Celebrating UNSW Canberra’s Women in Research

School of Systems and Computing and School of Humanities and Social Sciences

Today’s images arise from many sources: digital cameras, film photo scans, photo editing software and now AI. Sabrina’s work with JPEG Trust (ISO/IEC 21617) is an international standard providing a framework for establishing trust in media and addresses mis- and dis-information in digital media. To take advantage of the beneficial outcomes of modern digital media, while lessening the negative outcomes, we need to know if we can trust the media we encounter.  JPEG Trust, the first trust standard, was published in January 2025.

School of Business 

Catherine’s research on 'Women in Transport' aims to generate evidence-based insights that support women’s participation and success in a male-dominated industry. With generous support from the Transport Education Audit Compliance Health Organisation (TEACHO), this research seeks to move beyond identifying challenges to highlight women’s strengths, motivations, and contributions to the transport industry. In doing so, the project aims to inform practical supports, organisational practices, and industrywide initiatives that can help women not only enter but thrive in transport careers. 

UNSW Canberra Space 

Lily’s research focuses on improving how we model spacecraft re‑entry and predict where debris will land. With hundreds of objects re‑entering Earth’s atmosphere each year, current models often rely on simplifications that reduce accuracy. Lily uses variance analysis to understand how these assumptions create uncertainty, helping to make spacecraft re‑entry safer and more reliable.

School of Engineering and Technology 

Maryam’s research develops robust, scalable ways to protect infrastructure from fire damage, combining computational modelling, experimental testing and AI‑enabled tools. Her work focuses on thermal‑fluid and energy systems, especially combustion science, to create safer, smarter and more resilient designs. As founder of the Pyrometric Laboratory at UNSW, Australia’s only facility for modular subsonic combustion wind‑tunnel testing, she has pioneered AI‑integrated models for flame spread, lithium‑ion battery thermal runaway and next‑generation thermal insulation.

School of Systems and Computing

Kathryn leads research at the intersection of artificial intelligence and robotics, developing innovative solutions for single‑ and multi‑robot systems. Her team works across swarm and developmental robotics, machine learning, optimisation, human‑robot interaction and trusted autonomy. Together, they’re creating intelligent robotic technologies and helping train the next generation of AI and robotics leaders.

School of Business

Vanessa is working with RMIT colleagues to examine women’s experiences in project management. Early findings show many struggle to be heard, face assumptions about lacking technical expertise, and have their decisions questioned. Some reported little support when addressing inappropriate behaviour, while others avoid asking for help to escape being labelled incompetent. The project aims to better understand these pressures and support more inclusive workplaces.

School of Business  

Katie’s project brings feminist and decolonising perspectives into sustainability and conservation, examining how care, responsibility and relational ways of knowing can reshape environmental practice. Her work challenges traditional, extractive approaches that have long marginalised women, Indigenous voices and other alternative ways of knowing, showing how lived experience offers more grounded and inclusive solutions. By centring care, reciprocity and relationship‑based leadership, the project highlights forms of knowledge and care work often overlooked in STEM‑dominated spaces and creates more space for women to lead environmental work differently.

School of Humanities and Social Sciences

Minako’s project, co‑authored with Indonesian scholar Amelia Fauzia, explores how women in Muslim‑majority societies build and sustain small businesses. Focusing on Indonesia, it draws on original fieldwork and media analysis to show how Islamic values, community networks and policy settings shape women’s entrepreneurship. The research challenges the idea of a single pathway to empowerment, revealing instead a range of context‑specific routes shaped by faith, social ties and work–life balance.