WEDNESDAY AUGUST 27, MELBOURNE: Victorian women in science along with industry and the Victorian economy will all benefit from an innovative industry internship program being launched today by veski and APR.Intern.
Supported by the Office of the Lead Scientist, the partnership will connect female honours and masters students — fostering high-end quantitative and analytical research expertise — with Victorian industry and government agencies to address a research problem currently facing their organisation.
The inspiring women industry internships are part of a new initiative to support, advance and inform Victorian women through partnerships with government, industry and academia.
The program will also provide eligible Victorian SMEs, government agencies and large businesses across all industry sectors with access to one of ten funding grants supported by the Victorian Government.
veski chief executive officer, Ms Julia L Page says: “The veski inspiring women program is action-focused and delivers a suite of integrated initiatives including fellowships, industry internships and a dedicated web portal as well as professional development and networking activities.”
“The inspiring women internships allow female students to transfer their skills from theory to real-world application, while companies gain a competitive advantage by accessing high-quality research expertise.”
As part of the program, veski will also deliver professional development and networking events to support women involved in the industry internships and ensure they are ‘job ready’.
Research projects will be four months duration with a focus on STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), and all IP will remain with the organisation.
Cate Ballard, National Program Manager, APR.Intern says: “Victorian industry and government will also gain access to, and benefit from, the specialist knowledge of the students’ academic mentor.”
Victorian Government Lead Scientist, Ms Leonie Walsh says: “These internships will not only provide career choice for female scientists, they will promote links between academia and industry and help meet the current and future skills needs of the state.”
About veski
Since 2004, veski has delivered a dynamic program of fellowships, awards and international networks to inspire innovation across Australia and support outstanding scientists and leading researchers and their families. The program includes five of Victoria’s most prestigious science and innovation awards: the veski innovation fellowships; the Premier’s Award for Health & Medical Research; the Victoria Prize for Science & Innovation and the Victoria Fellowships; and the Victorian Postdoctoral Research Fellowships. veski is supported by and collaborates with government, industry, academia and philanthropic organisations and also delivers an inspiring students (& teachers) program. www.veski.org.au/inspiring-women
About APR.Intern
APR.Intern is an innovative university and industry collaboration that connects business and other organisations to the vast research expertise in Australia’s universities. APR.Intern is a national program that links postgraduate students and their university supervisors across all disciplines with industry partners through short-term (four to five month) tightly focused partner research internships. The postgraduate student is supported by an academic mentor from the host university throughout the internship placement period. aprintern.org.au
veski contact:
Jack Walden
PR & Media Consultant
0428 300 090
jack@thecword.com.au
APR.Intern Media contact:
Mari Ericksen
Marketing and Communications Manager
0434 252 695
mari@amsi.org.au
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