+ Patent & Trade Marks Attorney
+ Molecular Microbiologist
+ Backyard Farmer
What drew you to study STEM
As a biologist, I always found the processes and interactions in nature really interesting. Even as a child, I was fascinated by how so many strands fit together in the jigsaw of life.
Was working in IP always part of your career plan, or was it something that presented to you during your journey?
Working in IP came up much later in my journey. I was carrying out post-doctoral laboratory research and found working in science in Australia to be quite challenging. I was actively looking for opportunities that would enable me to build on the foundations laid during my 10 years at university culminating in a doctorate in molecular microbiology. The idea of tackling challenges different to those found working directly in science was appealing to me. Working in IP means I still have contact with the sciences; I’m surrounded by scientists and still very much involved in science, but I don’t have to scramble for grant applications.
Which women leaders did you look up to as you were growing up and why?
I always liked Rosalind Franklin, who was one of the biologists who discovered the structure of DNA. Her image of a DNA molecule was key to deciphering its structure, but she was robbed of any credit for her contribution when her male counterparts were awarded the Nobel Prize for their work. Her story always spoke to me as a woman in STEM.
Who do you look up to now and why?
I’m not sure there are many women I look up to as a role model or mentor per se, although I do really like to hear the stories of women succeeding in science and IP.
How does your science degree benefit you in your role as a Patent Attorney?
In order to be a Patent Attorney, you have to have a very broad understanding of science, as you’re constantly faced with new scientific research which is not necessarily explicitly in your area. A science background gives you the ability to learn quickly, to understand a range of areas that you aren’t necessarily immediately familiar with, and to use your general scientific knowledge to comprehend new areas that you’re required to understand when coming across new inventions, or when you’re speaking to inventors.
A love of science also benefits me. I would love to go back into the lab, but I feel the challenges of working in the sciences remain. By working in IP for almost 20 years, I have been able to participate in hundreds of projects instead of being on just one over that time; the IP industry has given me a much broader view of science, and many more touchpoints with the scientific community.
What role do you think we all need to play in supporting a greater uptake of women in STEM?
If you can see it, you can be it. That’s it! You need role models. You need to see people who look like you already doing a job to believe that you too can also do that job. Going through university 20-25 years ago, I had many girlfriends studying in male-dominated subjects, such as engineering. However, I witnessed most of them dropping out because it was such a boy’s club. Sadly, it was too hard to be a woman in STEM then.
Is there any advice you would like to share with women embarking on a STEM career?
Keep going! Even though it may be difficult. For every step forward you personally take, you also take a step forward for women in STEM in general, and for those that follow. Every time we get an extra 1% of women in science, that’s a step up the ladder for the next generation, growing the support and confidence, knowing other women are there too.
What do you hope to see from women in STEM of the future?
Equal representation across all fields, and at all levels of research. Not just 50% of our graduates, but where are the 50% of female professors? As with other industries, people peter out as they go up the ladder and so there are less at each level, but I’d like to see equal representation at the top of the ladder too.
Get connected
+ 08 9216 5163
+ penny.farbey@wrays.com.au
+ in/penny-farbey