The WIMWA organising committee is delighted to launch our 14th annual conference –  the 2022 WIMWA Summit.

Women in Mining WA (WIMWA) is proud to present the 2022 program for the WIMWA Summit, showcasing extraordinary local and international industry trailblazers and thought leaders, featuring two days of fascinating speakers, conversation and connection.

The Summit opens with a half day program  with registration opening at 7am on Thursday for a 7.30am start. The program will begin with our Breakfast for Champions, featuring Monica Lewinsky in conversation with Annabel Crabb. Monica is a social activist who has reclaimed the narrative of her past to work as an advocate for anti-bullying, harassment and shaming of others. Monica challenges us to lead with empathy in a world that is increasingly divided and in organisations that are increasingly diverse. Having trained as a social psychologist Monica has most recently produced the documentary 15 minutes of Shame, and her TED talk the Price of Shame has been viewed in excess of 18 million times.  Annabel, who is a familiar face to many due to her TV journalism, has a strong interest in researching,  and unpacking, issues faced by women (and men) in the workplace.

Following on from this, we are thrilled to include in the program one of Australia’s most influential women who will join us live from Sydney – Wendy McCarthy AO has made her mark on Australia in many extraordinary ways. For more than 50 years, she has been on the leading edge of corporate and public life in this country across diverse areas, including education, family planning, human rights, public health, overseas aid and development, conservation, heritage, media and the Arts. Now 80, Wendy is the author of a recently published memoir. “Don’t be too polite, Girls”.

Following morning tea, from 10,45am we will have a great industry panel to discuss leadership in a conversation centred around the premise that workplace culture matters and for companies to thrive, we need to not only encourage diverse thinking but to remove the fear of retaliation for speaking out.  Sharon Warburton NED, Megan McCracken NED Pacific Energy and Ben Wyatt NED Rio Tinto will be joined by Professor Michelle Ryan in a panel discussion facilitated by Meri Fatin.

We will spotlight important research by Professor Michelle Ryan who is Director of the Global Institute of Women’s Leadership (GIWL) at ANU. Michelle is one of the world’s leading thinkers on leadership and is a professor of social and organisational psychology. She coined the concept “glass cliff”, a term that describes how women are often put in leadership roles during times of crisis or hardship, when the chances of failure are highest.

This half day program will be capped off with a networking lunch from 12 noon to 1pm.

Our full day Summit program on Friday will see registration start at 8am for a 9am start. This program is diverse and interesting – including the entertaining and seriously emotionally intelligent  Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy, best known as @lizandmollie. These two are incredibly gifted at distilling complex messages around the hugely important matters of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. They will unpack their unique point of view and shed some fresh light by offering tools to help navigate the workplace while dealing with big feelings.

A well-known advocate for criminal justice law reform, academic, author and activist Bri Lee will offer her thoughts on ‘why the time for change is now’ in a conversation with Leigh Sales AM.

After lunch, at 1.45pm Professor Lucy Easthope will join us from the UK in conversation with Leigh Sales AM. Professor Easthope has, for over two decades, challenged others to think differently about what comes next and how to recover after tragic events. She is a passionate and thought-provoking voice in emergency planning, an area that few know about until faced with a crisis.

As expected, the WIMWA Summit 2022 is designed to showcase and celebrate extraordinary industry voices, with presentations and conversation featuring some of the best in the business, including Sabina Shugg AM, Kaushika Hazarika, Sarah Coleman, Kyra Galente, Annie Llewellyn, Weiran Yang,  Rachel Jones, Nicky Firth, Therese Muirhead, Mike Spreadborough, Lauren Gullo, Clayton Hanrahan,  Ian Wallace TBC and Mark Norwell.

Some of these speakers will come together in panels to discuss firstly how we can use health, and psychological safety, as a vehicle for change and then later in the day we have a group of senior men talking about with Annabel Crabb about the new and changing industry workplace and myth busting and demystifying .

We will also hear individually from Sarah Coleman, CEO idoba, about inclusive leadership. We are delighted to showcase the growing diversity of women in the industry with presentations from three industry women, and emerging leaders, who are all very unique but are all first generation Australians : Annie Llewellyn will talk about her journey from Wales to underground manager and to being of WIMWA’s favourite, and most hard-working, mentors. Kaushika Hasarika and Weiran Yang will both share a small part of their story of finding a dynamic and rewarding working environment in the Australian mining industry.

We are looking forward to finishing the day with a wrap up by the always entertaining duo of Annabel Crabb and Leigh Sales before finale performance by the superlative Gina Williams and Guy Ghouse who will serenade us before a relaxed networking sundowner.