigenous organisations, yes, they hire Aboriginal people. That is great. But if we really wanna breed reconciliation and build self-determination into our communities, we need to support Aboriginal-run businesses instead of supporting the same old people that don't get the results.”
- Corey Tutt OAM

“It's really important to have community-based research because that’s what where we're going to understand social issues best. From a research perspective, these types of qualitative data are really important. You can survey and use census and all of that stuff and that is also very important types of data, but you really get to hear people's perspectives from qualitative data collection, and you get to hear people's tensions and their frustrations. And this stuff is really important too. I feel like it’s evoking change as well because it's personal, right? We’re personally affected by these types of systems and our frustrations with trying to change them as well.“
- Peta-Anne Toohey

“The PhD stipend has always been low in Australia but with the sharp rise in inflation
and cost of living in recent years, the base PhD stipend rate is now 10% below the Melbourne Institute estimated poverty line.... The PhD base stipend is currently the lowest it has been in comparison to the poverty line since records became available in 1985.”
- Danielle Udy

“We tried to role model a best practice approach because what I've often seen when research projects happen, you've got the group that's doing the research and writing the report, and they are consulting widely, but they're not centring voice in the design, and the methodology and in the nature of the questions…
“You've got to be part of the group, but you have to have expertise as well. And that dual combination was, is critical for us when we do our work and it guides our work. So I would recommend to you in doing this work to make sure if you have an expert panel of people who represent the different diversity dimensions that you're trying to look at…
“But our approach is evidence led and the reason that's important is because that's the only effective way of creating change.“
- Lisa Annese

“We can still see the same structural inequalities, we can still say that we live in a patriarchal society and that women are hard done by and that the society we live in is a Eurocentric society where non-western populations do really poorly in that society, we can do that again or we can change it by having diversity…I can only speak from the perspective of a First Nations person, and we can move towards a technological system that actually honours self-determination, that actually honours sovereignty, that actually places Indigenous governance as a priority in these systems and that has massive impacts to community.”
- Peta-Anne Toohey

Next steps along the pathway to diversity
and inclusion

Responses so far show diversity in STEM challenges are big, complex and often deeply embedded – and systemic and cultural changes are needed to create change. Responses to the new consultation questions will help us learn more about:

existing methods you find effective or impactful
how these might be applied more broadly
how we might do things differently.

We need to hear from as many different people and groups as possible, because greater diversity and inclusion means better outcomes for everyone. The independent Diversity in STEM Review Panel looks forward to receiving submissions from both individuals and organisations. Your stories and perspectives will give us valuable insights and a greater understanding on how change can be made across the wider STEM system.

Find out more about our next steps.

Diversity in STEM Review: let's talk solutions