Go Girl, Go for IT 2020 Amabassadors
Dr. Muneera Bano
Dr. Muneera Bano is a senior lecturer from the Deakin University. She graduated from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) in 2015 with a PhD in Software Engineering. She has worked as a Post-doctoral research fellow under ARC discovery grant on mobile learning technologies and worked as 'Learning and Teaching Adjunct' at the UTS till 2017, and has served as a lecturer at Swinburne University till October 2019.
Muneera specialises in the field of socio-technical domains of software engineering focusing on human-centred technologies. Muneera works at the intersection between computers and humans – looking for ways to engineer technology to work better with the people that use it. She contributes to the broader research community as Associate Editor of the Institution of Engineering and Technology Software Journal, as Track Chair and as a member of the program committee for various highly-ranked conferences including Grace Hopper Conference for Women in Computer Science.
During her research career, Muneera has also received prestigious recognition for her work, including being named as a finalist for Google Australia’s Anita Borg Award for Women in Computer Science, Asia-Pacific 2015. She was also the recipient of Schlumberger’s Faculty For The Future (FFTF) Award for Women in STEM (2014 and 2015) and was given the ‘Distinguished Research Paper Award’ at International Requirements Engineering Conference held in August 2018.
Sharbani Dhar
An ex-architect, she transitioned to User Experience Design for IT in the earlier stages of her career and now has over ten years of experience leading UX and Service design transformations at various IT-based organisations. Being a user experience designer allows her to problem-solve for people from different walks of life. She believes that IT is a powerful tool which, when coupled with empathetic design methodologies, can empower people to bring about positive changes in their lives.
When she is not contemplating trials and tribulations of design, she can be found taking lessons on the philosophy of life and beyond - from her six-year-old son.
April Staines
In 2014, April co-founded social organisation Girl Geek Academy, with a mission to teach 1 million women to get into tech and launch their own startups by 2025. April sits as Maker programs lead at Girl Geek Academy, teaching women how to “make” by developing and honing their skills across all things code. April is also the Founder of the Open Source Prop Group which specialises in using 3D printing and CNC machining for the open source creation and sharing of 3D models for the digital fabrication of replica movie props.
In her spare time April runs a small prop manufacturing business out of her “factory” at her home, of which the intersection of technology and creativity has been key to its success. Read more here.