Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping industries – but what does that mean for women in the workplace?

Women currently represent around 30 per cent of Australia’s ICT workforce. With AI now influencing decisions in hiring, pay and career progression, there’s a growing risk that bias in training datasets could deepen existing inequalities, including the gender pay gap.

This Ada Lovelace Day, the Faculty of IT invites all Monash STEM staff and graduate research to celebrate the achievements of women in STEM. Join us to:

explore how AI is transforming women's work, with insights from leading AI thought leaders in industry and academia
test your knowledge in a fun quiz about trailblazing women in tech throughout history
connect with Monash's STEM community over morning tea.

Agenda

10.45am	Morning tea
11.00am	Welcome address
11.10am	Quiz: Famous women in tech
11.20am	Talk: On Grace Hopper
11.30am	Panel: AI and the future of work for women
12.20pm	Q&A
12.30pm	Morning tea and networking

Meet your host

Professor Judithe Sheard

Professor Judithe (Judy) Sheard has an academic career spanning more than 35 years. She is a former Head of the Caulfield School of Information Technology.

A passionate educator, Judy researches in computing education particularly the areas of educational technology, student learning behaviour, and assessment. She has published extensively, receiving a number of awards, including recently a ‘Best in 25 Years’ award at the Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education conference.

Judy established the Monash Museum of Computing History at Monash University in 2001 and has directed activities for the Museum since this time. In 2017 Judy was named an ACM Distinguished Member for educational contributions to computing.

Meet your panellists

Professor Ann Nicholson

Dean, Faculty of IT

Professor Nicholson graduated with a Bachelor of Science (Hons) and a Master of Science (Computer Science) from the University of Melbourne. In 1988, she was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford, where she completed her doctorate in the Robotics Research Group. She then undertook a postdoc at Brown University before returning to Australia to join Monash.

A globally-esteemed specialist in Bayesian Networks, Professor Nicholson’s research focuses on translational impact and social good, with cross-disciplinary collaborations in epidemiology, medicine, education, environmental science and meteorology. She has published more than 120 peer reviewed papers and co-authored the highly regarded ‘Bayesian Artificial Intelligence’ textbook. Her research has attracted over $12M in research funding, and has resulted in two start-up companies for technology transfer of Bayesian AI.

She is the first woman appointed into her prestigious role of Dean, Faculty of Information Technology at Monash University. She is also a champion for greater Indigenous participation in her faculty and supports many initiatives to bring more girls and women into IT careers.

Dr Carolyn Huston

Principal Research Consultant, CSIRO

Dr Huston is a senior research consultant at CSIRO with a background in statistics who enjoys applying statistical thinking from data design, modelling, reporting on uncertainty etc. to real life problems where results and methods will be used.

She has led multiple projects related to bushfire resilience planning, particularly in the domain of improving electrical network safety. Key achievements include involvement with the Victorian Government Powerline Bushfire Safety Program (PBSP), contributing to numerical methods that guided $750 million of government investment. This investment resulted in an estimated 60% bushfire safety improvement across electrical distribution networks, and improved statistically supported regulation to support operation of new technologies.

Continued work in this area has led to deep expertise in understanding the factors that cause bushfires; prevent or slow bushfires; and understanding and reporting on different aspects of bushfire consequence.

Professor Monica Whitty

Department of Software Systems and Cybersecurity, Faculty of IT

Professor Monica Whitty is a leading expert in human factors in cybersecurity, combining her expertise in psychology and technology.

She has advised the World Economic Forum Cyber Security Centre and served on its Cyber Security Global Futures Committee. Her work has significantly shaped global cybersecurity policy and research, influencing strategies in the UK and Australia to prevent cyber fraud, detect insider threats and combat disinformation.

With over $20 million AUD in research funding, Professor Whitty has led large-scale international projects and authored over 100 articles and five books. Her work on cyber fraud prevention – particularly in romance and investment scams, insider threats and online identities – has earned her international recognition.

Bhagya Maheshi

PhD candidate, Faculty of IT

Bhagya Maheshi is a final year PhD candidate at the Centre for Learning Analytics Monash (CoLAM) at the Faculty of IT. She brings a strong interdisciplinary background spanning engineering, international development, and education.

Her research focuses on improving dialogic feedback processes in higher education through the lens of learning analytics. As part of her doctoral work, she conceptualises Feedback Analytics as a subfield, develops the Dialytics framework, and leads the design and implementation of PolyFeed—a tool that supports students in engaging meaningfully with feedback and enables educators to reflect on their feedback practices.

Bhagya also plays a key role in managing the full project portfolio of PolyFeed, drawing on her prior experience in project and portfolio management. She has worked with national and international organisations such as UNESCAP and UNDP, and previously held academic roles at the University of Ruhuna. Her perspective as a researcher-practitioner brings a unique voice to discussions on data-informed teaching and feedback in higher education.