FEIT Diversity and Inclusion Small Grants program

The Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology Diversity and Inclusion Small Grants Program aims to support staff and students interested in spearheading activities that help build a diverse and supportive workplace with inclusivity at its forefront.

A key strategic priority of FEIT2025 is investing in its people and culture. The Faculty strives to build a diverse, entrepreneurial and outstanding workforce, and an inclusive culture that we will leverage to work hand in hand with our partners on global challenges. Aligned with this commitment, the Small Grants Program is designed to provide monetary support for activities that foster inclusivity within the Faculty. We welcome applications for events, workshops, seminars, exhibitions, and other activities to advance inclusion within FEIT and the wider University community.

Purpose

The FEIT Diversity and Inclusion Small Grants Program aims to:

  • Support and encourage inclusivity within the workplace
  • Advance inclusion within FEIT and the wider University community

Funding

Up to eight FEIT Diversity and Inclusion Small Grants are available, valued at up to $5000 will be awarded annually.

Eligibility

To be eligible, applicants must be a:

  • Student or member of staff in FEIT, who is enrolled and/or in a continuing fixed term position until at least 30 June 2025.

Applications may come from an individual, a group or a student club. Staff (including academics and professional staff) and students from diverse religious, cultural, linguistic, socioeconomic and geographic backgrounds, people with disability, Indigenous Australians and LGBTIQA+ staff and students are especially encouraged to apply.

Please note: Applications from an individual student or a group of students (not belonging to a student club) must nominate an academic staff member from FEIT as their supervisor.

Application Deadlines and Key Dates

Applications for the 2027 Grant Fund have not yet opened.

For further information please email Renata Borovica via renata.borovica@unimelb.edu.au

Types of events encouraged

Funding will be given to events such as film screenings, exhibitions, workshops, panel discussions, cultural performances and other activities that build awareness, create space for all students and staff members to mark occasions of cultural significance, and create an inclusive and welcoming environment across the Faculty. Events that facilitate wide participation are especially encouraged.

Cost covered by the grant

The grant can be used for the payment of any goods or services that support the event outlined in your application. This may include:

  • Venue and equipment hire
  • Printing / stationery / graphic design
  • Advertising
  • Payment of domestic guest speakers/performers
  • Travel costs associated with the activity
  • Catering
  • Exhibition costs

The grant cannot be spent on:

  • Goods and services provided by overseas suppliers
  • Salaries or teaching buyout
  • Activities/projects that will charge participation fees
  • Research
  • Learning and teaching projects
  • Retrospective funding for projects already underway or completed
  • The purchase of equipment

Applications and Assessment

In the application, information should be included in relation to:

  • Your name, division, and name/contact of your direct supervisor at the faculty
  • Student name, student number, program enrolled, and name of the student club/association if applicable in case of a student or student club application; and
  • Name and email of the academic staff supervisor in the case of an individual student or group of students’ application.

The following questions should be addressed in the application:

  • The theme of the project and the timelines
  • How the implementation of the project is expected to contribute to advancing the vision of the faculty in cultivating a diverse and inclusive culture
  • Direct evidence on the applicant’s capacity and capability of fulfilling the project, e.g. past record of organising a similar event
  • Briefly describe the need for your initiative, the anticipated reach of this project, its significance, and how the allocated funds will be used to achieve these aims.

2025 - 2026 FEIT Diversity & Inclusion Small Grant Recipients

Wattle Women in STEM

Project Group: Wattle Fellowship Team (Linh Do; Jarred Abrahams; Clancy Lester; Lemae Mortimer)

Project Summary: This event would feature a panel of female engineers, data scientists, and technicians, all of whom are alumni of the Wattle Fellowship, who will share their personal journeys, challenges, and successes. The goal is to provide a direct and inspiring connection between students and professional role models, making the concept of a STEM career feel more tangible and accessible.

Inspiring Women in Engineering: Panel Discussion and Lab Tours for Undergraduate and Master's Students

Project Group: Lili Chen, Christina Lim, Margreta Kuijper, Ye Pu and Rajitha SenanayakeProject Summary: This activity will bring together female academics and PhD students in the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology to engage, inspire, and encourage female students to pursue this field. Prof. Elaine Wong (Pro Vice-Chancellor - People & Equity) will join as an advisor. The centrepiece will be a panel discussion where women researchers and academics will share their career journeys, research interests, and experiences working in engineering. The session will provide undergraduate and master’s students, particularly first-year cohorts, with relatable role models and concrete insights into the diverse opportunities available in this discipline. Following the panel, students will participate in guided laboratory tours showcasing real-world demonstrations and ongoing research projects. This hands-on exposure aims to demystify the technical aspects of engineering while highlighting its societal relevance and innovation potential. The event is designed to foster a sense of belonging, increase visibility of female role models, and address the gender gap in the field. By creating an inclusive and supportive environment, the activity aims to inspire more female students to consider choosing or continuing with an engineering major.

Navigate to Tech Industry: A Panel Discussion on Diversity, Leadership, and Innovation in Tech

Project Group: Haiyi Ye, Gayani Siriwardana, Chin Tong Leong, Ran Shi, Jacqueline Mel, Xining Nan, and Lili Chen

Project Summary: This panel discussion will bring together professionals in the field of engineering to explore the intersection of diversity, leadership, and technological innovation. The event will provide a platform for panellists to share their insights on how emerging technologies are reshaping the engineering landscape, the unique contributions of women engineers, and career development strategies in traditionally male-dominated fields. Attendees will have the opportunity to interact, ask questions and engage in discussions with the panellists to promote inclusive work environments and leadership development in engineering. This will be a great opportunity for students to learn, network, and be inspired to drive positive change in their careers.

Creating a supportive and inclusive community

Project Group: Raquel de Souza, Jillian Kenny, and Claudia Sandberg

Project Summary: Our initiative aims to create a supportive community for female and non-binary students. A series of events throughout the semester will enable continuous engagement, foster connections and equip participants with essential skills and confidence. First week of March 2026: Social gathering to welcome female and non-binary students and create connections. o Female academics, female and non-binary students will be invited to an afternoon tea. Ice-breaker activities will be planned to engage the participants. This first event aims to welcome students, create connections and announce the upcoming events. Monthly meetings (April, May, June) for female and non-binary students to encourage networking with other female students and female academics. o First week of April 2026 - Workshop on overcoming impostor syndrome. A practical session in which attendees will learn effective strategies to combat imposter syndrome. Participants will learn to identify and work constructively with limiting beliefs and develop actionable tactics they can immediately implement to advance their personal and academic journeys with confidence. o End of May 2026 or s1 SWOT Vac - Panel discussion with alumni, academics and industry professionals with the topic “Sharing experiences of female engineers in Industry and Academia” o End of June 2026 (End of exam period) - Workshop on navigating challenging situations in gender-imbalanced workplaces. Participants will examine authentic case studies, focusing on issues such as exclusion and gender stereotyping. Through guided discussions and learning from role models, students will prepare proactive responses, helping them to navigate similar challenges in their future careers with confidence.

FEIT Festival of Languages

Project Group: Ekaterina Vylomova

Project Summary: Festival of Languages will serve as a platform to experience and celebrate the high linguistic and cultural diversity within the faculty community (students and staff). It will invite community members to share their languages with others and discuss some fascinating aspects of their cultures by giving 10–15 minute presentations. As the event will be hosted within FEIT, it will also put a special focus on the state of language technology. Faculty researchers working in language technology will be invited to present their works. This will be followed by a general discussion of the current state of technology available for the world's languages. Finally, the event will be concluded by linguistic trivia games similar to the one hosted at SIGTYP 2022 .

During the trivia (which we anticipate to be a very light and fun activity), all festival participants will be split into small groups to discuss and answer the questions. The activity will encourage them to get to know each other and learn about the many cultures of the world. To summarise, it will be a day-long event, split into three parts: (1) language presentations; (2) language technology presentations; (3) language trivia games. We will run coffee-breaks between the parts for further networking.

Fostering Belonging: Inclusive Teamwork through Identity, Reflection, and Collaboration

Project Group: Shuang Jie Zhu, Andi Putra and Zoey Li

Project Summary: This activity addresses a key challenge in engineering and IT education: ensuring all students feel included and valued in small group work. Group projects are central to FEIT’s coursework and mirror professional practice, yet student feedback highlights exclusion based on gender, culture, disability, language, and other factors. To address this challenge, we propose a two-phase interactive workshop series. The workshops will introduce identity and positionality, exploring who we are, what we bring, and how we are seen. Students will reflect on how differences and experiences shape group dynamics. They will learn to appreciate diverse perspectives and apply strategies for respectful, inclusive, and effective teamwork. In Phase 1 (March 2026), Dr. Nira Rahman will lead an interactive session that helps students explore identities and roles within diverse teams. The workshop will link reflection to principles of respect, reciprocity, and responsibility. Students will be introduced to strategies such as group agreements, equitable communication, accessibility planning, and role rotation. These strategies will be compiled into a starter version of the Inclusive Group Work Toolkit, which students will use in projects. In Phase 2 (June 2026), Professor Doreen Thomas (TBC) will facilitate a reflection and co-creation workshop. Students will share experiences, connect learning to practice, and refine the toolkit into a student-informed, practice-tested resource. Participants who complete both phases will be recognised as Peer Inclusion Champions and awarded a FEIT Inclusive Leadership Certificate. This staged approach ensures immediate skill development and long-term cultural change. It will also produce a resource that embeds inclusive teamwork practices across FEIT.

She Leads Tech: Careers, Networks, and Global Connections

Project Group: Kabir Manandhar Shrestha, Chunhua Liu, Jinrui Yang, Aidan McLoughney

Project Summary: This initiative will host three sessions to connect women across academia, industry, and entrepreneurship pathways—tackling networking gaps, gender-bias barriers, and limited cross-continental knowledge sharing. Session 1 – Women in Academia: targets women considering academic careers and seeking insights into research pathways across Australia and the US. Speakers are academics who have transitioned between AU/US at different stages (postgraduate → PhD → postdoc → assistant professor → professor). They share lived experiences and practical advice on academic networking, securing research funding, and overcoming gender-specific STEM challenges. Session 2 – Women in Industry: targets women seeking industry experience and broader perspectives on tech companies. Speakers come from major firms (Google, Amazon, Oracle, TikTok, Meta, and more) across roles (e.g., data scientist, DevOps engineer, HR, product manager) and career stages. Activities include panels on career transitions, resume optimisation, salary negotiation, networking strategies, and company culture insights addressing gender inequality in engineering and IT through practical progression and workplace navigation techniques. Session 3 – Women in Innovation & Entrepreneurship: targets women starting ventures or joining start-ups. Speakers include VCs, founders, angel investors, start-up advisors, and corporate innovation leaders from accelerators and various stages. They share start-up ecosystem journeys and practical advice for overcoming entrepreneurial barriers. Each 2-hour session will blend panels and workshops for actionable skills on international transitions, visas, and cross-border networking. We expect 60–80 attendees in Melbourne, San Francisco, and online.

Necessity is the mother of invention: An African Perspective

Project Group: Judy Too, Felix Hui and Pauline Njoki Kimani

Project Summary: This is a half-day event on Africa Day, 25 May 2026, titled Necessity is the mother of invention: An African perspective. This event will spotlight the ingenuity of precolonial African civilisations, showcasing how necessity drove innovation across construction, water systems, metallurgy, and mathematics. The event will feature TED-style storytelling talks by 3 invited speakers who will highlight iconic inventions from different regions and eras, such as Imhotep’s design of the Step Pyramid in ancient Egypt, indigenous metallurgical practices in Southern Africa, and water management in the Sahel, among others. These stories will bridge history and engineering, showing how ancient ingenuity continues to inspire contemporary innovation and engineering knowledge. Following the talks, an interactive panel discussion will invite audience participation, connecting historical lessons to present-day global challenges of sustainability, infrastructure, and resource management. Complementing these conversations, poster exhibitions around the venue will provide deeper insights into African innovations, while a digital Padlet “knowledge wall” will enable students and staff to share reflections and resources in real time. The event aims to broaden understanding of what counts as engineering knowledge, challenge deficit narratives of Africa, and create an inclusive platform that validates cultural knowledge as academically significant. It will be open to all FEIT students and staff, with targeted outreach through student associations and academic networks to encourage wide participation. By embedding underrepresented knowledge traditions within the Faculty’s intellectual environment, this activity advances FEIT’s 2025 commitment to invest in people and culture.

Women in Chemical Engineering Panel

Project Group: Sarah Shannon (MUCESS Treasurer), Isla Jones (MUCESS President) and Catherine Sutton

Project Summary: We are planning to host a professional panel event featuring 4–5 industry professionals, including female chemical engineering graduates from the University of Melbourne and/or female academic staff. This event aims to highlight the experiences of women in engineering, a field where female representation remains low. The panel discussion will explore key topics such as navigating male-dominated industries, career progression, leadership, and creating inclusive workplace cultures. A moderator will guide the discussion with prepared questions to ensure a thoughtful, engaging, and diverse conversation. Time will also be allocated for audience Q&A, encouraging further student interaction and learning. Our goal is to promote empathy and awareness of the unique challenges women face in engineering, while celebrating their achievements. This event will empower students—particularly women—by connecting them with relatable role models and providing actionable career advice. Light refreshments will be served following the panel, creating a welcoming space for informal discussion, peer-to-peer networking, and sharing of experiences among students, staff, and industry professionals.

Building Bridges to Parliament: Inclusive Pathways for Engineers and Migrants

Project Group: Judy Too, Felix Hui and Priyan Mendis

Project Summary: This project will deliver four guided student visits to Victoria’s Parliament House, each engaging approximately 30 participants (120 students in total). The Hon. Telmo Languiller, former Speaker of the Victorian Parliament and a migrant, will personally lead the tours and discussions. Students will gain first-hand exposure to parliamentary processes, civic participation, and the pathways through which engineers and technologists can influence policy and shape public outcomes. Each visit will conclude with an informal tea-and-coffee roundtable with Telmo and invited Members of Parliament (at least one MP for each session) who hold interests in technology, infrastructure, and engineering. These dialogues will provide students with candid opportunities to ask questions, learn from diverse leadership experiences, and consider how technical expertise intersects with public service and civic leadership. This initiative builds on a highly successful single-visit pilot conducted last year, which was oversubscribed and left many students unable to attend. To address this demand, four sessions will now be offered, ensuring wider accessibility across FEIT’s diverse student body and reducing scheduling barriers. Importantly, the Master of Engineering Management Student Community (MEMSC) will be enlisted to help in planning and hosting, supported by staff mentors. This shift creates authentic opportunities for student leadership, stakeholder engagement, and cross-cultural collaboration. The initiative aims to inspire students from all backgrounds, particularly those from migrant and underrepresented communities, to view civic participation and leadership as attainable pathways. It directly responds to the underrepresentation of engineers in public decision-making.

Beyond technical skills - inclusive collaborative workshops

Project Group: Amiraslan Fila, Azadeh Taghvaie, Donya Eghrari and Behnam Atazadeh

Project Summary: Engineering education focuses heavily on technical expertise, yet graduates often face challenges when working in diverse teams where non-technical factors can make or break success. Soft skills such as inclusivity, consultation, cross-cultural communication, and culturally-aware project management are critical for collaborative problem-solving, particularly in multicultural contexts like universities and workplaces. Many students, especially international cohorts, express a need for spaces to practice and strengthen these skills in parallel with their technical studies. Understanding other team members’ migration journey as well as lived experiences can help develop respect for the diversity of perspectives which in turn leads to healthier study and work environment.

Further information

If you have any questions about the Small Grants Program or the application process, please email renata.borovica@unimelb.edu.au