We want to achieve gender equity among women and men in STEM, and to see a greater participation of women in research and STEM roles over longer careers.

Our Mission

The WREN provides a channel to promote international collaboration between women research engineers and increasing the awareness of leaders to implement policies that support women in their academic careers.

Connect with other women

Act as a channel for early-, mid- and senior- career women in engineering to connect with one another

International Collaboration

Grow from a bilateral collaboration between Brazil and Australia, to a multilateral collaboration

Career Resources

Provide a platform to foster international collaboration, such as through grant proposals, joint publications, and co-teaching partnerships

Make Change

Bring awareness of the gender disparity apparent in a male-dominated profession, particularly in engineering and academia, leading to the creation of policies to tackle the factors preventing women from career advancement.

Purpose

While there is an increasing understanding of gender equality, and of the urgency of employing more women to have a gender-balanced workplace, many barriers still exist that inhibit women through their career progression pipeline, resulting in fewer women continuing in the engineering professions or aiming towards senior positions and leadership. Women research engineers are navigating barriers such as societal stereotypes, discrimination, limited access to grants and career development opportunities, and balancing of work and family responsibilities. WREN is a network which will help support women engineers to overcome these gender-related barriers.

The Committee

The committee of the WREN is made up of research engineers from universities around the world. The committee members specialise in different engineering disciplines and come from diverse backgrounds.  

Dr Mainã Portella Garcia

Chair

Dr Emily Yap

Vice-Chair

Dr Ashley Ansari 

Secretary

Dr Marcella Bernardo

Marketing Communications Coordinator

Ms Grace Kennedy

Events Coordinator

Ina Oestroem

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Officer

Akasha Kaleem

Higher Degree Research Representative

Prof. Dr Julia Mendes

Brazil Representative

Dr Vita Wonoputri

ASEAN Representative

Ts. Dr Nishata Royan

ASEAN Representative

Former Committee Members

The women who were part of the committee and made it possible to establish the network.

Dr Apsara Jayasekara

Prof. Janaina Mascarenhas 

Prof. Vera Lúcia Arantes

Partners

The WREN is led by the University of Wollongong and the University of São Paulo (Engineering school in São Carlos), with the collaboration of the USP Women’s Office. It was launched in April 2021. The WREN is supported by the Commonwealth through the Council on Australia Latin America Relations (COALAR), which is part of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Since then, WREN has partnered with other organisations.

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WREN is by women for women

As a network striving for gender equity, WREN aims to amplify the voices of women in all areas and thank them for their support and amazing work! 

UX / UI Designer

Jasmine Ryan

Brand Designer

Prof. Rafaella Lopes Pereira Peres

Join our Network

Be part of a network where you can connect with peers around the world, find opportunities, celebrate women’s achievements, and work together towards a gender-equal research community.

Interested in getting involved?

We are always looking for new partners and volunteers to chase the shared vision of a gender-equal engineering research community. If you want to support women researchers in engineering and are keen to be part of a women-led team, reach out to us!