Building a Women in HPC community in Australasia: Where to from here

Diverse teams have been shown to increase a company’s ROI, make decisions 2X faster with half the meetings, and corporations that hire women into the C-suite often see a 15% increase in profitability. <div><br></div><div>In this eResearch NZ Birds-of-a-Feather (BoF) session, we would like to build on the momentum and conversations started at a previous eResearch Australasian BoF and discuss the opportunities around better coordinating, supporting, and expanding diversity efforts within Australasia’s eResearch and HPC sectors. This BoF’s ideal outcomes would include:<br></div><div>● a greater understanding of existing efforts and support structures in place for encouraging diversity and gender equity in Australasia’s HPC and eResearch sectors </div><div>● building new and/or stronger relationships built amongst Australasia diversity and gender equity advocates </div><div>● a short-term action plan for 2020-21 to explore ways to better connect, coordinate, and leverage existing diversity and inclusion efforts<br></div><div><br></div><div>Discussion notes and feedback gathered in this session will be collated and shared with the broader eResearch community, as part of a newly formed working group’s efforts to support the development of a Women in HPC (WHPC) community in Australasia. For more information on the Australasian WHPC Working Group, visit the AeRO eResearch Chat’s Diversity & Inclusion space.<br></div><div><br></div><div><b><u>ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S) </u></b></div><div><b>Jana Makar </b>Based at the University of Auckland, Jana coordinates a variety of engagement initiatives and external communications to raise the profile of NeSI’s activities, impacts, and collaborations. Prior to joining NeSI, Jana worked as a communications consultant for multiple organisations in Canada’s technology, academic, and startup sectors. </div><div><br></div><div><b>Loretta Davis</b> Loretta is a seasoned IT professional with 25+ years experience in the eResearch, commercial and government sectors in Australia, Africa and the USA. When not working part time for AeRO, Loretta consults as a Solutions Specialist to a number of private clients.<br></div><div><br></div>