WHPC+
An Australasian Chapter of the global organisation Women in High Performance Computing (WHPC) is aiming to better support diversity within and across the Australian and New Zealand HPC and eResearch sectors.
The initiative, a collaboration between Monash University, Australasian eResearch Organisations (AeRO), NCI Australia, Pawsey Supercomputing Centre, and New Zealand eScience Infrastructure, was announced at the eResearch Australasia (eResAU) Conference 2020.
“Since its establishment in 2019, AeRO has been delighted to support the Australasian Chapter of Women in HPC and the growing community it represents,” says Loretta Davis, AeRO Executive Officer. “It’s important to note that the group is inclusive of diversity beyond gender and we encourage all allies to be part of this exciting community.”
“The CoVid experience in recent years has shown us that workplace culture is adaptable, and we should expect the same pace of change as we strive to create a more inclusive workplace.”
Sparked by the 2019 eResearch Australasia Conference theme of “Diversity in eResearch”, the Chapter was established one year later.
Initial goals of the Australasian Chapter include:
- identifying opportunities and future activities to improve diversity, inclusion, balance and belonging in HPC and eResearch
- increasing the engagement of women in HPC
- increasing the number of women in HPC
- fostering collaboration and connections amongst existing diversity and inclusion initiatives
Review our 3min video on Why the WHPC Australasian Chapter in important or view the longer 8min version.
In May 2021, the WHPCAusNZ community came together to produce a list of concrete actions that HPC, eResearch and Big Data facilities and events can take to improve their diversity and inclusion practices. Read and Share the Concrete Steps for Supporting a Diverse HPC and eResearch Workforce.”
Connect with the WHPCAusNZ community!
- Click here to subscribe to the WHPCAusNZ newsletter.
- Click here to join the WHPCAusNZ Slack channel. Invite others to join as well!
- Follow @WHPCAusNZ on Twitter and use #WHPCAusNZ in any tweets you share.
- Connect with WHPC-Australia on LinkedIn and share with your network.
- NCI Australia hosts fortnightly Zoom catchups as a friendly, casual and safe space for community members to connect and chat. Click here to register.
- Have questions or want more information about the WHPCAusNZ Chapter? Email WHPC@aero.edu.au.
The WHPC Organising Committee comprises the following member organisation representatives and aims to meet monthly:
Jana Makar New Zealand eScience Infrastructure
Based at the University of Auckland, Jana coordinates a variety of engagement initiatives for New Zealand eScience Infrastructure (NeSI). She has a degree in Communications from the University of Calgary and spent the early part of her career working as a newspaper journalist. |
Aidan Muirhead Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE)
Aidan grew up in the ACT and NT in Australia, and in Singapore and Serbia. She loved that maths gave her a universal language and she always wants to know more about how things work. Aidan moved to NCI in 2019. Aidan is proud to support diversity in HPC, HPD, and eResearch. |
Kerri Wait Monash University
Kerri joined the Monash eResearch Centre as an HPC Consultant in 2016, collaborating with researchers from diverse disciplines. Kerri is particularly interested in supporting women from low socioeconomic backgrounds to explore careers in STEM. |
Aditi Subramanya CSIRO – Pawsey Supercomputing Centre
Based at the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre, Aditi is a communicator in the digital world. Aditi loves tech and is passionate about creating diverse, inclusive mindsets and cultures. Aditi’s goal is to break global barriers to create fair opportunities for all. |
Kiowa Scott-Hurley Monash University
Kiowa brings her passion for making complex information more accessible to her role as a HPC consultant at the Monash eResearch Centre. Growing up as a proud Aboriginal woman in a low socioeconomic regional town herself, Kiowa is absolutely dedicated to supporting more diversity in STEM.” |
Lucy Guest Science Technology Australia
Lucy’s passion for STEM began on a sheep farm in Northern NSW where her childhood was spent exploring, experimenting and investigating. Lucy joined NCI as their Communications Manager in 2012 and is committed to championing women in HPC. |
Loretta Davis AeRO – Australasian eResearch Organisations
Loretta leverages 25+ years of IT experience to facilitate solutions in the areas of project and quality management, communications (including storytelling and technical writing), training, systems analysis and design, programming and testing as well as organisational and managerial/team lead mentoring. |
Adam Huttner-Koros National Computational Infrastructure
Adam is a science communicator and language enthusiast, who loves supercomputing for the cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary science constantly taking place. He is excited to help build the diversity and openness of the HPC community. |
Marco de la Pierre CSIRO – Pawsey Supercomputing Marco is a Supercomputing Applications Specialist at Pawsey Supercomputing Centre in Perth, Australia, holding a PhD in Materials Science with a specialisation in theoretical and computational chemistry.
After working a few years as a university researcher, he joined Pawsey in 2018, where he currently engages with researchers in the fields of computational materials science, computational chemistry and bioinformatics. He is interested in the topic of reproducibility for the computational sciences, and passionate and active in the space of education and training. |
