10 Years of Girls Do The Maths

Last Friday 15 May, we hosted our annual Girls Do The Maths workshop for the 10th year running. This year saw an unprecedented number of registrations, with over 70 attendees.

Girls Do The Maths is aimed at female students finishing their high school studies (years 11 and 12), and hopes to inspire them to consider mathematics as a career. 

Among the participants were high school students from schools across Sydney and also regional NSW.

The day featured a range of speakers, including a welcome from Head of School Bruce Henry.

Our alumnus Michelle Dunbar, who is now a Vice Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Wollongong, gave a presentation about career paths, weaving in some of her own experiences.

Current PhD student Randell Heyman delighted the group of students during his engaging “Glimpse of University Maths” talk, where he demonstrated some maths tips and tricks.

Following morning tea, Catherine Greenhill gave an informative presentation on scholarships. Next on the agenda was a talk on Career Paths by our alumnus Emma Doolan, who has combined her passions to create a fulfilling and stimulating career in statistics and medicine.

Before lunch, the students were taken on a tour of the campus grounds.

The latter part of the workshop saw a presentation by David Warton on Choosing University Courses and Degrees. David’s talk, which highlighted his interests and academic journey, was well-received by the group. Last up was Frances Kuo, who despite having the challenge of holding the students’ attention at the end of the day, successfully achieved that with a description of her research and her educational and academic journey. She even had the students attempting a hands-on exercise!

Thank you to all of our attendees and speakers. A special thanks to Michelle Dunbar and Emma Doolan for taking time out of their busy schedules to be involved in this event at UNSW.

(Pictured from top left: Michelle Dunbar, Emma Doolan)