Women in Science Project

This project, through collaboration between three strategic partners, the Federation of Scientific and Technological Association, the Bio21 Cluster and the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, will build on the existing research to:

• extend understanding of gendered career paths in science outside the academy in two strategically significant fields – biomedical research and chemistry related industries;
• extend understanding of critical career transitions;
• produce a body of Australian data that will allow international benchmarking;
• provide data and strategies for industry to inform workforce planning and for FASTS to inform policy making.

The project aims to generate new knowledge of women’s career trajectories and the organizational cultures and practices that will sustain their contribution to the scientific research workforce in Australia.

The project will do this through:

• interrogation of existing large datasets to obtain new information, especially age/gender correlations to ascertain patterns of change and mobility over time.
• detailed industry surveys and focus groups to map and track the nature of scientific career paths of women and men in biomedical research and chemistry related industry. Following comparable major US studies, the research will focus on non-traditional career paths and patterns of mobility and transferability of knowledge and skills between the academy, the public sector and industry.
• building and refining a ‘Diversity Advantage Toolkit’ for developing and sustaining diversity, designed to be transferable across professional and industry boundaries, and
• establishing new empirical and conceptual foundations for the business case for linking diversity and innovation through better understanding the pathways and motivations of women in science.

For more information, you can visit the project's website here.

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