Bisalloy Steel : begins local Industry Partnership with the launch of ‘LIFT’.

Bisalloy Steels congratulates iAccelerate for officially launching 'LIFT' for 2024 to support #WomenInSTEM

Last week, iAccelerate welcomed federal member of Cunningham Alison Byrnes MP, UOW VC Patricia Davidson and the Minister for Industry and Science Ed Husic to help launch the 'LIFT' program for 2024.

Bisalloy Steels is proud to be an industry partner alongside UOW, iAccelerate and other regional industry partners from the wider community to play our part in assisting the professional development of young women in STEM.

According to the 2022 STEM Equity Monitor prepared by the Department of Industry, Science and Resources, women make up 36 per cent of enrolments in university science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) courses and comprise only 27 per cent of the workforce across all STEM industries.

To boost women's participation and leadership in STEM and entrepreneurship (STEM-E), the Australian Government has established the Women in STEM and Entrepreneurship grants, in which UOW successfully secured funds for the LIFT internship. The three-way (Academia-Industry-Community) partnership is focused on helping #WomenInSTEM bring their ideas and community initiatives to life.

Durga Tandon, a current PhD student in the ARC Steel Research Hub, has been rewarded with an Industry Internship through iAccelerate's LIFT initiative. During the launch event, she highlighted how the program has already helped her grow as a working professional.

"The best part of the program for me was the unique collaborative learning environment bringing together students and professionals from industries, communities, academics as well as businesses into a single learning platform." Durga told those in attendance.

Durga Tandon speaking to the attendees on the day.

"This significantly boosted my confidence and reinforced the notion that continuous learning applies to everyone regardless of professional success. So I am hoping to get some technical skills, especially steel-faced transformation during heating and cooling cycles. This experience I hope will help me comprehend the significance & impact of my current PhD research work which revolves around the innovation of steel products."

Minister for Industry and Science Ed Husic stressed the importance of such initiatives and why empowering women in STEM and entrepreneurship through the LIFT initiative is so important.

"With only 15% of STEM-qualified occupations held by women, we simply can't have artificial barriers holding people back from helping sharpen our nation's tech edge to build new and stronger firms." Ed Husic said in a LinkedIn post to summarise the launch event.

Federal Minister for Industry and Science the Hon Ed Husic MP officially launching 'LIFT' for 2024.

"At the launch, we heard first-hand experiences of how the Uni and industry were working together in the Illawarra to identify and open up opportunities in STEM careers for women or helping them grow their businesses. We need to see more of this happening!"

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2024 | LIFT 2024 launched to boost women's participation in STEM and entrepreneurship - University of Wollongong - UOW