Speaking of Change brings the voices of Pymble women to the forefront from our Principal Dr Kate Hadwen to well-known alumna, Melissa Doyle and gold medallist Chloe Dalton to leaders of industry such as Melanie Kuzidlo.

This podcast explores the ways we can help advance gender equality and unleash the power of young women in Australia – and across the globe.

Episode One

Host Melissa Doyle speaks to Dr Hadwen about empowering the women of the future and the steps we can take every day to help Break the Bias.

Episode Two

Dr Hadwen speaks to Pymble alumna Chloe Dalton OAM – Olympic gold medallist, one of Australia’s few triple sport elite athletes, physiptherapist and founder of the Female Athlete Project – about her career highs and lows, women in sport and how it’s time for Australia’s elite female athletes to be paid a living wage.

Episode Three

In this episode, Dr Hadwen speaks to Pymble alumna Melanie Kurzydio – senior executive in the property and construction industry, thought leader, board director and diversity and inclusion champion.  A winner of the 2019 NAWIC (National Association of Women in Construction) Crystal Vision Award for the advancement of women, Melanie speaks to Dr Kate Hadwen about the power of visualising your own success and understanding your individual value in traditionally male-dominated industries.

Episode Four

In this episode of Speaking of Change, Dr, Kate Hadwen speaks to award- winning journalist and best-selling parenting author, Madonna King, about parenting, politics, anti-bullying, education and the importance of experiencing failure in shaping teenage girls into remarkable young women.

Episode Five

In this episode of Speaking of Change, Dr, Kate Hadwen speaks to Emeritus Professor Donna Cross OAM, an internationally renowned academic and educator recently appointed as Chief Behaviour Advisor NSW. Donna is a leader in the field of children’s and adolescents’ mental health, wellbeing and behaviour. In this inspiring episode she shares how she was inspired to change the world for children everywhere.

Episode Six

Kate Hadwen interviews Dr. Susan Mendez, Senior Research Fellow at the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research. Dr Mendez’s research on patterns of study between Australian girls in single-sex schools and co-educational schools showed that girls in single-sex schools are more likely to study physics, advanced mathematics and chemistry as school students and at university.

Susan is an economist (Ph.D. University of Zurich) with a special interest in competition policy and the organisation and regulation of healthcare markets. She is committed to fostering informed discussions on public policy and actively engages with government, private industry, and community groups and provides research services to institutions such as the World Bank, the Australian Department of Health, and the Victorian Department of Education.

Episode Seven

Kate Hadwen interviews Dr My Tran, Research Fellow at the National Centre for Health Workforce Studies at the Australian National University, about her research which found that girls attending Australian single-sex schools are more likely than girls attending co-educational schools are more likely to study traditionally male-dominated STEM subjects at school and at university.

My’s research journey began as an undergraduate student studying economics at the University of Queensland. During this time, she participated in various projects examining gender differences in choices of subjects and university degrees. She enjoyed this so much she decided to do an honours year, where she found she was the only female in her class. This led to her decision to examine gender differences in student preferences in STEM subjects between single-sex and co-educational schools.

Episode Eight

Kate Hadwen interviews one of Australia’s leading academics and former Pymble student Professor Alison Booth, whose research discovered that single-sex classes lead to better results for female university students compared to those from co-educational schools .

Alison is Professor of Economics at the Australian National University, a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia and the Econometrics Society. She is also a research Fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research in London, the Institute of Labor Economics in Bon and the Institute for Employment research in Nuremberg. Alison received her PHD from the London school of Economics and her current research interests include cultural influences on economic preferences and their impact on economic outcomes, and the economics of gender.