SCIENCE

DR CATHY FOLEY AO, CHIEF SCIENTIST, CSIRO

Cathy Foley is disarmingly modest. As the chief scientist of Australia’s national scientific research agency, past president of the Australian Institute of Physics, a world-class research physicist in her own right, and the winner of awards too numerous to list, she has plenty to be proud of. But as the middle child of seven, the healthy teasing from older brothers taught her to avoid any hint of airs and graces, and she also credits her resilience to her upbringing in a large family. Her mother, who died when Foley was young, was an architect with her own practice at a time when this was rare. “I just had this idea that women persevere,” says Foley.

“I thought, ‘if she could do it, so can I.’”

One of a tiny handful of women studying physics, she received five wedding proposals while at university, without having been on a date with any of her socially awkward suitors. She started at CSIRO in 1985, and navigated balancing family and career on her own.

“There was no one to model how to have a career and kids, but by the time I’d had my third child, I’d worked it out,” she says (she also helped to raise three stepchildren). Representation of women has changed significantly within the organisation, and Foley says it’s now unusual to be in a meeting or on a committee without a healthy gender balance. CSIRO’s whole-of-organisation balance sits at 41 per cent women overall, with the percentage of women in leadership roles having increased from 29 per cent in 2015 to 36 per cent today.

The mission of the CSIRO is to solve the greatest challenges through innovative science and technology. “It’s great working for an organisation where everyone understands why they’re there and how they’re contributing to it,” says Foley. Her role encompasses overseeing the varied strands of research, from artificial intelligence and astronomy to agriculture, food and the environment, and includes ensuring the highest standards of scientific integrity. Responsible for inventions as disparate as fast wi-fi and Aerogard, CSIRO is also focused on partnering with other research bodies, government and industry in order to have impact.

When asked for career advice for women, she goes back to the idea of resilience. “The main learning for me has been when things go wrong, don’t be a victim. As soon as you become a victim you’re giving your power away. Everyone has times when things don’t go your way and getting caught up in conspiracy theories and blame isn’t helpful. It’s better to frame it differently – to figure out ‘what can I learn and how can I move on?’ and work out your pathway forward from there.”

In the 2020 Queen’s Birthday Honours Foley was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for her distinguished service, including her contribution to the advancement of women in physics. Initially somewhat uneasy about the award, she was buoyed by a letter from the Prime Minister’s department explaining that the honours recognise those who demonstrate the Australian values of ‘compassion, civility, dedication, courage, kindness, tolerance and energetic ambition’. “That made me feel more comfortable,” she says. “If I can contribute to those values, then I feel really good about it.” Victoria Baker

“The main learning for me has been when things go wrong, don’t be a victim. As soon as you become a victim you’re giving your power away”

TECHNOLOGY

SALLY-ANN WILLIAMS, CEO, CICADA INNOVATIONS

As head of Cicada Innovations – an incubator for deep tech start-ups based in Sydney’s Eveleigh – Sally-Ann Williams could not have dreamed of the career she has built today. “I was actually the first in my family to finish high school and go to university and do a master’s degree,” she says. “For me, it wasn’t obvious what the opportunity was and it wasn’t visible.”

The support of mentors she met at university, coupled with a can-do attitude nurtured by her parents who owned a fruit and vegetable shop, led her to seize opportunities beyond her imagination. In 2006, she landed a role at Google and worked there for close to 13 years, starting as an engineer before eventually becoming executive program manager. There, Williams says, she felt emboldened to drive change at an individual level. “Anytime I saw a problem and had an inkling of how to solve it, I was empowered to go do it,” she recalls. “Global change is not something that is only the