15 Dec 2016
Women in Science Parkville Precinct receives $250,000
Women in Science Parkville Precinct (WiSPP) has received a grant of $250,000 to help support and measure the impact of WiSPP’s initiatives to overcome barriers for women to excel and succeed in gaining leadership positions.
WiSPP involves five medical research institutes in the precinct including the Doherty Institute, the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.
The funding is from the Commonwealth Government’s Women in STEM and Entrepreneurship (WISE) grant program, established to address gender equality by increasing women and girls’ participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and entrepreneurship.
WiSPP Doherty Institute representative, Dr Lucy Sullivan said this grant will provide critical resources in order to continue WiSPP’s work aimed at retaining women in scientific careers.
“This funding will be used to extend our current activities, such as holding workshops to develop communications skills, as well as aid in the development of new initiatives such as cross-institutional mentoring programs.”
This was the first round of funding from the $8 million WISE program with almost $4 million spread across 24 projects.
The next phase of WiSPP will see the development of innovative initiatives that aim to shift workplace culture and practices to enable more women to lead and excel in science. Importantly, the initiatives and activities target men and women, vital for progress.
WiSPP has been working in the Parkville precinct for two years and has implemented a range of activities aimed at increasing the retention of women in their science careers and lifting the number of women in senior leadership and decision-making positions.
