Dr Ashna Basu
Ashna is a psychiatric registrar, working at Prince of Wales Hospital after a six-month secondment to Tweed Hospital. Her first years as a doctor were during the COVID pandemic, during which she also authored a daily newsletter for healthcare workers that had more than 1,700 subscribers, designed to share accurate information and alleviate anxiety during the pandemic. She also served as the President of the Resident Medical Officers’ Association at her hospital, where she was awarded 2021 Junior Medical Officer of the Year.
While at medical school at UNSW, Ashna was President of the NSW Medical Students’ Council and sat on the board of Arc@UNSW, where she chaired the Student Development Committee. One of key achievements at university was co-authoring the inaugural UNSW Student Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy.
She has taken on numerous other representative positions, including Chair of the Young Branch of the Medical Women’s International Association (representing all medical women under the age of 40 globally), President of Medical Women’s Society of NSW and Member Representative on the Australian Medical Association of NSW’s Doctors-in-Training Committee. Her representative experience and experience on the board of Arc@UNSW led her to co-found Pink Sparrow, an innovative charity which helps not-for-profits improve their governance and maximise their impact.
Ashna is passionate about research and sits on the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatry’s Committee for Research as the sole Trainee Representative and is an Associate Trainee Editor on the Australasian Psychiatry editorial board. Her research on internet delivered cognitive accessible mental health treatment (iCBT) led to her being one of 75 scholars from around the globe invited to Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Healthcare Innovation Bootcamp.
As both a medical student and junior doctor, she has advocated for equitable healthcare for transgender patients, and has spoken at multiple events about social justice, diversity and inclusion and gender equity in medicine. In 2022, Ashna was awarded the prestigious Australian Medical Association Women’s Health Award for her passion and dedication to gender equity, mental health, and the social determinants of health.
Chanel Contos
Chanel Contos is aiming to make Australian society safer for young girls and women by demolishing the "rape culture" that exists in our society, particularly among youth. Chanel helped expose the stories of many young girls that rape culture has affected and the long-term damage it inflicts.
It is estimated that one in three girls experience sexual assault by someone they know. Chanel has led the “Teach Us Consent” movement which calls for earlier and more holistic sexual consent education and as a result, consent education has been mandated in all Australian schools, every year, from Kindergarten until Year 10.
Chanel’s Teach Us Consent petition gathered more than 45,000 signatures and more than 6,750 girls and young women have submitted testimonies of their experiences of being sexually assaulted while at school.
The work that Chanel Contos is doing via the website "Teach us Consent" and her high media profile promotes the kind of grassroots education that has the potential to significantly reduce sexual violence and domestic violence towards young girls and women in Australia.
Lua Pellegrini
Lua is passionate about Indigenous education. As a proud Wiradjuri woman, Lua has acted as an inspiration and mentor to younger students helping them grow in confidence, connection to culture and self-efficacy. This is seen through her willingness to share her story of challenges and achievements with school students, mentoring young Aboriginal women in schools on various projects and active support of Redfern Jarjum College. Lua also sits on the Moriah College Reconciliation Action Plan Committee and is the artist in residence of the Catholic Schools Guide.
Lua received an HSC All-round Achiever award in 2019 and was the recipient of the NESA Chairperson's Aboriginal Studies Award for the highest performing Aboriginal student in the 2019 HSC Aboriginal Studies course. She is now in her fourth year of university, studying a Bachelor of Fine Arts/Arts Majoring in Indigenous Studies.
Lua also cares for her younger brother Orlando, who has cerebral palsy, autism and other disabilities. Lua is a passionate advocate for Young Carers and has been a Young Carer Representative for Carers NSW for the last seven years and assists Carers NSW in delivering Young Carer awareness training to service providers. She also sits on the Blacktown City Council Access Advisory Committee, Aboriginal Advisory Committee and Youth Advisory Committee.
Lua’s artwork is also making an impact. Lua designed the 2022-2024 Sydney Swans Marngrook Guernsey “Duguwaybul Yindyamangidyal” which means “altogether respectfully”. The amazing design she created for the Sydney Swans Indigenous round was beautiful and talked about leadership, with all profits from the guernsey sales going towards AFL Indigenous initiatives. Lua also designs and paints AFL Balls which she donates to GO Foundation auctions, where the proceeds go towards the GO Foundation. Over the past two years Lua’s art has raised over $12,500 for the GO Foundation. Lua has also raised over $2,500 for Communityxchange in Mt Druitt.
Lua was Chairperson of the NSW Youth Advisory Council in 2021-22, a role that she absolutely made her own. Lua was also part of launching the NSW Strategic Plan for Children and Young People 2022-2024.
Lua has a quiet, natural leadership style and is incredibly inclusive. The work she did in supporting the members of the Advisory Council, whilst advocating for her community demonstrated humility, maturity and empathy.
Lua is the kind of leader we need in our society today. Someone who is thoughtful, who understands the need for evidence and research, and who is inclusive of those around her. Lua engages across age groups and across demographics.
Daniya Syed
Daniya, who is just 18 years old, is very passionate about technology and robotics. She been participating in multiple national and international robotics championships as a part of a robotics team for the past 6 years, representing Australia in Estonia (2018), Japan (2020) and Switzerland (2022).
She was the Captain of Team Australia which competed at the first global championship, the Robotics Olympics, in Switzerland in October 2022, against 180 nations.
For the first time, Team Australia won a silver medal for the Dr. Mae Jemison Award.
To further her interest in robotics, Daniya demonstrated her potential through innovative side projects using Arduinos, including:
- RoboAssist 2018 (mobile app)
- MediAssist 2019 (heart rate monitor)
- BionicAssist 2020 (robotic hand)
- EcoAssist 2021 (plant care assistant robot)
- MediBot 2022 (A personal healthcare assistant robot that tracks the vitals of the individuals by monitoring their basic health such as their blood pressure, body temperature, well-being whilst dispensing relevant medicine and words of encouragement.)
Daniya volunteers for a range of organisations, including participating in food drives by preparing food boxes for disadvantaged families in Australia and participating in homeless runs to provide hygiene packs and canned food to homeless people in Sydney CBD.
She has raised funds to provide STEM education to girls in developing countries that have high poverty rates, economic instability and lack of basic human necessities like access of water, shelter, food and education.
Diana Zhang
Diana is a multi-award-winning scholar, STEM ambassador and professional musician. She is currently completing her PhD at UNSW Sydney.
During her time as a Fulbright Scholar, Diana established a collaboration with machine learning experts at Boston University to develop an advanced artificial intelligence tool that can detect Parkinson’s Disease from blood analysis with up to 96% accuracy.
In 2022, Diana was one of six young Australians invited to present their research at the 71st Lindau Nobel Laureate meeting in Germany. She has co-authored over a dozen publications in leading analytical chemistry and music psychology journals.
Diana is passionate about growing female leadership and representation in STEM and entrepreneurship. She has been a STEM ambassador for over six years, reaching out to female-identifying students and students from low socioeconomic backgrounds.
She has led over 80 science workshops for more than 2,000 students, including UNSW tours to regional NSW. Diana is also a Board Director of Science & Technology Australia and the Australian Fulbright Alumni Association and is currently working with the U.S. Embassy to host Women in STEM workshops.