[ { "post_id": "488", "post_category_id": "13", "post_title": "2025 Pearcey Hall of Fame", "post_content_short": "Prof David Skellern AO<\/strong> and Dr Cathy Foley<\/strong> were inducted into the 2025 Pearcey Hall of Fame at the Pearcey\nNational Awards event. The presentations were part of the 70th anniversary of the University of Melbourne School of Computing and\nInformation Systems celebration evening held at Melbourne Connect on 21 November  2025.", "post_icon": "https:\/\/www.pearcey.org.au\/media\/website_posts\/488\/cathy-foley.jpg", "post_content_type": "page", "post_content_url": "https:\/\/www.pearcey.org.au\/awards\/national\/pearcey-hall-of-fame\/2025-pearcey-hall-of-fame\/", "post_date": "2025-11-21 09:00:00" }, { "post_id": "473", "post_category_id": "26", "post_title": "Grandmother of the Web", "post_content_short": "Guest blog by Barbara Ainsworth<\/em>
\n
\nMary Lee Woods<\/strong> enjoyed a short career in Australia at Mount\nStromlo. Her son, Tim Berners-Lee, is known as the “Father of the Web”. Mary accepted the name “Grandmother of the Web’. She should be\ncelebrated for her own career in programming.", "post_icon": "https:\/\/www.pearcey.org.au\/media\/website_posts\/473\/Mary-Lee-Berners-Lee-c.1940s-377x456.png", "post_content_type": "page", "post_content_url": "https:\/\/www.pearcey.org.au\/initiatives\/computing-history\/grandmother-of-the-web\/", "post_date": "2025-06-22 14:00:00" }, { "post_id": "423", "post_category_id": "36", "post_title": "Ada Lovelace Day 2023", "post_content_short": "Ada Lovelace Day<\/strong> honours all the innovative women in STEM, commemorating their ingenuity that has changed the course of\nhistory.
\n
\nProudly sponsored by the Pearcey Foundation.<\/em>
\n
\nThe Monash University Faculty of IT is exploring the role of Australian women in early digital computing – and the opportunities in the\nfuture. Join us for insightful speeches, a thought-provoking panel discussion and networking over a light lunch in our celebration ‘Australian\nwomen in IT yesterday, today and tomorrow<\/em>’\nwhich will be opened by Professor Ann Nicholson, the first female Dean of our faculty. It will then venture into the life of Ada\nLovelace and how women can carry on her legacy of impact today and tomorrow.", "post_icon": "https:\/\/www.pearcey.org.au\/media\/website_posts\/423\/Ada-Lovelace-1463x2294_transparent.png", "post_content_type": "url", "post_content_url": "https:\/\/www.monash.edu\/it\/events\/2023\/ada-lovelace-day", "post_date": "2023-10-04 05:25:00" }, { "post_id": "369", "post_category_id": "22", "post_title": "Her Story: Partnerships between Humans and Machines", "post_content_short": "Pearcey Conversations online seminar 12 October 2021 celebrated Ada Lovelace Day<\/strong> with a look at some remarkable\nachievements that women have made in STEM.", "post_icon": "https:\/\/www.pearcey.org.au\/media\/website_posts\/369\/conv-oct21-her-story.jpg", "post_content_type": "page", "post_content_url": "https:\/\/www.pearcey.org.au\/events\/conversations\/conversation-her-story\/", "post_date": "2021-10-12 05:00:00" }, { "post_id": "6", "post_category_id": "7", "post_title": "The IT Girl by Ann Moffatt", "post_content_short": "This is a remarkable book. It is frank, insightful and at times hard hitting.
\nIt traces the life, loves and career path, in UK and Australia, of a courageous and very competent woman from the earliest days of the computer age, through to the current times.", "post_icon": "https:\/\/www.pearcey.org.au\/media\/website_posts\/6\/IT-Girl-jpeg-cover.jpg", "post_content_type": "page", "post_content_url": "https:\/\/www.pearcey.org.au\/blog\/2020\/the-it-girl-by-ann-moffatt\/", "post_date": "2020-12-08 00:00:00" }, { "post_id": "211", "post_category_id": "7", "post_title": "Appointment of Dr Cathy Foley as Chief Scientist Australia", "post_content_short": "Dr Cathy Foley AO<\/strong>, currently CSIRO Chief Scientist, and from December 2020, will become Chief Scientist of Australia.\nCathy has made distinguished contributions to the understanding of superconducting materials and to the development of devices using\nsuperconductors for a number of applications including to detect magnetic fields and locate valuable deposits of minerals.", "post_icon": "https:\/\/www.pearcey.org.au\/media\/website_posts\/211\/Dr-Cathy-Foley.jpg", "post_content_type": "page", "post_content_url": "https:\/\/www.pearcey.org.au\/blog\/2020\/appointment-of-dr-cathy-foley-as-chief-scientist-australia\/", "post_date": "2020-11-09 09:00:00" }, { "post_id": "374", "post_category_id": "22", "post_title": "Celebrating Women's Contribution to Australia's Digital Age", "post_content_short": "Recognising the amazing contributions of female Australians to the digital age. Held on Ada Lovelace Day and supported by the Tech\nGirls Movement Foundation.", "post_icon": "https:\/\/www.pearcey.org.au\/media\/website_posts\/374\/conv-oct20-women-au.jpg", "post_content_type": "page", "post_content_url": "https:\/\/www.pearcey.org.au\/events\/conversations\/conversation-celebrating-womens-contribution\/", "post_date": "2020-10-13 03:00:00" }, { "post_id": "8", "post_category_id": "3", "post_title": "A letter to my younger self, Helen Vorrath", "post_content_short": "Guest blog by Helen Vorrath
<\/em>
\nSo you’ve decided to become an IT professional when you grow up? Good choice! You’ve already discovered the satisfaction of getting a\nprogram to work – that will continue to excite you for the rest of your life. You’ll also find that debugging the things that don’t work is\nequally rewarding.", "post_icon": "https:\/\/www.pearcey.org.au\/media\/website_posts\/8\/a-letter-to-my-younger-self-Helen-Vorrath.jpg", "post_content_type": "page", "post_content_url": "https:\/\/www.pearcey.org.au\/blog\/2020\/a-letter-to-my-younger-self-helen-vorrath\/", "post_date": "2020-10-12 00:00:00" }, { "post_id": "7", "post_category_id": "3", "post_title": "A letter to my younger self, Ann Moffatt", "post_content_short": "Guest blog by Ann Moffatt
<\/em>
\nThis is an extract from Ann Moffatt’s book, The IT Girl, which is to be published in November 2020.", "post_icon": "https:\/\/www.pearcey.org.au\/media\/website_posts\/7\/a-letter-to-my-younger-self-Ann-Moffatt.jpg", "post_content_type": "page", "post_content_url": "https:\/\/www.pearcey.org.au\/blog\/2020\/a-letter-to-my-younger-self-ann-moffatt\/", "post_date": "2020-10-12 00:00:00" }, { "post_id": "9", "post_category_id": "7", "post_title": "Gender no barrier for Dr Skaidrite Darius", "post_content_short": "This graduation season, we are proud to announce that Skaidrite Darius has received an honorary doctorate from the ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science.\n", "post_icon": "https:\/\/www.pearcey.org.au\/media\/website_posts\/9\/ARchivesWEBone.jpg", "post_content_type": "page", "post_content_url": "https:\/\/www.pearcey.org.au\/blog\/2020\/gender-no-barrier-for-dr-skaidrite-darius\/", "post_date": "2020-09-28 00:00:00" }, { "post_id": "10", "post_category_id": "7", "post_title": "A legacy of computing excellence – Jan Kornweibel", "post_content_short": "From the start she thrived on this new technology that used abstract logic, and still relishes looking back at those early,
\nadventurous days with all card systems and low-level programming languages.\n", "post_icon": "https:\/\/www.pearcey.org.au\/media\/website_posts\/10\/Jan-Kornweibel-ACS-square.jpg", "post_content_type": "page", "post_content_url": "https:\/\/www.pearcey.org.au\/blog\/2020\/a-legacy-of-computing-excellence-jan-kornweibel\/", "post_date": "2020-09-24 00:00:00" }, { "post_id": "15", "post_category_id": "7", "post_title": "Girls, computers and rocket science.", "post_content_short": "Guest blog by Barbara Ainsworth<\/em>\n

\n\tA huge opportunity arose in the heady days of Australian rocket science research in the mid-twentieth century for female mathematicians. Job\n\topportunities for female mathematics graduates were not common apart from teaching but there was an alternative. In the 1950s a girl could\n\tbecome a Computer, that is, a human computer who performs mathematical calculations rather than a digital, electronic computer.\n\n
", "post_icon": "https:\/\/www.pearcey.org.au\/media\/website_posts\/15\/WIT-1.jpg", "post_content_type": "page", "post_content_url": "https:\/\/www.pearcey.org.au\/blog\/2020\/girls-computers-and-rocket-science\/", "post_date": "2020-06-30 00:00:00" }, { "post_id": "220", "post_category_id": "75", "post_title": "Dr Jenine Beekhuyzen awarded OAM", "post_content_short": "Dr Jenine Beekhuyzen, creator of the Tech Girls Are Superheroes campaign, was awarded  the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in the\nQueens Birthday Honours List for "service to information technology, and to women".", "post_icon": "https:\/\/www.pearcey.org.au\/media\/website_posts\/220\/Jenine-Beekhuyzen.jpg", "post_content_type": "page", "post_content_url": "https:\/\/www.pearcey.org.au\/blog\/2020\/dr-jenine-beekhuyzen-awarded-oam\/", "post_date": "2020-06-08 13:30:00" }, { "post_id": "226", "post_category_id": "7", "post_title": "Recognition for Alison Harcourt AO", "post_content_short": "Alison Harcourt<\/strong> (nee Doig<\/em>) is an alumnus and past staff member of the University of Melbourne. At 89 years of\nage, she is still tutoring at the University in her speciality field of mathematics, namely Statistics. Alison was recognised in this\nyear's Queens Birthday Honours list with an Order of Australia. The Pearcey Foundation honours Ms Harcourt for a lifelong commitment to\nmathematics.", "post_icon": "https:\/\/www.pearcey.org.au\/media\/website_posts\/226\/Alison-Harcourt.jpg", "post_content_type": "page", "post_content_url": "https:\/\/www.pearcey.org.au\/blog\/2019\/recognition-for-alison-harcourt-ao\/", "post_date": "2019-06-12 13:15:00" }, { "post_id": "235", "post_category_id": "27", "post_title": "Vale Brenda Aynsley OAM", "post_content_short": "A very brave Australian stalwart of the ICT industry has left us. Brenda was a pioneer in promoting women in ICT by example. Based in\nAdelaide, she influenced our national and international reputation over a sustained lifetime of commitment including a two year role as\nPresident of the Australian Computer Society (2013-2015).", "post_icon": "https:\/\/www.pearcey.org.au\/media\/website_posts\/235\/Brenda-Ansley-OAM.jpg", "post_content_type": "page", "post_content_url": "https:\/\/www.pearcey.org.au\/blog\/2018\/vale-brenda-aynsley-oam\/", "post_date": "2018-08-12 13:30:00" }, { "post_id": "244", "post_category_id": "7", "post_title": "Innovation in a handout culture", "post_content_short": "Sandy Plunkett is perplexed by how entrenched Australia's \"waiting for government\" mindset is<\/strong>\n

\n\tWhen economists Paul Frijters and Gigi Foster released a study in\n\t2015<\/a>arguing\n\tAustralia was a plutocracy where our richest amass their wealth by political connections rather than innovative endeavour, the struggling\n\ttech startup community should have been all over the data.\n", "post_icon": "https:\/\/www.pearcey.org.au\/media\/website_posts\/244\/Sandy-Plunkett-2017.jpg", "post_content_type": "page", "post_content_url": "https:\/\/www.pearcey.org.au\/blog\/2017\/innovation-in-a-handout-culture\/", "post_date": "2017-07-12 08:52:00" }, { "post_id": "245", "post_category_id": "28", "post_title": "Beware the wolves of Silicon Valley", "post_content_short": "Sandy Plunkett shares her perspective on recent industry events and calls out how money, fame, power and hubris inevitably brings\nwith it bad behaviour<\/strong>", "post_icon": "https:\/\/www.pearcey.org.au\/media\/website_posts\/245\/gender-balance.jpg", "post_content_type": "page", "post_content_url": "https:\/\/www.pearcey.org.au\/blog\/2017\/beware-the-wolves-of-silicon-valley\/", "post_date": "2017-07-06 08:54:00" } ]