To celebrate 2025 National Science Week (9 – 17 August ), Matthew Flinders Anglican College hosted its fifth annual Flinders Inspiring Women in Science and Health conference (I-WiSH) conference on Tuesday, 12 August.
The 2025 I-WiSH conference connected 95 students with 10 leading female researchers and scientists who shared their work on cutting-edge, world-class doctoral projects and discoveries in Health-Related Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (HeR-STEM) fields.
The aim of I-WiSH is to explicitly identify, empower and nurture a pipeline of talented women and girls in HeR-STEM.
Research reveals there is still more to do before Australian girls and women have an equal opportunity to learn, work and engage in STEM, with the 2024 State of Gender Equity Report revealing that girls continue to make up only one quarter of Year 12 enrolments in information technology, physics and engineering subjects.
The 95 girls participating in I-WiSH included 75 students from Matthew Flinders Anglican College and 20 from nearby schools specially invited by Flinders: Suncoast Christian College, James Nash State High School, Coolum Beach State High and Meridan State College.
The I-WiSH conference agenda included keynote speeches by guest female researchers and a three‑hour Change Maker Challenge design sprint, where student teams were challenged to devise an advocacy strategy promoting the social benefits of one research agenda to Australian youth. The teams were made up of Year 10 students, with each team guided by Year 11 student mentors and a guest researcher.
The doctoral projects presented span diverse topics, including mapping dark energy, paediatric nutrition and wellbeing, toxins’ impact on germ cells, coastal ecosystem restoration, countering blue‑screen effects on macular degeneration, and enhancing rationality and decision‑making skills in adolescents, especially in career contexts.
Flinders Launches New Partnership with SCHI
The conference was also an opportunity to launch a new partnership between Flinders and the Sunshine Coast Health Institute (SCHI).
SCHI and Flinders are determined to support students with a front‑row perspective on critical health challenges, inviting them to witness the power of research-fuelled solutions and empowering them to envision and create a brighter, healthier future.
Learn more in our launch story here.
FLINDERS 2025 I-WISH CONFERENCE: GUEST SPEAKERS AND MENTORS
- Professor Alison Jones, Executive Director of SCHI, a toxicologist and highly-regarded researcher with over 25 years’ clinical experience
- Dr Angela Carberry, Research Program Manager at SCHI and a Matthew Flinders Anglican College alumna
- Dr Emma Beckman, Associate Professor in Exercise and Sport Science, University of Queensland (UQ) and Para Sport High Performance Manager at the Queensland Academy of Sport
- Narise Williams, Astrophysics PhD Candidate, UQ
- Dr Taylor Dick, Associate Professor, School of Biomedical Sciences, UQ
- Bec Hall, PhD Student, Centre for Water and Environmental Biotechnology, UQ
- Dr Melissa Reichelt, Senior Lecturer, Physiology, UQ
- Ghassani Swaryandini, Clinical Psychology PhD candidate, School of Psychology, UQ
- Dr Dominique Potvin, Associate Professor, School of Science, Technology and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast
- Dr Larisa Labzin, Group Leader at the Institute of Molecular Bioscience (IMB, UQ) and ARC Future Fellow
Flinders Shares its I-WiSH Conference Model with a National Audience
Since the Flinders Discovery Institute launched the I-WiSH conference in 2021 it has grown and flourished through a national franchise-style model, providing a myriad of benefits to students and the wider education community.
Principal Michelle Carroll said, “Australia needs more women leaders in science and research, and that’s been a key driver for I-WiSH over the past five years, with the event inspiring more than 300 girls in the HeR-STEM fields.
“Flinders also seeks to share resources and learnings with other schools to make a wider impact, so we’ve developed I-WiSH into a national franchise-style model,” she said.
“In 2024, we hosted students and leaders from two schools for our I-WiSH conference—Pymble Ladies College in Sydney and St Catherine’s School in Melbourne—and now it’s their turn to inspire girls in their communities.”
In 2025, for the first time, Pymble Ladies' College hosted a Sydney-based I-WiSH event for National Science Week in collaboration with Abbotsleigh School, Wahroonga Adventist School, the San Hospital and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO); and St Catherine’s School hosted a Melbourne-based I-WiSH event, featuring guests from the CSIRO, Baker Institute, Monash Health and Monash University.
Dr Louise McCuaig, Director of the Flinders Discovery Institute, said, “It is truly fabulous to know that our mighty Flinders I-WiSH program is reaching more and more young women in schools. We are grateful to St Catherine’s School and Pymble Ladies College for their commitment and capacity to take our program interstate!”
Each year at Flinders, the I-WiSH conference is hosted by the Flinders Years 11 and 12 students who participated in I-WISH in previous years, providing leadership opportunities and encouraging the students to connect through a passion for science. The senior students mentor the participating Year 10 girls through the creative and funding processes of enacting collective action for advocacy and change.
WHAT THE RESEARCH SAYS
Flinders — along with the schools participating in I-WiSH — is determined to make a positive impact and support more girls to pursue HeR-STEM fields.
The 2024 State of Gender Equity Report revealing the following data:
- Girls continue to make up only one quarter of Year 12 enrolments in information technology, physics and engineering subjects.
- The 2023–24 Youth in STEM survey shows no improvement in girls’ ratings of the importance of STEM knowledge for their employment in future.
- Following the cohort of STEM university graduates from 2011 shows that, in 2021, 31% of women were working in STEM occupations compared to 56% of men.
(See more research by ACER below).
Photos from Flinders 2025 I-WiSH Conference
