30 years ago, we committed to a global vision for gender equality articulated in the United Nations’ Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Although we’ve made great strides – it’s not enough.

This International Women's Day event aims to foster meaningful, action-oriented discussion around turning promises into progress to support the dignity, development, access and opportunities of women worldwide. What’s in store:

Connect with female Monash alumni across its STEMM facilities – thought leaders who will share their personal journeys, learnings and specialist expertise.
Be inspired by stories of overcoming biases and achieving success in traditionally male-dominated fields.
Network with industry professionals who share your commitment to gender parity.
Contribute to Monash’s support of gender equality, a key focus in its Impact 2030 strategy.

Meet the speakers

	Professor Rashina Hoda\| Information Technology - Moderator Professor of Software Engineering and Associate Dean of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Monash University Rashina Hoda is a Professor of Software Engineering and Associate Dean of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at the Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University. She is an expert in qualitative empirical research and developed Socio-Technical Grounded Theory (STGT), a modern extension of sociological Grounded Theory. With nearly 20 years of experience, she investigates the human and socio-technical aspects of software engineering and artificial intelligence. Rashina has published over 150 research outputs, been awarded over $5M in research funding, received multiple awards including being named the Top Australian Researcher 2025 in Software Systems, and serves as an Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering. A champion for women in STEM and a recipient of the Guiding Star Mentorship award at the Women of Colour in STEM awards, she frequently shares insights at conferences, industry events, and public platforms such as TEDx, SXSW, Agile Australia, ABC News, ABC Radio National, and more, see rashina.com for more.
	Professor Dianna Magliano OAM \| Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences - Speaker Head of Diabetes and Population Health, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, Australia Professor Dianna Magliano has a BAppSci (Hons), PhD, and a Master of Public Health. Professor Magliano has worked for over 20 years in epidemiology, the majority in diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obesity research. Her more recent work involved examining the association between diabetes and cancer using large datasets. With NHMRC project grant funding, she established the ANZ Diabetes and Cancer Collaboration dataset which is a collaboration of 18 Australian cohort studies with the aim to examine the relationship between diabetes, obesity, metabolic syndrome and hypertension and cancer. Her more recent work involves exploring the trends in diabetes incidence, diabetes complications and mortality across the globe and heads a consortium of 24 collaborators to do this work. She has a strong international reputation evidenced by her role as an editor for Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice, the presidency of the International Diabetes Epidemiology Group in 2015–2017 and her position as co-chair to the current edition (10th) of the Diabetes Atlas for the International Diabetes Federation. Professor Magliano has strong epidemiological and biostatistical skills. As the senior epidemiologist of the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study (AusDiab) for over 18 years, she has acquired real life epidemiological training by working directly in the field, conducting epidemiological analyses. In 2017 she was awarded a NHMRC Senior research fellowship and the Australian Jeff flack Diabetes data award from the Australian Diabetes Council and the Michaela Modan award for the best epidemiological abstract from the American Diabetes Association. In 2021, she was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for her work in epidemiology and the International Diabetes Federation Public Health Award. In 2022 she was awarded a NHMRC Investigator Grant Fellowship, level 2. She has a H index of 96, over 74,000 citations and has published over 380 publications and reports. She was recently recognised by being listed in The Australian’s Research Magazine’s top 250 researchers in 2023 and 2024. Professor Magliano was appointed a five-year Alice Baker and Eleanor Shaw Gender Equity Fellow in 2022 and is a strong advocate for gender equity in Australian science. She helped establish and chair the inaugural Gender Equity and Diversity Committee at the Institute in 2014 and has contributed significantly to national efforts to advance diversity in the Australian scientific sector. Professor Magliano spearheaded the Institute’s successful bronze Athena SWAN Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE) award in 2018.
	Sarah Gray \| Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences - Speaker Chief of Health Operations & Innovation, HealthyLife (Woolworths Group) Sarah Gray is a trailblazer in health and wellness, combining her expertise as a registered pharmacist, nutritionist, and Global Executive MBA graduate to drive transformative change in healthcare. Currently, Sarah serves as Chief of Health Operations & Innovation at HealthyLife, the wellness arm of Woolworths Group. She has spearheaded initiatives such as launching telehealth services, developing a world-first nutrition tracker, and driving over 400,000 digital health program signups. Her strategic and innovative leadership has positioned HealthyLife at the forefront of health-focused products and services in Australia. Beyond her corporate role, Sarah is a non-executive director with Moyne Health Services and the Western Region Football League, where she champions mental health, diversity, and inclusivity. She is also the Founder and Head Nutritionist at The Nutrition Pharmacist, providing holistic health solutions. A passionate advocate for empowering teams, Sarah fosters psychological safety and inclusivity, enabling businesses to thrive. As an accomplished leader, mentor, and thought leader, Sarah is shaping the future of health and wellness with her innovative and strategic approach.
	Dr. Priya Subramanian \| Science - Speaker Head of New Product Development, DuluxGroup Dr. Priya Subramanian’s career spans academia, industry, and entrepreneurship. She is currently the Head of New Product Development at DuluxGroup. After earning her PhD at Monash University, Priya joined the Reserve Bank of Australia, where she led advancements in banknote security and accessibility, including tactile features for the vision-impaired. Later, as Senior Manager, she oversaw a global note evaluation program and multimillion-dollar projects across the Asia-Pacific. In 2020, Priya founded ProSquare Solutions, a consultancy for startups and SMEs specializing in grant applications, product development, and commercialization. She later led technical services for adhesives at Henkel across Australia and New Zealand before becoming Research Commercialisation Lead at DuluxGroup, where she drives sustainable solutions and impactful market innovations. As a passionate advocate for gender equality, Priya has made significant strides in fostering inclusivity. At DuluxGroup, she championed gender balance in research portfolios as part of broader diversity initiatives. She also serves on the advisory panel of STEM Sisters, a platform supporting women of colour and immigrants in STEM. Through mentorship and advocacy, Priya empowers women to overcome barriers, build meaningful connections, and transition successfully from academia to industry.
	Rachel Harding \| Engineering - Speaker Technical Director, Rail (Project Delivery), AECOM \| Design Delivery Manager, Northern Package, North East Link Project Rachel is a Technical Director in the Rail (Project Delivery) team at AECOM, with over 20 years of experience. She has successfully delivered some of AECOM’s largest infrastructure projects in Victoria, including the M80 Ring Road Completion (North East Link), the Rail Infrastructure Alliance (Metro Tunnel Project), and Level Crossing Removals. Rachel has a proven record of building high-performing teams through authentic leadership, a focus on team culture and wellbeing, and a commitment to fostering collaboration. She is known for her ability to think outside the box when addressing challenges to project objectives, and she actively coaches, empowers, and develops the potential within her teams. Deeply passionate about high-performing teams, team culture, women in STEMM, and mentoring, Rachel is dedicated to empowering others and driving positive change within the industry

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	Professor Rashina Hoda\| Information Technology - Moderator Professor of Software Engineering and Associate Dean of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Monash University Rashina Hoda is a Professor of Software Engineering and Associate Dean of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at the Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University. She is an expert in qualitative empirical research and developed Socio-Technical Grounded Theory (STGT), a modern extension of sociological Grounded Theory. With nearly 20 years of experience, she investigates the human and socio-technical aspects of software engineering and artificial intelligence. Rashina has published over 150 research outputs, been awarded over $5M in research funding, received multiple awards including being named the Top Australian Researcher 2025 in Software Systems, and serves as an Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering. A champion for women in STEM and a recipient of the Guiding Star Mentorship award at the Women of Colour in STEM awards, she frequently shares insights at conferences, industry events, and public platforms such as TEDx, SXSW, Agile Australia, ABC News, ABC Radio National, and more, see rashina.com for more.
	Professor Dianna Magliano OAM \| Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences - Speaker Head of Diabetes and Population Health, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, Australia Professor Dianna Magliano has a BAppSci (Hons), PhD, and a Master of Public Health. Professor Magliano has worked for over 20 years in epidemiology, the majority in diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obesity research. Her more recent work involved examining the association between diabetes and cancer using large datasets. With NHMRC project grant funding, she established the ANZ Diabetes and Cancer Collaboration dataset which is a collaboration of 18 Australian cohort studies with the aim to examine the relationship between diabetes, obesity, metabolic syndrome and hypertension and cancer. Her more recent work involves exploring the trends in diabetes incidence, diabetes complications and mortality across the globe and heads a consortium of 24 collaborators to do this work. She has a strong international reputation evidenced by her role as an editor for Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice, the presidency of the International Diabetes Epidemiology Group in 2015–2017 and her position as co-chair to the current edition (10th) of the Diabetes Atlas for the International Diabetes Federation. Professor Magliano has strong epidemiological and biostatistical skills. As the senior epidemiologist of the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study (AusDiab) for over 18 years, she has acquired real life epidemiological training by working directly in the field, conducting epidemiological analyses. In 2017 she was awarded a NHMRC Senior research fellowship and the Australian Jeff flack Diabetes data award from the Australian Diabetes Council and the Michaela Modan award for the best epidemiological abstract from the American Diabetes Association. In 2021, she was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for her work in epidemiology and the International Diabetes Federation Public Health Award. In 2022 she was awarded a NHMRC Investigator Grant Fellowship, level 2. She has a H index of 96, over 74,000 citations and has published over 380 publications and reports. She was recently recognised by being listed in The Australian’s Research Magazine’s top 250 researchers in 2023 and 2024. Professor Magliano was appointed a five-year Alice Baker and Eleanor Shaw Gender Equity Fellow in 2022 and is a strong advocate for gender equity in Australian science. She helped establish and chair the inaugural Gender Equity and Diversity Committee at the Institute in 2014 and has contributed significantly to national efforts to advance diversity in the Australian scientific sector. Professor Magliano spearheaded the Institute’s successful bronze Athena SWAN Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE) award in 2018.
	Sarah Gray \| Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences - Speaker Chief of Health Operations & Innovation, HealthyLife (Woolworths Group) Sarah Gray is a trailblazer in health and wellness, combining her expertise as a registered pharmacist, nutritionist, and Global Executive MBA graduate to drive transformative change in healthcare. Currently, Sarah serves as Chief of Health Operations & Innovation at HealthyLife, the wellness arm of Woolworths Group. She has spearheaded initiatives such as launching telehealth services, developing a world-first nutrition tracker, and driving over 400,000 digital health program signups. Her strategic and innovative leadership has positioned HealthyLife at the forefront of health-focused products and services in Australia. Beyond her corporate role, Sarah is a non-executive director with Moyne Health Services and the Western Region Football League, where she champions mental health, diversity, and inclusivity. She is also the Founder and Head Nutritionist at The Nutrition Pharmacist, providing holistic health solutions. A passionate advocate for empowering teams, Sarah fosters psychological safety and inclusivity, enabling businesses to thrive. As an accomplished leader, mentor, and thought leader, Sarah is shaping the future of health and wellness with her innovative and strategic approach.
	Dr. Priya Subramanian \| Science - Speaker Head of New Product Development, DuluxGroup Dr. Priya Subramanian’s career spans academia, industry, and entrepreneurship. She is currently the Head of New Product Development at DuluxGroup. After earning her PhD at Monash University, Priya joined the Reserve Bank of Australia, where she led advancements in banknote security and accessibility, including tactile features for the vision-impaired. Later, as Senior Manager, she oversaw a global note evaluation program and multimillion-dollar projects across the Asia-Pacific. In 2020, Priya founded ProSquare Solutions, a consultancy for startups and SMEs specializing in grant applications, product development, and commercialization. She later led technical services for adhesives at Henkel across Australia and New Zealand before becoming Research Commercialisation Lead at DuluxGroup, where she drives sustainable solutions and impactful market innovations. As a passionate advocate for gender equality, Priya has made significant strides in fostering inclusivity. At DuluxGroup, she championed gender balance in research portfolios as part of broader diversity initiatives. She also serves on the advisory panel of STEM Sisters, a platform supporting women of colour and immigrants in STEM. Through mentorship and advocacy, Priya empowers women to overcome barriers, build meaningful connections, and transition successfully from academia to industry.
	Rachel Harding \| Engineering - Speaker Technical Director, Rail (Project Delivery), AECOM \| Design Delivery Manager, Northern Package, North East Link Project Rachel is a Technical Director in the Rail (Project Delivery) team at AECOM, with over 20 years of experience. She has successfully delivered some of AECOM’s largest infrastructure projects in Victoria, including the M80 Ring Road Completion (North East Link), the Rail Infrastructure Alliance (Metro Tunnel Project), and Level Crossing Removals. Rachel has a proven record of building high-performing teams through authentic leadership, a focus on team culture and wellbeing, and a commitment to fostering collaboration. She is known for her ability to think outside the box when addressing challenges to project objectives, and she actively coaches, empowers, and develops the potential within her teams. Deeply passionate about high-performing teams, team culture, women in STEMM, and mentoring, Rachel is dedicated to empowering others and driving positive change within the industry