At UNSW Redback Racing, we aim to highlight the diverse lived experiences of all our members who comprise the backbone of our project’s identity and direction. This International Women’s Day, Redback Racing is proud to continue to provide a platform for women to create, innovate, and perform at a high level.
As we spotlight the contributions of women on all levels of our student project and the wider UNSW community, we hope to destigmatise gender diversity and strive for adequate recognition in the work that women provide.
Once again, we thank the women who have paved a path for others in this space and to those who continue that legacy at Redback Racing.
Let’s hear from a few of them here!
Hi there! My name's Haylee and I'm currently in the third year of my Media (PR & Advertising) degree. Coming out of high school, I didn't know exactly what I wanted to study at uni and I tried a few different things before I came to UNSW. Ultimately, I knew I wanted to work in a field that challenged me creatively but was also very people-focused. I chose to study Media as it provides a great base knowledge that I can take with me through nearly any career path, whether that be public relations, advertising, marketing or business etc.
I joined Redback at the beginning of 2021 in our Business team. Back then, Business was just one small group of us who worked across the responsibilities of what our 4 Business departments cover now. I was working alongside really confident and friendly women who helped me get comfortable in a team whose focus is so left of field to me, as someone not studying engineering or with a background in motorsport. Since then, I’ve had the pleasure of being Media Lead, Business Director and now Team Lead, and I definitely would not have foreseen all of that when I first joined. I'm a big believer in the idea that you learn and grow from the people you surround yourself with the most, and in my time in Redback so far I've learnt a lot from the women in our team. It's an extremely male-dominated space that we are in, and seeing the women of Redback work hard and dedicate themselves to not only learning more, but working collaboratively and teaching those around them, makes me really proud to be apart of this student project. It's definitely a privilege to lead this team, and it's the people that make it worthwhile. I hope that seeing someone like myself in the position I'm in, inspires other females to take a risk and challenge themselves. There are so many opportunities to learn and grow within Redback, and seeing more and more women take ownership of these has been very rewarding.
Hello! My name is Hayley and I am currently in my 2nd year studying Chemical Product Engineering here at UNSW. I jumped around a bit in the years prior to settling on Chemical Product Engineering - the umbrella of engineering is vast! More specifically, I am particularly interested in process engineering and hope to make quantifiable change in the future. I take an interest in Chemical Product Engineering because (like a lot of its counterparts in engineering) it is part of the everyday life. Everything we touch, feel, and interact with is directly and indirectly influenced by disciplines from Chemical Product Engineering.
Though coming from an engineering background, I chose to join the business branch as I was looking for more project management-type work that I could apply my previous leadership experience to. Joining in Term 3 2021, I was looking to spend my time in projects that had promising growth and direction. Through my time in Internal Relations in 2021/2022, I have grown to love the work I do and the team behind it. I feel proud to be able to contribute and continue the work of the women who came before me. For me previously, under Kelly’s (Internal Relations Lead 2021/2022) leadership, I grew and learnt so much I wouldn’t have if it wasn’t working with her and other women just as influential. For me now, working with Haylee (Team Lead 2023), makes me proud that women in this space are able to have the agency to make greater change. As women in this project, we work with everyone in the progression of the car - being a women in today’s climate simply means we should be recognised for the work that we do and that, that work is held to the same regard.
Hi! I’m Janice and I am currently in my 3rd year studying Mechatronics Engineering and Computer Science. All through first year and halfway through second year, I was actually doing Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science. However, after being involved in student societies and taking part in things like Arduino workshops (and ENGG1300 & 2400), I’ve realised that I’m more interested in hardware-software integration and robotics as opposed to purely mechanical systems.
I joined Redback Racing a couple months ago in the Autonomous Systems department, specifically the Perception team which focuses on computer vision using a camera and LiDAR. At first, I felt a bit like an imposter for being in a team that’s still predominantly male, especially being a new member as well. However, after meeting so many wonderful people in Redback who have welcomed and supported me, I've realised that being a woman within Redback simply means I may have a different approach to the way things are done- which ultimately still results in the same end goals. Since then, I've been able to learn new things, make contributions to the team in terms of both software and design planning for the car, and even go to track days!
Hey my name’s Aishi and I’m in my 3rd year studying Mechatronics Engineering. I had known for a while that Science and Engineering interested me. In the end I chose Engineering because I wanted to fulfill my goals of creating tangible solutions which leave a lasting impact on our communities. I found mechatronics to be my best option at catering for my wide range of interests and future goals. I love learning things hands on, so much so that I moved from NZ to come to UNSW. No regrets so far :)
I’ve been in Redback for over a year now, starting in the Business team and now in Electrics. Despite the team still being so male dominated I haven’t felt any different about my place here. So far this experience has only made me more comfortable in progressing through the engineering field where the lack of representation can sometimes be frustrating and subtly intimidating. There is a great group of women in the Redback team. Seeing myself represented in so many hard working and talented women working in the same lane as me has been pretty inspiring. There is still a lot of room to grow but it’s fulfilling to know that what I do now and what I learn now in order to grow further in the future could potentially inspire other women of all ages in the same way.
My name is Simone Fan, I am currently in my third year of studying a Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering with a Master’s in Biomedical Engineering. I chose to study Electrical Engineering as I liked problem solving and wanted to help reduce the earth's carbon emissions through renewable energy. Throughout high school, Engineering was advertised as a challenging but rewarding degree, that sets students up with great soft skills that can be applied to many jobs and careers.
I heard about and joined the Redback team from my friend Anjie, who I had met in first year and realised we both liked watching F1. She had explained this team was basically like an F1 team except electrical and I would get more hands-on experience learning how intricate systems within the cars all work together to create a fast car. Once joining the Electrics team, I felt a little out of depth, with everyone seemingly knowing lots of car knowledge and jargon but meeting other new members, who were also in the same boat, in a way allowed us to bond and help each other out with any questions we had or hard concepts that were a little confusing. Once, I had started getting the hang of everything and gained a bit more confidence, everything felt a little less overwhelming and I realised everyone on the team has the same goals and passions as I did, and working together and having conversations allows everyone to get a different and better perspective and understanding of the tasks at hand. Seeing women in leadership roles are also inspirational, with Haylee as team lead or Lily as project manager, it makes me feel that we as women are not out of place and are not outnumbered. Although I would love to see more women apart of this field in the future, I feel that we are on the pathway to see great things women can achieve in these roles.
