As a part of the Local Challenge Fund grant won by Dr. Samina Malik and Dr. Asma Mansoor for the project titled Shattering the Glass Ceiling: Challenges and Opportunities for Women Academic Leaders in Pakistani, a webinar revolving around the idea of mentorship of women academic leaders was organized by Dr. Asma Mansoor and Dr. Samina Malik on 7th December’22. Entitled “Mentoring and Women’s Academic Leadership: What Needs to be Done”, the key feature of the webinar was its illustrious panelists, all Super Stars of STEM Australia and eminent researchers and academics in the field of STEM in Australian Higher Education. The purpose of this webinar was to enable the participants, all Pakistani women academics from various universities, to engage in candid cross-cultural dialogue regarding women’s academic leadership in Pakistan and to learn from the policies and practices in place in the Australian Higher Education sector that enable women to rise collectively and supportively.
The panelists included Dr. Rashina Hoda who is an Associate Professor and Deputy Head of Department of Software Systems and Cybersecurity (SSC) and Deputy Director of the HumaniSE Lab Monash University, Melbourne. She is an award-winning researcher and an international expert in human-centred software engineering specialising in agile software development. Also on the panel was Prof. Asha Rao who is an Associate Dean, Mathematical Sciences in RMIT Australia. She has numerous publications in eminent journals of her field and has won notable research grants from Australia’s Department of Defence Strategic Policy Grants and Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute (AMSI) Scholarship — Nayani Ranasinghe. The third panellist was the illustrious Dr. Muneera Bano, former Assistant Professor in IIUI. She has worked with Deakin and Swinburne Universities as Senior Lecturer and is now a Principal Research Scientist in CSIRO’s Data61 in AI and Requirements Engineering. With a PhD in software engineering from the University of Technology Sydney, Dr. Bano was announced as the ‘Most Influential Asian-Australian Under 40’ in 2019. A member of ‘Equity, Diversity and Inclusion’ committee for Science and Technology Australia. She has also been recognised by the Government of Pakistan as under-40 leader as Pakistani-Australian in ‘Science and Innovation’ with Pakistan Foreign Minister’s Honour List 2021.
The discussion foregrounded the journey of the panellists as Women of Colour in Australian academia and the academic and professional mentorship that they not only received in the process but also the mentoring they are offering at present to pass on a healthy legacy of merit-based support to deserving and rising women academics and students. The conversation also foregrounded how exploitation can be minimised and the safeguards that are set in place in Australia to prevent anyone from academically or professionally holding back women from rising in academia. The panellists gave viable suggestions regarding how mentors can help increase the visibility of their mentees. The audience asked pertinent questions sharing concerns about the insecurities and exploitation on the part of academic leaders that continue to adversely impact women’s academic growth. They discussed possibilities regarding the manner in which the higher education system in Pakistan can be constructively modified to pre-empt professional and academic exploitation in Pakistani universities by launching formal courses and trainings that can be helpful for female academics to develop a strong nexus with their colleagues when they take up leadership roles.
The 2-hour long webinar ended with Dr. Asma Mansoor highlighting the efforts of team that supported Dr. Samina and herself in successfully managing this event. She particularly appreciated the efforts. of Dr. Fatima Maqsood and Dr. Fatima Alvi for their constant support.