STEAM ahead

SCIENCE

DR CATHY FOLEY AO, CHIEF SCIENTIST, CSIRO

Cathy Foley is disarmingly modest. As the chief scientist of Australia’s national scientific research agency, past president of the Australian Institute of Physics, a world-class research physicist in her own right, and the winner of awards too numerous to list, she has plenty to be proud of. But as the middle child of seven, the healthy teasing from older brothers taught her to avoid any hint of airs and graces, and she also credits her resilience to her upbringing in a large family. Her mother, who died when Foley was young, was an architect with her own practice at a time when this was rare. “I just had this idea that women persevere,” says Foley. “I thought, ‘if she could do it, so can I.’”

“The main learning for me has been when things go wrong, don’t be a victim. As soon as you become a victim you’re giving your power away”

One of a tiny handful of women studying physics, she received five wedding proposals while at university, without having been on a date with any of her socially awkward suitors. She started at CSIRO in 1985, and navigated balancing family and career on her own. “There was no one to model how to have a career and kids, but by the time I’d had my third child, I’d worked it out,” she says (she also helped to raise three stepchildren). Representation of women has changed significantly within the organisation, and Foley says it’s now unusual to be in a meeting or on a committee without a healthy gender balance. CSIRO’s whole-of-organisation balance sits at 41 per cent women overall, with the percentage of women in leadership roles having increased from 29 per cent in 2015 to 36 per cent today.

The mission of the CSIRO is to solve the greatest challenges through innovative science and technology. “It’s great working for an organisation where everyone understands why they’re there and how they’re contributing to it,” says Foley. Her