The Meryl Williams Fellowship
Supporting women to enhance their leadership skills and increase their impact
The prestigious Meryl Williams Fellowship is funded by ACIAR and supports female agricultural researchers across the Indo-Pacific to improve their leadership and management skills. The Fellowship contributes to more secure food systems by providing women in agricultural science with greater access to resources and decision making, building collaborative networks, supporting career advancement and driving institutional progress towards gender equity.
Over the next three years, forty women will complete the Meryl Williams Fellowship. The Fellows have been selected to take part because of their commitment to positively impacting agricultural development, their research excellence and their demonstrated capacity for leadership and innovation.
In addition to providing executive leadership training and professional development opportunities to the individual women, the Meryl Williams Fellowship program supports the institutions that they work in to identify and address systemic barriers to women’s advancement.
A critical component of the Meryl Williams Fellowships is a mentoring support program, where every Fellow is paired with an experienced mentor in her home country to provide support and guidance as they build management, leadership and professional skills.
The program is delivered by the GEAReD team and the University of New England who have proven success in delivering learning that has a tangible impact for agricultural research scientists and women from developing countries.
Dr. Meryl Williams Ph D, FTSE (Australia)
Dr. Meryl Williams is a passionate advocate and influencer for gender equality and is a role model of personal success. Read more about her career and current activities.
Mentors
An important aspect of the Meryl Williams Fellowship is the mentor program. Click through to learn more about our mentors, mentorship principles and becoming a Meryl Williams Fellow mentor.
The first cohort of Meryl Williams Fellows joined by their mentors, Dr Rebecca Spence, Vice-Chancellor Professor Brigid Heywood, Dr. Meryl Williams and ACIAR CEO Professor Andrew Campbell. Taken at the Meryl Williams Fellowship launch on 3 February 2020 at the University of New England’s Sydney campus.
