LUMEN Summer 2019 - Flipbook - Page 22
“I think we’re making progress, but
ultimately 'you can’t be what you can’t
see' is a very powerful statement.”
“While I can give you scientific
highlights – and you can’t stop me once
I get started – the thing I am most proud
of is just how the teams and leaders
within those teams are flourishing.”
Up until her appointment as Chief
Defence Scientist at Defence, Science
and Technology (DST) earlier this year,
Tanya was Deputy Vice-Chancellor
of Research and Innovation at the
University of South Australia.
Tanya was also the University of
Adelaide’s first female physics professor
and has a trail of accolades to her name
including the Prime Minister's Malcolm
McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of
the Year, South Australian Scientist of the
Year and the Eureka Prize for Excellence
in Interdisciplinary Scientific Research,
to name a few.
As the first female Chief Defence
Scientist, Tanya is a strong supporter
of programs and research to improve
gender equality in science, technology,
engineering and mathematics (STEM) in
the higher education and research sectors,
including the Science in Australia Gender
Equity Initiative.
“At the moment it's clear there's a very
leaky pipeline for women, both in STEM
and in senior roles in academia.
“We still don't have enough girls or boys
doing high-level maths, but it's still starkly
more male than female,” she said.
Tanya says that if you look at the data, it’s
personality attributes, personal choices and
the environment that women find themselves
in that causes them to ‘opt out’.
“Essentially what happens in the
Australian university context, particularly
in STEM, is that women who stay to
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THE UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE
become professors, and then go into
senior roles, are disproportionally those
who are resilient, stubborn and tenacious.
“We need to use data and evidence to really
hold ourselves accountable to what we do,
to make sure that the ability to contribute
and talent are what dictates whether
people are in senior roles,” she said.
“I think we’re making progress, but
ultimately 'you can’t be what you can’t
see' is a very powerful statement.”
Producing science around impact and
creating new knowledge that can be
translated to solutions, Tanya says, is a
real “hallmark of her career.”
“What I’ve put forward is the view that if
you put in the effort to deeply understand
problems other people face, whether that
be in policy, in government, whatever
the problem area, the questions you ask
in your research become fundamentally
different,” she said.
“So it's not just a matter of saying, ‘leave
me in my tower and I’ll do worthy things
and others can figure out how to apply
them’, it's about saying, ‘let's have the
questions, that curiosity and creativity,
but shaped by a deep understanding of
what's needed’.”
While DST has the pre-eminent role
of developing scientific and technology
research solutions to safeguard
Australia’s interests, Tanya says her vision
going forward is that “it will only do
this in partnership.”
“For me, it’s a case of being able to reach
out across Australia, reach out to our
universities, to our industries, and try to
co-create the thought leadership, and the
clarity of direction required to make sure
Australia has what it needs to be strong.”
