$9.7 million in funding awarded to strengthen pathways for girls and women in STEM careers

Round 5 of the WiSE program is supporting projects that help reduce barriers for girls and women in STEM education, careers and entrepreneurship.

The following 5 projects have received almost $9.7 million in grant funding in this round:

• The Women in Health and Medical Sciences Inclusive Leadership Mentoring Program supports mid-career women progress into senior leadership. It also equips sector leaders with inclusive leadership skills.
• The Museum of Underwater Art + STEM Changemakers project will connect girls aged 12-18 with local industry, research organisations and community stakeholders across Queensland. It aims to build their capability, confidence and awareness of opportunities across the pathway in STEM.
• The Girls in AI Innovation & Mentorship project will support school-aged girls to participate in STEM entrepreneurship through AI-driven innovation.
• The Girls to Graduates: Enabling and Empowering Women to Success in STEM project will empower girls and women from underrepresented groups. It will help them transition from school to university and into STEM careers through a Students as Partners co-design approach.
• The Champions of Change Engineers Group: An Accelerated Strategy for Disruption will bring together senior leaders from across industry, education and professional bodies. It aims to increase the gender balance across the engineering pipeline through coordinated systems change.

For this round, the Australian Government made changes to the WiSE grants. These changes responded to evaluation feedback and the Pathway to Diversity in STEM Review.

Changes include:

• Extending the project duration for up to 5 years to foster deeper engagement, stronger partnerships and sustainable long-term outcomes. There will be an emphasis on fewer but more substantial projects.
• Raising the minimum grant amount from $500,000 to $1 million and increasing the maximum from $1 million to $2 million. This will allow support for larger-scale, longer-term initiatives that drive systemic change.
• Introducing co-design with the target audience as a criterion in project assessment.
• Increasing support for women at key career transition points, including entry, retention, promotion, career changes and re-entry into the workforce.