Last year, I had the privilege of getting to know Professor Tanya Monro AC, Australia’s Chief Defence Scientist through our shared involvement with the Vincent Fairfax Fellowship in Ethical Leadership. She’s a physicist who is known for her work in photonics but more perhaps more importantly, she’s the one charged with using Science to keep our nation safe from harm. Professor Monro is very clear that, where possible, this means ensuring that Australia has access to the scientific innovation necessary to avoid, avert and/or deter conflict or war…  

Female representation and scientific innovation matter and the inaugural I-Wish Conference at St Catherine’s was an exciting coming together of both. Building on St Catherine’s 2024 cross school collaboration with Dr Louise McCuaig at Matthew Flinders Anglican College, and Dr Sarah Loch at Pymble Ladies’ College, and organised by St Catherine’s Head of Professional Practice Kristy Forrest, we had the pleasure of running our first I-Wish (Inspiring Women in Science and Health!) Conference last Friday as a fitting kick off to Science Week. Here, Year 10 students spent a full day engaging with scientific researchers by translating their doctoral and post-doctoral projects into science advocacy strategies as part of the I-Wish Challenge.

Topics included brain pulse technology, cardiometabolic disease, haematopoiesis, gene editing, blood transfusions and astrophysics. The student advocacy projects were extraordinary, applying the principles of educate, inspire and advocate to communicate research in an accessible manner for a youth audience. They were supported by a team of Year 11 mentors who also MC’d the day. Delivered by eminent researchers Aradana Muthupandian, Dr Naz Karimnia, Rowina Nathan, Dr Shannen Walker, Dr Allison Mo, and St Cath’s old girl Dr Sigrid Petautschnig (’13), these inspiring women shared their life’s work and STEM Health career journeys with our students (and believe me, they are not always linear!) 

Of particular note was Professor Susie Nilsson (’86) who alongside her colleague Associate Professor, Beverly Muhlhausler from CSRIO, led an engaging panel discussion on the important question of demonstrating ethical leadership when leading scientific research. St Catherine’s looks forward to continuing this exciting East Coast collaboration with MFAC and Pymble, with the hope being to bring in students from other girls’ schools in years to come.  

You can’t be what you can’t see and so inviting our girls to engage with and learn from pathfinders like these is a powerful step towards putting them on their own paths, as demonstrated by the high levels of attendance at our hugely successful Careers Expo. Be it subject selection; VCE pathways, tertiary destinations or industry insights, the evening had something for everyone with the most important take-away being to pursue one’s passion…  

Which brings me to our Year 6s who have just come back from visiting the nation’s capital, where they toured the House of Representative, engaged in a mock passing of a Bill in the Senate and learned about Ms. Sam Mostyn’s role at the Governor General’s House. The photos show our girls, enthusiastically engaged with the democratic process and the interplay of ideas, and, as I noted to Dr Kean, let’s hope the next leader of our country is amongst them! 

It is my My-Wish (!) that be it in Science, Politics, Education, Law, the Arts or any domain where St Catherine’s girls find themselves, that they never indulge cynicism or indifference but see instead, their capacity to lead, to innovate, to advocate and ultimately, to find meaning which starts here with us at School.  

And with 100 Days of Prep wrapping up with a special Assembly this afternoon, we’ve got the next generation of St Catherine’s girls, blue ribbons in their hair, right here, right now, taking their first steps towards finding their feet and one day, making their contribution.  

Nil Magnum Nisi Bonum