Diversity of Australia’s technology professionals is essential for the development of innovations that meet the needs of everyone in our community. It will enable the advancement of global knowledge, and to strongly position Australia in global technology markets.
Diversity in technology education and industry has remained low, despite many initiatives over 20 years. Universities have recognised that isolated, short term initiatives are not enough to overcome systemic barriers.
Work within universities to date has often relied on volunteerism by motivated individuals, many trying to overcome the same barriers themselves. Progress has also been slowed by low engagement from decision makers with the resources to enact change, a gap in large-scale collaboration, and a lack of data gathering, reporting and sharing on the state of diversity and success of activities.
Universities sit in the middle of the pipeline from K-12 education and industry. We are taking the lead, collaborating within the university sector and with leaders in industry, to bring about sustainable and lasting change. We will broaden the pipeline through a systemic, collaborative approach.
Our Plan
IDEATE educates, equips and enables universities to lead systemic change to increase diversity in technology education and careers in Australia.
IDEATE is inspired by the BRAID program (Building, Recruiting And Inclusion for Diversity).
IDEATE aims to be a self-sustaining ongoing program, funded by university and industry partners, with measurable outcomes:
- Annual summit to share success stories and lessons learned, and to work together on solutions to shared challenges.
- A comprehensive online resource to support Australian universities in meeting their commitments.
- Published and publicly available research on the state of diversity in Australian technology education.
Steering Committee
Chair – Professor Penny Kyburz (Australian National University)
Professor Abelardo Pardo (University of Adelaide)
Dr Mitchell McEwan (Macquarie University)
Dr Renata Borovica-Gajic (University of Melbourne)
Professor Karin Verspoor (RMIT)
Associate Professor Helen Lu (University of Technology Sydney)
Professor Rashina Hoda (Monash University)
Dr Cat Kutay (Charles Darwin University)
Professor Katrina Falkner (University of Adelaide)
Marie Efstathiou (Google)
Sally-Ann Williams (Cicada Innovations)
Program Director
Emma Davidson