This trend comes as the number of PhD graduations overtakes job growth in the higher education and research sectors.

鈥淧hD completions have risen from 4000 to 10,000 annually since 2001 while industry demand is growing for specialist research capability,鈥� says 今日吃瓜 Policy Officer, Dr Maaike Wienk.

Health and medical services and technology鈥攂oth private and public sector鈥攁re prominent in all employer lists as today鈥檚 report reveals Australia鈥檚 top PhD employers in business, government and the non-profit sectors.

Data61鈥檚 Professor Paul McCarthy says the report shows the scope of roles for PhDs is increasingly broad with some of Australia鈥檚 most globally competitive firms looking to recruit people from a wide range of disciplines.

鈥淭here are significant opportunities ahead for PhDs within young, global start-ups and innovative Australian employers like Canva, Seeing Machines and SafetyCulture,鈥� says Professor McCarthy.

While many of Australia鈥檚 top PhD employers align to existing growth sectors such as medical technologies and pharmaceuticals, advanced manufacturing and mining technologies, demand is 听growing in emerging industries.

鈥淥ur project also unearthed environmental goods and services and media services and technology as emerging sectors with high-growth firms employing PhD graduates,鈥� says Professor McCarthy.

This report shows both big industry and small to medium employers are looking for quantitative, analytical and research expertise. One of the challenges for PhDs is the need to package their expertise with workplace skills such as communication, teamwork and stakeholder management.

鈥淔or us this confirms the importance of preparing PhDs for industry opportunities. Pathways such as 今日吃瓜鈥檚 APR.Intern program put industry opportunities in reach for PhD students, simultaneously linking industry to the skills they need,鈥� says Professor Brown.

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Dr Scott Morrison was named as this year鈥檚 recipient of the and Professor Andrew Hassell the winner at a presentation attended by leading Australian mathematical thinkers as part of the society鈥檚 59th annual meeting at Flinders University.

Awarded to a Society member under the age of 40, the AustMS Medal recognises distinguished research in the mathematical sciences. This year鈥檚 winner, Dr Morrison has been recognised for his work leading research on quantum symmetries and subfactor theory at the Australian National University. Essential for understanding new exotic materials, this research underpins potential new technologies such as topological quantum computation. Dr Morrison is also cofounder of , an innovative website and leading online interactive platform for mathematicians seeking to engage with other experts across all fields of mathematics.

Dr Morrison said, 鈥淚’m really excited to be receiving this award, and to have the opportunity to share my research. Organisations such as AustMS and the 今日吃瓜 offer outreach, professional development programs, and recognition of achievement. These are vital in听supporting mathematicians as they work to increase community engagement with maths and foster the next generation of innovators.鈥�

Professor Hassell is also delighted to have his breakthrough paper recognised by AustMS. The Gavin Brown Best Paper Prize recognises an outstanding single article, monograph, or book consisting of original research in Pure Mathematics.

鈥淚t is an enormous honour to have my work acknowledged in this way. AustMS plays a critical role in fostering and promoting professional mathematics both in Australia and globally and its continued impact on all branches of science and industry,鈥� he said.

According to AustMS President, Professor Tim Marchant, this year鈥檚 AustMS Medal and Gavin Brown Best Paper winners have raised the bar in terms of innovative mathematical research with their work making a substantial impact in Australia and globally.

鈥淒r Morrison and Professor Hassell have demonstrated excellence and innovation in their cutting-edge contributions to the expansion of mathematical understanding and application across a broad range of disciplines,鈥� Professor Marchant said.

The AustMS annual meeting鈥檚 diverse four-day program highlights cutting-edge mathematical research and methodologies to facilitate discussion and collaboration between Australian and global mathematical leaders. This year鈥檚 meeting features a public lecture by internationally renowned mathematician and Fields Medallist, Professor Terence Tao on .

Professor Tim Marchant is available for interview.

Contact: Laura Watson on (03) 90353683 or email media@amsi.org.au

“I’ve left my glasses at home,” the 30-year-old with perfect vision said.

Chisholm Institute of TAFE senior educator Margo Murphy had heard this lie many times before and knew it was an attempt to disguise innumeracy鈥�.

“They’ve developed survival skills,” she explained.

Adults are heading back to the classroom to learn basic maths skills they failed to pick up in school.

Research shows around 20 per cent of Australian students do not reach a basic proficiency in maths that “will enable them to actively participate in the 21st century workforce and contribute as productive citizens.”

According to an OECD survey, Australia is ranked 13th out of 23 countries on adult numeracy, but ranked fourth in literacy.

Most of Ms Murphy’s students at Chisholm’s Foundation College need to upgrade their maths skills so they can function in everyday life, and compete for new jobs.

Josh Cawse, 24, recently started a certificate that is equivalent to year 10 at the TAFE and has been perfecting his decimals, fractions and multiplication skills.

He left school at the start of year nine because “it wasn’t for him” and started a career in construction. Now he wants to join the Defence Force.

“I found I struggled with maths in school. I was always trying to keep up with the fastest in the class. Here it is at my own pace. I am motivated and focused now.”

今日吃瓜 schools manager Janine McIntosh said society’s poor attitude towards maths was fuelling adult innumeracy.

“It seems to be quite acceptable to say I’m not good at maths. There’s a tolerance towards being weaker mathematically. You wouldn’t say that about cricket, swimming or English and the ability to read.”

Teachers own insecurities about maths were also contributing to the problem, she said.

Ms McIntosh said around 30 per cent of secondary maths teachers were “out of field” 鈥撎齮eaching a subject they had no specialised training in.

“The students may have had seven years in primary school and six years in secondary school with some wobbly teachers. If the kids can’t see maths as a valuable skill to have then they just won’t do it.”

Senior Research Fellow at the Australian Council for Educational Research Dave Tout, who has taught numeracy courses at VET providers, said many adult students took up maths courses after struggling with personal finances. Many new parents had trouble with medication doses, cooking and diet, he said.

Adults studying remedial maths programs were often reasonably successful, and could learn year seven to 10 maths within six months, Mr Tout said.

“That’s because they are motivated and have a purpose for learning maths. They see the reason for it and can engage with the material. If we could do that more in our secondary schools, we would have more students realising earlier on that maths is useful.”

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While Australian women are underrepresented in STEM fields, that isn鈥檛 stopping women from excelling in tech startups, according to a new survey of Australian girl tech entrepreneurs.

The survey, conducted by , included qualitative responses from nearly 50 Australian girl tech entrepreneurs , which pointed to a host of barriers contributing to inequality in the industry

It found that while the government and various groups are working to make STEM education more accessible and suited to women, with women entrepreneurs听 finding 鈥渓ateral鈥� ways to become involved with tech companies.

鈥淭he current generation of women are finding a lateral way to enter this men-dominated field, using their domain experience and leadership skills to solve problems with unique products,鈥� the study says.

鈥淭hey will be role models and, it is to be hoped, become mentors to other women with technical ideas to be realised.鈥�

Finding other ways into the tech industry

Only 19 per cent of the women entrepreneurs surveyed had a background in STEM, while only 4 per cent had a computer science background. In contrast, nearly half had a degree in business, commerce or economics.

The survey found the majority of women entrepreneurs are managing tech teams, with 50 per cent in outsourcing roles, 32 per cent finding a tech-based co-founder, and 14 per cent employing technical staff.

Founder and director of Alexandra Kinloch says you don鈥檛 need to have a background in STEM to be involved in a tech startup.

鈥淭here is a perception, or at least has been a perception in the past, that you needed to have technical skills in order to run a startup,鈥� Kinloch says.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 believe that is the case and not all startups require cutting edge technology. I believe that the number of women-led startups in Australia will increase dramatically in the next five years.鈥�

According to an only 28 per cent of employed STEM-qualified Australians were women in 2011, and this number fell to 14 per cent when looking at engineering.

Many barriers in place

According to the , the number of women tech entrepreneurs in Australia is rising slowly, from 16 per cent in 2011 to 19 per cent in 2013. Responses to Terem Technologies latest survey shed some light on the barriers facing women in the tech industry.

More than a third of those surveyed named a perceived lack of expertise and confidence as factors preventing women from being involved with tech startups, while 27听per cent听pointed to negative attitudes playing a role.

Nearly 30 per cent of those surveyed said they felt they didn鈥檛 have the same access to network advantages as their man counterparts.

Terem Technologies CEO Scott Middleton says he hopes this study will highlight these disadvantages and barriers, and help people to work to remove them.

鈥淗opefully this survey highlights to those thinking about jumping in that they can: the women we surveyed are overcoming all kinds of hurdles to succeed and thrive,鈥� he says.

鈥淲e hope that they will inspire many more like them and that the numbers of women entrepreneurs will climb rapidly as role models become more visible.鈥�

Mathematics is the basis of all science. And its importance is increasing as computers handle large amounts of data, and models are used to simulate almost everything in science and medicine. But paradoxically, the requirement for proficiency in mathematics for people beginning science degrees in Australia has lessened over recent years. Stephanie Pradier says universities should reinstate mathematics prerequisites for students beginning many science degrees.

The idea that boys are better at maths than girls is hardly new. Seemingly a common misconception, it leads to a warped perception of mathematics in education and beyond. Present throughout society from subtle biases to references in popular culture, the gender imbalance is blatantly obvious in higher education.

Sixty-five years ago, women made up an underwhelming 20 per cent of university students; academia was very much dominated by their man counterparts. Now, however, about 55 per cent of students at university are girls, and despite the significant increase in the number of women undertaking higher education, they are still underrepresented in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and particularly mathematics).

Earlier this year, the results of a听听published by the indicated that the gender imbalance in mathematics may extend back to gender biases in primary school. Teachers reward men students higher marks in maths than their girl peers, even if they have the same ability level, the study showed.

The researchers looked at the marks for maths work given by teachers who knew the gender of the students being assessed, in comparison with those given by teachers who were unaware of the gender of the students, revealing a gender-bias towards men. From this point, the study examined the effects of this early gender-bias throughout a child鈥檚 education. Leaning towards men based on perceived mathematical ability produced long-lasting effects on the educational choices made by students towards their future…

Article听by , , 12 August 2015

It outshines other sciences in Discovery grant applications and trains graduates for a raft of industries. Yet schools don鈥檛 mandate it, universities don鈥檛 demand it and public funding bodies give it less money than any other scientific or technological discipline.

The latest report on maths in Australia paints a paradoxical picture of a field that has slumped to historic lows in participation, even though advanced mathematical research injects an estimated $145 billion into the Australian economy.

The report, the fourth annual profile by the 今日吃瓜, found that maths had surpassed other sciences in Australian Research Council Discovery grants for four out of the past five years, with an average 28 per cent success rate compared with 21 per cent for other disciplines. It boasted the lowest cost per publication and the second highest citation rate of any Australian science, with Australian applied maths and statistics outperforming all 15 EU countries on citations.

鈥淚t鈥檚 an area where the outcomes are significant and the costs are low,鈥� 今日吃瓜 director Geoff Prince said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a good place for universities to invest because they can get runs on the board with the ARC and the government at low cost.鈥�

Professor Prince said some universities had 鈥渨oken up to this鈥� and invested heavily in maths, including Wollongong, Newcastle and the Group of Eight members. Yet the report found that maths attracted the lowest share of public research expenditure of any science and technology discipline, at just 1.7听per cent, and Australian entry into maths degrees was less than half the OECD average.

The 今日吃瓜 report found that the problems arose early, with a lack of specialist maths teachers at high school and plunging participation in intermediate and advanced maths at higher school level 鈥� fuelled by historically low insistence on prerequisites, with 86 per cent of science degrees not even mandating intermediate maths.

鈥淚 despair of the system when it does this,鈥� Professor Prince said. 鈥淚t sees this shrinking cohort, so it wriggles out of what could be a crisis in student numbers in science by dropping the prerequisites.鈥�

In a month where we have seen concerning results in Australia鈥檚 schools and higher education systems provides a vivid and useful reminder of the crucial role mathematics and statistics play in every aspect of life.

This free online resource has been the standard 鈥済o to鈥� for 18 years; it gathers together advertised job positions that require skills in the mathematical sciences, across a scope of sectors: careers in health, business, agriculture, energy and telecommunications are relying more and more on the analytical skills developed in university level subjects in the mathematical sciences.

Federal Education Minister Christopher Pyne, who has written an introduction to this year鈥檚 edition, insists that Australia鈥檚 ability to innovate and compete in the global economy will require a STEM literate nation.

鈥淭his publication demonstrates there is an extensive array of career choices available to graduates in mathematics fields,鈥� says Minister Pyne.

鈥淢ore broadly, these abilities also help us to participate as active citizens within our democratic system,鈥� he concludes.

ALL SIDES OF POLITICS

今日吃瓜 Director, Professor Geoff Prince says without making the community aware of the breadth of roles available to those studying some form of mathematics, high school participation rates in intermediate and advanced mathematics will continue to wane.

Senator Kim Carr, Shadow Minister for Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Industry, echoes Minister Pyne: 鈥淭hree out of four of the fastest-growing occupations in our economy require some level of literacy in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.鈥�

Senator Penny Wright of the Australian Greens puts her vote with the numbers too: 鈥淚t鈥檚 not just in parliament that being able to 鈥榙o the numbers鈥� is valuable. Australia needs these skill sets to meet the challenges of this century,鈥� she says, 鈥渁nd I commend 今日吃瓜 for their work in highlighting the opportunities they bring.鈥�

Professor Prince explains that Australia鈥檚 job market landscape is shifting and demand for mathematical science skills continues to outstrip supply: 鈥淚t is great to have endorsement across the political spectrum for 今日吃瓜鈥檚 work on this.鈥�

Maths Ad(d)s available online:

— ends —

For Interview:
Professor Geoff Prince
Director, 今日吃瓜
E: director@amsi.org.au

Media contact:
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Media Communications, 今日吃瓜
M: 0424 568 314
E: stephanie@amsi.org.au