Dr Alison Todd believes that, without mentoring, SpeeDx, the global diagnostics company she co-founded would not exist. “I’m not an entrepreneur. I’m a lucky person, that in the end had the right mentor at the right time,” says Todd.

In her last role, founding and heading the Australian operation of 350.org, and her current endeavour as climate editor at Climate & Capital Media, Palese and her colleagues have spearheaded one of the most effective strategies yet against climate change – convincing investors that putting their money behind fossil fuel companies is a bad idea.

Have you ever wondered what was the very first star to light up the Universe? That moment in time, when all things began? Well, Professor Lisa Kewley, Director of the Australian Research Centre for Excellence in All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D) is leading the hunt. And if you think finding your keys in the morning is difficult, imagine searching for a handful of select stars amidst our universe, which is made up of an estimated two trillion galaxies, each one home to 100 billion stars.

Growing up in the 1970s, surrounded by the pioneers of the India’s space program, ’Dr Susmita Mohanty was always destined for a space-based career. For Mohanty, the influence of those pioneers was profound. “I could show up in anybody’s offices in the afternoon and they would make a cup of tea and say, ‘let’s talk about your new ideas’. I could talk to them about art, architecture, design, technology, politics. They were Renaissance men. And that’s really what shaped me,” says India’s first space entrepreneur.

In the brain, some proteins determine when animals reproduce. In foods, others determine whether a coeliac will have a bad reaction. Professor Michelle Colgrave is sorting out the goodies from the baddies.

In her last role, founding and heading the Australian operation of 350.org, and her current endeavour as climate editor at Climate & Capital Media, Palese and her colleagues have spearheaded one of the most effective strategies yet against climate change – convincing investors that putting their money behind fossil fuel companies is a bad idea.

A lifelong love of solving puzzles led Dr Jingmei Li into a career searching for new ways to prevent the most common cancer in women.

In her last role, founding and heading the Australian operation of 350.org, and her current endeavour as climate editor at Climate & Capital Media, Palese and her colleagues have spearheaded one of the most effective strategies yet against climate change – convincing investors that putting their money behind fossil fuel companies is a bad idea.

For someone with her head in the stars, Professor Lisa Harvey-Smith is remarkably grounded. This internationally acclaimed astrophysicist, writer and communicator is Australia’s first Women in STEM ambassador, leading government efforts to encourage women and girls to study and work in science, technology, engineering and maths. It’s a role that also aims to eliminate entrenched gender bias in the research sector.

Google the term ‘polar explorer’ and you’ll turn up a list of men – names such as Ernest Shackleton, James Clark Ross, Robert Falcon Scott, Fridtjof Nansen. Canadian geoscientist, journalist and polar explorer Susan R. Eaton, is challenging that paradigm.

“The burden of chronic disease is a pandemic that is threatening not only the health and wellbeing of the world but its economic wellbeing as well.”

Ronika Power had her own mortuary when she was growing up. “I was one of those children who displayed an interest in things that others might flag as being a concern,” she admits. “I was obsessed with death from when I was very young, from two perspectives: firstly, as a biological imperative, understanding that every living thing eventually will die; and secondly, as a cultural imperative, understanding how different communities across the world integrated death into their beliefs and practices.”