Professor Croft is Dean of Monash Engineering, the highest ranked Engineering Faculty in Australia, where she oversees over 8,000 students and 500 academic and professional staff. Professor Croft is recognised internationally as an expert in the field of human-robotic interaction. She has an exceptional record of advancing women’s representation and participation in engineering. She completed a B.A.Sc. (University of British Columbia), an M.A.Sc. (University of Waterloo), and a Ph.D. (University of Toronto). She is a Fellow of ASME, Engineers Canada, Past NSERC Chair for Women in Science and Engineering, BC and Yukon (2010-2015) and received the R.A. McLachlan Award from the Engineering and Geoscientists of British Columbia (EGBC) in 2018.

Dr Jocelyn Midgley has a PhD in microbiology and has been involved in food safety research in the areas of dairy, meat, horticulture and seafood for nearly 20 years.  She had previous roles at CSIRO Food Science Australia in business development for the Innovative Foods Centre, to identify, develop and facilitate the commercialisation of new and emerging food processing technologies. She has also worked for the National Food Industry Strategy (NFIS) – a Federal Government initiative that was targeted at increasing the innovative capability of Australian food companies. 

She is currently, the R&D Manager, Innovation & Growth, at Simplot Australia. Her role is to manage and drive scientific research and technical initiatives to achieve profitable growth, and to also provide expert knowledge to key stakeholders.  This often involves assessment of the business opportunity and its capacity to be implemented, followed by laboratory and pilot-plant work to develop technical feasibility, through to commercial-scale up.

Dr Joanne Tanner has industry experience in mining and minerals, oil and gas, and process control and has worked in both industrial and academic research. She is a lecturer and researcher in the Bioprocessing Research Institute of Australia (BioPRIA). She completed her bachelor degree in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Monash University, where she later worked within industry for a number of years before returning to Monash University to complete her PhD in the field of high temperature, entrained flow gasification. Her research interests include green chemistry, sustainable packaging solutions, and crop waste utilisation.