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.
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:
● a greater understanding of existing efforts and support structures in place for encouraging diversity
and gender equity in Australasia’s HPC and eResearch sectors
● building new and/or stronger relationships built amongst Australasia diversity and gender equity
advocates
● a short-term action plan for 2020-21 to explore ways to better connect, coordinate, and leverage
existing diversity and inclusion efforts
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.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)
Jana Makar
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.
Loretta Davis
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.
