We’re showcasing three incredible women of Team CSIRO who are breaking through the glass ceiling in STEM careers.
To reflect the National Science Week 2022 theme – Glass: More than meets the eye – we’re celebrating three women breaking through the glass ceiling.
It’s safe to say we have no shortage of incredible women working with us. From engineers to chemists to agricultural scientists, the women of Team CSIRO are shining role models for the next generation.
Only 18 per cent of leadership positions are held by women across science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.
Breaking through the glass ceiling is a metaphor for the invisible barrier that prevents some people, often women, from progressing to senior leadership. We’ve profiled some of our senior women leaders – Professor Bronwyn Fox, Dr Marzi Barghamadi and Dr Jess Hyles – to see how they did it.
Professor Bronwyn Fox
From research partner to Chief Scientist, Professor Bronwyn Fox has crushed the discriminatory limitation to pieces. As a materials engineer with a strong fascination with the assembling of lightweight materials, she started her profession at CSIRO in the 1990’s. She was working with the Cooperative Research Center (CRC) for Polymer Blends, which later turned into the CRC for Polymers.
Bronwyn proceeded to speed up the development of a carbon fiber and composite industry in Australia and established the Carbon Nexus office at Deakin University. She was likewise instrumental in shaping Australia’s Industry 4.0 system, and drove the foundation of a world first Industry 4.0 Testlab for added substance producing while at Swinburne University of Technology.
She got back to CSIRO in 2021 as our fourth female Chief Scientist. Without precedent for Australia’s set of experiences, ladies currently fill our main three government science positions – Tanya Monro as Chief Defense Scientist; Cathy Foley as Australia’s Chief Scientist; and Bronwyn as Chief Scientist at CSIRO.
Bronwyn says good examples are basic to urge more young ladies to seek after a lifelong in STEM, and for additional ladies to ascend to administrative roles.

Dr Mazi Barghamadi
Regardless of where you will be, you should rest assured you’re close to a lithium-particle battery. Remaining at the front of our lithium battery research is Dr Marzi Barghamadi.
Science subjects were forever Marzi’s number one at school. She was thinking about medication, yet chose to concentrate on science at college.
Marzi finished a Master’s certificate in logical science and got two PhD grant offers for electrospinning and nanofibers. However, the third proposal to do her PhD grant on lithium batteries would shape her vocation. Furthermore, land her solidly in a space of enormous individual interest: environmentally friendly power.
Marzi is one of five ladies across Australia and New Zealand to be granted a L’Oreal-UNESCO For Women in Science Fellowship. This unquestionably cutthroat association endeavors to help and perceive achieved science analysts.
With this grant, Marzi will give a more profound comprehension of how lithium metal corrupts and frames dendrites, one of the central points of interest of lithium metal batteries.
Her recommendation for ladies hoping to enter a lifelong in STEM? Follow your energy and trust your abilities.

Dr Jess Hyles
It has been a vocation with many exciting bends in the road for Dr Jess Hyles. Jess went along with us as a research facility expert back in 2002. She worked in wheat rearing to embrace new advances like mechanical technology that would make establishes more effective.
Before all else, Jess didn’t necessarily in every case have her sights set on a lifelong in farming. She concentrated on biomedical science at the University of Technology Sydney and was working in clinical examination. Until she met an exceptional somebody.
It was meeting her significant other that started a bend in Jess’ excursion. He was a rancher, and Jess chose to search for a lifelong that fit her day to day life on the homestead. She finished a Master of Agriculture at the University of Sydney while working in the lab.
Two years and two kids later, she chose to work parttime to adjust family and work. After a decade, there was another contort.
Jess needed to zero in additional on science and what preferred method for doing as such over with a PhD. Simultaneously, Jess turned into a lead for Inclusivity and Diversity. As of late she took on another job as Group Leader for the Future Breeding Group of Agriculture and Food.
Your STEM career
These three inspiring women show how diverse STEM careers can be. And how we can all work to smash the glass ceiling for women.
We’re addressing gender equity through our work with the Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE) pilot, the Champions of Change Coalition (CCC) initiative, and the Champion of the Women in STEM Decadal Science Plan.
We’re also recruiting the next generation of inventors, innovators and change makers through our ‘Impossible without you’ campaign. From engineers to researchers to professionals, see what’s possible for your STEM career. Join Team CSIRO and help make the impossible happen.