Increasing gender equity in a traditionally male-dominated industry: Inaugural recipient of the Jemena Industry Leader Scholarship announced

Monash University student Bianca Poort has been awarded the inaugural Jemena Industry Leader Scholarship.

The scholarship, which is a five-year partnership between Jemena and Monash University, sees an annual scholarship awarded to a Monash University woman engineering student and is aimed at attracting the next generation of engineering talent to a career enabling Australia’s energy transition.

Bianca, 20, is halfway through her Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering degree at Monash University and says that while growing up, she was fascinated by maths and physics.

“When I was younger, I often felt I had completely different interests to other girls in my year level. It was challenging for me as a young girl, and I could not comprehend why it was so hard to fit in.

“I thank Jemena for offering a scholarship that recognises women in STEM. I am very grateful for the assistance it will provide me in reaching my aspirations, one of which holds great importance - inspiring younger students to follow their passions,” she said.

Jemena’s General Manager of Assets & Operations – Electricity, Karl Edwards, said that Jemena would like to see more women pursue a career in electrical engineering and hoped the annual scholarship would play a role in the continued path to gender equity in what has been traditionally a male-dominated industry.

“Sadly the gender gap in our industry remains, with women currently comprising only around 15 percent of graduates in the field of engineering. Across our business, we’re working to improve gender representation, and we are supporting more women to consider a STEM career as part of our approach to diversity and inclusion.

“Electrical engineers have a pivotal role to play in our net-zero future and ensuring we have diverse representation at the table is extremely important. This year, we hired 21 graduates for our 2024 program, and 66 percent of them were women. This is phenomenal given most of our roles are STEM roles,” he said.

Katharine Smith, Alumni Engagement Manager in the Faculty of Engineering at Monash University and convenor of the Women in Engineering mentoring program, said industry support like the Jemena scholarship not only encourages young women to study engineering but also helps them thrive in their careers by forging connections and networks.  

“We firmly believe as a Faculty it’s our responsibility to champion gender equity and give women every opportunity to succeed, and we’re very grateful to Jemena for the ongoing support this scholarship provides.”

The Jemena Industry Leader Scholarship offered by Monash University builds on Jemena’s long-term approach to developing talented individuals who can make a real difference to Australia’s energy transition and create sustainable energy solutions with communities. Learn more: www.jemena.com.au/careers.

The Jemena Industry Leader Scholarship is part of the Monash philanthropic campaign to Change It. For Future Generations.