Women across Wildlife Health Australia who play essential roles in enabling and strengthening science are being recognised as part of this year’s International Day of Women and Girls in STEM.
WHA’s work to build resilient systems, amplify the needs of wildlife, create and share knowledge, and embed One Health requires scientific excellence alongside support systems that make that possible.
“There’s an enormous amount of coordination and effort that happens quietly and often invisibly in the background at WHA —finance, compliance, recruitment, systems, wellbeing support, and day‑to‑day operational problem‑solving”, says Head of Administration, People and Culture, Trish Hennessy-Hawks.
“When these things work seamlessly, our operations teams are enabled to focus on their programs and projects to achieve WHA’s strategic goals – our women in STEM, they’re achieving amazing things.”
The team at WHA also benefits greatly from Trish’s expertise as a national leader in Mental Health First Aid and delivering support initiatives. Trish has been appointed to the Advisory Group which provides insights to guide Mental Health First Aid International’s programs and initiatives – the Australian based not-for-profit for accredited mental health training programs.
“I lead a proactive approach to wellbeing to reduce burnout, improve resilience and help teams maintain consistency and quality in their work, especially during high‑pressure periods,” says Trish.
“When people feel safe and supported, they thrive - and this ripples out to be felt by the organisations and agencies WHA partners with for a healthier future for all.”
WHA Administration Assistants Stacey Alexander and Avanthi Dawe also provide vital support to the scientific and operational teams working towards WHA’s vision for healthy wildlife, healthy planet.
“STEM work depends on focus, accuracy and timelines,” says Stacey.
"We handle the logistics and unseen tasks that let the science and operations teams do their jobs. By managing details, anticipating needs, and creating order this enables the rest of the team to focus on what matters most – wildlife health,” says Stacey.
No two days are the same for Avanthi, whose work is across “managing almost all of the focus groups, to building stronger operational foundations and infrastructure, I.T work including webpage design, and administrative work”.
“Having a healthy ecosystem for all is what motivates me in my job,” she says.
“It is crucial for the cogs to keep turning behind the scenes so that those within WHA, who are front of stage in STEM, can do their job effectively to build awareness about wildlife health and One Health,” she says.
As part of WHA’s own ecosystem, Trish, Stacey and Avanthi are essential. Together with our scientific teams, they are advancing wildlife health for a healthier future for all.