Diversity in STEM Review — draft recommendations released

Minister for Industry and Science Ed Husic has welcomed the release of draft recommendations to help improve diversity and inclusion in STEM-related careers.

The recommendations were produced by the Diversity in STEM Review Panel, following a nationwide engagement campaign with people and communities across the country to identify ways to address systemic and structural barriers limiting STEM participation. To accompany the recommendations, the panel has also released an evaluation of existing women-in-STEM programs in the Industry and Science portfolio.

The Australian Academy of Science had proposed to the panel that the review build on the Women in STEM Decadal Plan and its recommendations to take a whole-of-STEM sector approach. The draft review report did indeed acknowledge the impacts of measures that are a direct result of the recommendations in the Women in STEM Decadal Plan, including the establishment of the STEM Equity Monitor; the Evaluation and Program Implementation tools developed by the Women in STEM Ambassador; and the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering’s Diversity & Inclusion Toolkit for small and medium enterprises.

“We have learned much from our work on the Women in STEM Decadal Plan,” said Academy President Professor Chennupati Jagadish. “The academy is pleased to see the review adopt a similar focus to all dimensions of diversity on leadership, accountability, evaluation, workplace culture, visibility and education.”

The academy said it supports recommendations to build on the strong foundations and systemic changes enabled by the Women in STEM Ambassador, and to expand Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE) across STEM — including using government funding levers to incentivise transformative and systemic improvements that SAGE accreditation has enabled to date. The academy also calls for the expansion of tools like the STEM Equity Monitor to provide a comprehensive picture of diversity in STEM in Australia and to track progress.

Science & Technology Australia (STA) has meanwhile described the draft recommendations as “a powerful exhortation to stay the course and double down” on proven diversity-driving initiatives with new long-term investments to forge systemic and cultural change. STA has backed draft proposals to create a Diversity in STEM Council, strengthen STEM teaching in schools and tackle job insecurity in STEM research careers, and called for successful women and diversity in STEM initiatives to be granted “significant and sustained funding” over longer time frames to help drive long-term systemic and cultural change.

“It’s so important that we stay the course on proven change-making programs like Superstars of STEM, which sits at the very heart of diversity in the STEM ecosystem as a central resource and talent source that powers a wide array of diversity in STEM programs and initiatives,” said STA CEO Misha Schubert.

“If proven successes like the Superstars of STEM program had government funding scaled up and secured for a whole decade, it would dramatically turbocharge all of the other efforts and proposals to drive systemic and cultural change in STEM workplaces.”

The Superstars of STEM program, designed with a strong intersectionality and diversity framework, has trained over 150 women and non-binary STEM talents to be high-profile expert media commentators in STEM. The review references the success of the program, which has raised the profile of strongly diverse STEM role models and inspired over 65,000 schoolchildren to learn more about STEM.

“Australia needs to build on this success by backing what is working, strengthen coordination across government and complement programs like Superstars of STEM with legislative and policy changes to drive systemic and cultural shifts across society to diversify our future STEM workforce,” Schubert said.

The Chair of the Diversity in STEM Review Panel, Cicada Innovations CEO Sally-Ann Williams, emphasised that “programs alone are not enough” to achieve Australia’s ambitious diversity goals, instead calling for “a truly inclusive STEM ecosystem” whereby “government, industry and community work together to drive both systemic and structural change alongside programs that support and reinforce that change”.

The panel is now seeking further feedback on its recommendations to help increase participation of historically underrepresented groups of people in STEM. The panel will consider all feedback to develop the final report to government later in the year, and is keen to receive examples of successful initiatives and evidence or data on effective approaches to improve diversity and inclusion. Consultation closes on 8 September.

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