Removing mentoring mysteries – Guidance and tips from top STEM leaders
Date: Wednesday 23 July 2025
Time: 1:00pm - 2:00pm AEST
Are you searching for a mentor to support your professional development, but don’t know where to start? Join us for a conversation with ATSE CEO Kylie Walker and former Chief Scientist Dr Cathy Foley AO PSM FTSE FAA to learn the secrets of a thriving mentoring relationship.
Kylie and Cathy are hugely experienced and highly regarded mentors. They have extensive experience helping up-and-coming talent find and get the most from mentorship with industry leaders. Reflecting on their own experience, they will discuss just how to seek-out, build and nurture a mentoring relationship. The skills you learn here will help you through your whole career.
What you’ll take away from the session:
- How to find the right mentor for you (and what to avoid)
- What a mentoring relationship looks like and how to grow it
- The dos and don’ts to a successful mentoring relationship.
Kylie Walker
Chief Executive Officer, Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE)
Kylie is the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering. She works with Australia’s leaders in applied science, technology and engineering to advise decision-makers, lead crucial national conversations to solve complex challenges, and support Australia’s technology-powered, human-driven future.
She’s been Chair of the Australian National Commission for UNESCO, is a member of Chief Executive Women, and has been named one of AFR’s 100 Women of Influence for her work on improving equity, diversity and inclusion in STEM.
Dr Cathy Foley AO PSM FTSE FAA
Former Chief Scientist of Australia
Dr Cathy Foley AO PSM was Australia’s ninth Chief Scientist from January 2021 until 2024. Prior to this Dr Foley had a long career at Australia’s national science agency, the CSIRO, including as the agency’s Chief Scientist. Dr Foley is an internationally recognised physicist with major research achievements in superconductors and sensors which lead to the development of the LANDTEM sensor system to locate valuable deposits of minerals deep underground.
Dr Foley’s scientific excellence and influential leadership have been recognised with numerous awards and fellowships, an Order of Australia for service to research science and to the advancement of women in physics. She is a Fellow of Australian Academy of Technological Science and Engineering (2008) and is an inspiration to women in STEM across the globe, with her tireless championship for equality and diversity in the STEM sector.
