CSIRO is now accepting applications for the Young Indigenous Women’s STEM Academy, which aims to equip young Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander women seeking to pursue a career in science, technology, engineering, and math.
Managed in partnership with Career Trackers and with backing from the National Indigenous Australians Agency, the Academy is designed to provide each student with individualised support from their dedicated Academic Coordinator.
The program will offer long-term support from Year 8 through to tertiary studies and into STEM careers, delivering a catalogue of STEM camps, extension activities, networking with industry, and academic professionals, and a safe space for exploration of their own cultural journey, CSIRO said in a media release.
Kim Dyball, who manages the Academy, highlighted the institute’s laser-sharp focus on STEM education and efforts to recognise and celebrate Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples as Australia’s first scientists, first engineers, and first mathematicians.
“Academy students are inspired to dream big and create new pathways for themselves. Their Academic Coordinators facilitate journeys by creating local networks, developing peer support, nurturing interests and providing support to access various STEM opportunities,” Dyball said.
The Academy aims to connect young women with Indigenous female STEM professionals, so they can learn from their lived experiences.
“By connecting the young women to other young women with similar interests, they know they are not alone, and it helps them develop a peer support network which will become their professional support network as they build their STEM careers,” said Dyball.
The Academy is an Indigenous co-designed and led program, with 14 of the 17 members of the team identifying as First Nations women, including those in senior leadership roles.
For more information about the Young Indigenous Women’s STEM Academy, visit www.csiro.au.
