Beating the bias

Dr Morley Muse is an environmental engineer and co-founder of iSTEM Co, an organisation dedicated to increasing employment of CALD women in science. She is this week’s Changemaker. 

Dr Morley Muse holds many titles including chemical, environmental and renewable energy engineer and entrepreneur. She is also an advocate for increasing the visibility of women from diverse backgrounds in the science and technology field.

Muse studied engineering at the University of Nottingham and completed her master’s in sustainable power technology at the University of South Wales, before making the move overseas to Australia through the skilled migration program.

Here, she pursued further education, adding a PhD in renewable energy to her impressive portfolio, which led to positions in engineering consulting and construction with the likes of KPMG and the Metro Tunnel Project. However, it was a first-hand encounter with the biases women face in a male-dominated industry, particularly culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) women, that motivated her to help the community do better.

Alongside STEM Sisters’ Dr Ruwangi Fernando, Muse co-founded  iSTEM Co., a research, consulting and talent-sourcing business geared towards enabling employment and retention of women in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).

She is also board director for Women in STEMM Australia; former ambassador for CSIRO’s Innovation Catalyst Global, championing the Find Her tool that connects female STEM academics to industry; and advisory panel member for Elevate Women in STEM Program with the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering, which delivers university scholarships for women in STEM.

In this week’s Changemaker, Muse unpacks her contribution to clean energy, the impact of a string of big personal losses, and why she is advocating for more women of colour to beat the bias inherent in male-dominated industries.

What does this job mean to you?

iSTEM Co. is my way of ensuring a sustainable, diverse and inclusive way of work in STEM. 

I believe a lot in the importance of sustainability. Sustainable development is the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. If workplaces are not diverse or inclusive, we prevent the future generation from participating. This is very true for marginalised communities, as they say, you can’t be what you can’t see. 

Companies often push for diversity without proper places of inclusion, which in effect leads to higher attrition of their employees, especially those from marginalised communities costing these businesses financially. If the younger generation can’t see positive role models, then it becomes harder to get into those spaces, in this case, STEM.

What does a typical workday look like for you?

I have three boys so you can imagine what a typical day will be like! 

I get up at five in the morning, and take about 30 minutes to meditate and just energise myself by speaking words of affirmation and deciding what I want the day to be like. I then quickly review my emails and write a to-do list for the day, as well as organise my teamwork schedule on notion.

At 6.30am, I am off to the gym and use the spa afterwards for about an hour. Then I get back home, prepare the kids for the day, and drop them off for school. I am fortunate to have my mum-in-law, who is also my best friend, living with me so she supports me a lot. 

My day starts at nine with team meetings via Zoom, designing templates on Canva or strategising on the next project. The afternoon is filled with school pick-up, lunch and karate lessons for my son. I typically have my laptop with me so I am able to continue to work.

I tend to finish work at 6.30pm most nights, where I prepare dinner and put the kids to bed. I usually have a couple of hours to unwind and just relax with my partner, maybe binge a documentary or a sci-fi on Netflix, and the grind continues.

How does your PhD contribute to our understanding of clean energy?

I have always been interested in renewable energy and wanted to contribute to the field, so I applied for a PhD degree in Environmental Engineering which I completed in March 2021. 

My research focused on improving microalgae anaerobic hydrolysis/potential digestion using bacteria and enzymes. I also developed a unique technique to quantify microalgae pre-treatment methods, which is useful in understanding the cell strength of microalgae using high-speed homogenisation and extracted lipids after pre-treatment. 

Investigating and proposing an effective method of microalgae digestion will enable microalgae disposal from wastewater converting the waste to energy, and subsequently generating on-site electrical power for wastewater utilities. In addition, microalgae waste from wastewater can also be converted to biodiesel using a different process called transesterification.

How have you overcome an obstacle in your career?

I see obstacles as stepping stones. Whenever I encounter a challenge, I draw strength from the previous obstacle that became a success and that fuels me to forge ahead. 

One of the most difficult challenges I have had to navigate through my life as an engineer was the decision to pursue my PhD. This was particularly difficult because the opportunity came three weeks after having my first son. 

Being an immigrant and having family miles away from Australia, I was confronted with the decision to choose between my career and nurturing my family. Knowing the implication time away may have on my career, I wanted both, so I was determined to make things work. I am blessed with a very supportive husband so somehow, we were able to navigate through the challenge together. 

After beginning the program, I realised that there was yet another challenge – being a woman in a male-dominated area. To overcome this, I pioneered Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) at Victoria University to empower and support current female STEM students and encourage the younger girls to pursue STEM career paths. This really was the beginning of my leadership journey in STEM.

What are the challenges facing women entering into STEM professions, particularly women of colour?

Through my journey as the co-founder of WISE Club and its inaugural president, I had an insight into some key struggles that girls in STEM experience and the issue of gender equity. 

I wanted to contribute to this cause more broadly so I got in contact with Women in STEMM Australia (WISA) and began engaging with the organisation by bringing in ideas where I saw fit. WISA is a nationally and internationally recognised organisation that advocates for gender equity and equality in Australia’s STEM sector. Through WISA, I understood more broadly the barriers that women in STEM experience, ranging from gender stereotypes, lack of flexible employment, harassment, caring responsibilities, lack of mentoring or positive role modelling, gender pay gap, lack of female leaders and recruitment bias in hiring.

However, in my STEM leadership journey, I also realised that most conversations about gender equity often stop at gender without properly delving into the intersections of gender such as race, ethnicity and disability. I also knew that women of colour and women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in STEM experienced way more challenges but are overlooked. 

On top of the issues women experience, most women of colour or of culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds have to deal with issues around their accent, their country of origin, ethnicity and cultural identity. I also saw a lesser number of these women in STEM workplaces and began to wonder if this was due to a lack of qualification to gain suitable employment or a systemic issue. So I began to investigate further.

I found some very interesting statistics from Australia’s STEM Workforce Report by the Office of the Chief Scientist (2020) that were very alarming. The report shows that “there are only 29 per cent of the entire STEM workforce that identify as women and that 56 per cent of university-qualified females in STEM are Australian women born overseas but experience over four times higher unemployment rates”.

This really gave me the motivation I needed to address this problem because I knew that if nothing gets done, it will no doubt cascade to the next generation. I got in contact with Dr Ruwangi Fernando who had been addressing the issue of gender intersection in STEM through her advocacy and not-for-profit STEM sisters and together, we began iSTEM Co to address the access barriers to employment and retention for women in STEM including women of colour and women from CALD backgrounds.

What is your proudest professional achievement so far?

There are several proud moments that I have been fortunate to have.

One of the most memorable was being called on stage to receive my PhD during graduation. It was a very honourable moment for me for several reasons. I lost my mum 10 years ago. Then, during my PhD, at about seven months pregnant with my second son, I lost my eldest sister, who was a paediatric doctor back in Nigeria. I was devastated and just felt my world crumbling. 

My plan then was to complete my lab work quickly and use the time after delivery to write my thesis. After the loss, it was a very hard recovery but through the support of my family, I managed to cope. It was challenging especially as I had to take care of my newborn and three-year-old at the time. 

Somehow, I managed to complete the thesis, but two months before it was due, I lost my second sister. Now, I had lost three family members, had two kids to look after and had a PhD thesis to submit. I was devastated but drew strength from the fact that I am an extension of my late mum and sisters and that I was doing what they would have loved to do if they had the opportunity. So, receiving my PhD was a big accomplishment not for me alone, but for the community of people who stood by me. It is a journey of strength and resilience.

Also, being announced as the winner of the emerging leader in the STEM category for the Women’s Agenda 2022 awards was a very proud and shocking moment for me. Being a woman of colour and receiving such a prestigious award made me realise the impact of my work in the STEM community and filled me with so much gratitude to know that the younger generation of women in STEM would see me as a beam of hope and a positive role model. That really humbled me.

What motivates you to do social good?

I believe in life we are given so we can give and the cycle continues. This is what paying it forward means to me. The world is not poor. We have enough resources to go around if we choose to not be greedy. 

I am motivated by compassion and the need to see a better, diverse, inclusive and equitable world. Think about everything in nature – an animal or plant can have various varieties in terms of species and colour but is still the same. Diversity is the very core of nature so we should embrace it.

How do you relax after work?

I binge on Netflix documentaries, sci-fi or movies based on true stories. If it’s been a very hectic day, I head off to the spa or go for a walk with the family to the park, especially on weekends. I love nature so going to the beach or just a nature walk is always a plus for me.

What do you want your legacy to look like?

It has always been my desire to leave the world a much better place than I met it. 

I want to be known for transforming workplaces to be diverse and inclusive of all women in STEM regardless of race, ethnicity and social status. My goal is to promote gender equity in STEM and inspire the next generation to pursue STEM subjects and careers.