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For our final Inspiring Women in STEM Breakfast of the year, we’ll be hosting a panel discussion on how challenging the status quo empowers you to unlock and achieve your optimal potential so that you can thrive in life and empower career success in a way that’s meaningful to you.
Our panelists will share how they unlocked their own individual potential to pursue their passion, build a rewarding career, live life inspired and create the positive change they want to see in the world we live in.
They will tackle why it’s important to challenge the status quo and establish new mindsets and beliefs that inspire self-confidence and support your success in a relevant and meaningful way. They will share insights and experiences for overcoming key challenges women face that impacts their career development or holds them back from pursuing their passion or creating positive change to influence the future.
We’ll also explore how unlocking our own individual potential strengthens the potential and collective impact of women in the STEM community. Because together we are stronger.
Meet our inspiring panel of speakers
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Ruth Harrison
Known as Rocket Woman, Ruth is an Aerospace Engineer, recruitment professional, passionate Women in STEM advocate, aviation and space technology enthusiast and a connector of people.
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Fiona Holmstrom
Fiona is the Co-Founder and Director of STEM Punks and is on a mission to make Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education gender-inclusive and readily accessible. She is the 2021 winner of the Sue Wickenden Excellence in STEM award at this year's WiT Awards.
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Professor Peta Ashworth OAM
Professor Peta Ashworth OAM is the Director of the Andrew N. Liveris Academy for Innovation and Leadership, and Chair in Sustainable Energy Futures at the University of Queensland.
Professor Ashworth is a globally-recognised expert in the energy field and for almost two decades has been researching public attitudes towards climate and sustainable energy technologies.
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Kelly Wilkes
After travelling extensively in her youth, Kelly has spent the last 25 years working in a variety of roles across IT, Project Management, Operations and Marketing in Australia, Sri Lanka, Africa, Europe and the US.
Currently the Head of People and Culture for MOQdigital, Kelly applies what she has learnt from all these diverse roles to understand people and enable them to realise their full potential.
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About WiT's Inspiring Women in STEM Breakfast Series
The WiT Inspiring Women in STEM Breakfast Series invites you to breakfast with some of our leading women working in STEM industries. Be inspired and motivated by the achievements and contributions they have made and how they have paved the way for women in STEM. These inspiring women will talk about their career journeys, the hurdles and challenges they have overcome and the foundations they have laid for a more diverse and flexible future for our STEM community.
Your ticket includes:
- The opportunity to network with attendees from 7:15-7:45am
- Tea, coffee and a light breakfast will be served during the networking time
- Inspiring discussions and insights from our panel of speakers
This event is proudly sponsored by ASG Group.
Speaker bios
Ruth Harrison
Ruth started Rocket Woman to help address the lack of diversity within engineering careers by helping women return to and pivot into careers in aviation/space, defence, engineering, and STEM.
Ruth is a member of the Women in Aviation/Aerospace Australia QLD and Diversity Practitioners Association committees and wants to bring gender equity to STEM sooner rather than later by taking direct action. Through Rocket Woman, Ruth advises companies on diversity programs, employment branding, recruitment, and retention programs. She also provides career coaching advice for mid-career professionals and those looking to return to work force after time away.
Ruth is a champion of mature age internships and return to work programs supporting women into non-tradition roles. She is also a writer for SpaceAustralia.com, covering industry and research topics across Queensland and the Northern Territories. Ruth is currently studying a Masters in Space Operations and is passionate about bringing diversity to the burgeoning Australian Space Industry.
Fiona Holmstrom
Fiona Holmstrom started STEM Punks in her garage in 2017 driven by her search for leading education systems to suit her own children and their development. Today, STEM Punks is a world-leading STEM education program for students and teachers in primary and secondary schools. Driven by the philosophy that STEM Education should be accessible and inclusive for everyone, STEM Punks mission is to “Inspire Tomorrow’s Innovators” and teach children about 21st Century Skills by enabling a mindset of Creativity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship.
Fiona’s own personal mission is to see more girls enter STEM fields. She supports a project for girls’ digital literacy in Northern Ghana, and closer to home is offering scholarships for underrepresented minority groups in Queensland to access world-leading STEM education for free. Fiona publishes “Future Learning” magazine for STEM Punks which goes into over 9000 schools around the world.
Fiona won the Sue Wickenden Excellence in STEM Award at this year's WiT Awards and her mission to make STEM Education more accessible has also been recognised by the AusMumpreneur Awards where she won Gold in the Making a Difference in Education category in 2020. She is also a recipient of the 2021 Queensland Women in STEM Prize.
Professor Peta Ashworth
Professor Peta Ashworth OAM is the Director of the Andrew N. Liveris Academy for Innovation and Leadership, and Chair in Sustainable Energy Futures at the University of Queensland (UQ).
She’s a globally recognised expert in the field of energy and her contributions to the field of sustainable energy include leading the social science research program of the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute, as well as working alongside Australia’s Chief Scientist in the development of Australia’s National Hydrogen Strategy.
In recognition of her service to science, Peta was awarded an Order of Australia Medal in 2019.
Peta brings over thirty years of experience working in a range of senior management and research roles. Prior to joining UQ in 2016, Peta worked as a consultant to industry, as Research Group Leader at CSIRO, and in senior executive roles for the Body Shop.
