Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering to elevate womens leadership in STEM with $41 million grant

Despite her senior position, Associate Professor Sheel said it is often assumed by outsiders that she's working below her male colleagues and her decisions receive greater pushback.

"Even if I'm the lead, if there's a male in the room they'll often turn to them for their views," she said.

The Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering has been named the recipient of a $41.2 million federal government grant announced in the May budget.

The funding will provide up to 500 undergraduate and postgraduate scholarships to women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics over the next seven years.

Associate Professor Sheel said female enrollments in engineering fields were especially low and boosting those numbers would require resources and investment.

"We need a bottom up influx in some of the math, physics, engineering fields, but you also need more unique ways to solve retention problems as well as the higher senior leadership problems," Associate Professor Sheel said.

She said while many of her colleagues are women, men make up the majority of senior roles.

"As we go into leadership positions it becomes very lean and thin and probably less than 5 per cent are women of colour," Associate Professor Sheel said.

The Academy will oversee a program which aims to address gender inequities in STEM through increased women-led collaborations in applied research and business, growing skills of women in STEM and by propelling women into senior leadership.

CEO Kylie Walker said there would likely be a competitive selection process for the hotly contested scholarships.

"Part of the early stages of the project will be to scout out where the greatest needs are for those skills, so not just looking at improving gender equity, but also looking at where does Australia have a growing skills gap in STEM?" she said.

The academy has previously partnered with the Australian Academy of Science to create a 10-year plan for women in STEM and was a co-founder of the Science in Australia Gender Equity Program, which is working with major STEM employers on their gender equity policies, practices and culture, Ms Walker said.

"We're well placed to wrap around the women who receive these scholarships to study and not just send them to university, but provide them with guidance and opportunity and structured programs to be able to segue from uni into successful careers," she said.

Associate Professor Sheel said failing to utilise any highly motivated and capable proportion of the Australia workforce would have significant knock-on effects.

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"Any individual who's choosing a career path in science - whether it's a male or female and independent of what race they come from or which ethnicity or cultural heritage or what their orientation might be - they are motivated to contribute to the sector," she said.

"COVID have shown us what a big shortage there is in this space. We often hear about the doctors and nurses shortage, but there is a huge shortage in other aspects of public health. Women trained in this space have a lot of talent to offer."

Scholarship applications open July 2022.

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