Research shows that representation matters – and the event gave 30 young girls the opportunity to meet and learn from leading women and men from across the IT and Tech industries. 

Murdoch University was inspired by the event of the same name created in 2014 at the University of Nebraska Omaha by Professor Deepak Khazanchi. 

From Kate Kirwin, the CEO of She Codes and 2024 WA Young Australian of the Year, to Women in Security Award Winner Vannessa van Beek and Michelle Sandford, international conference speaker for Microsoft, year 8 students from across WA were offered three days of inspiring dialogue and hands-on workshops. 

CodeCrush facilitator and Associate Lecturer Despoina Giannakaki said the stereotype that IT was only for men needed to be broken. 

“Women have repeatedly proven themselves to be brilliant in all fields of IT,” Ms Giannakaki said. 

Young women need to be shown all possible pathways to different professions so they can choose what makes them happy without any fear that they might not be good enough.

She said the CodeCrush students had shown within three days “how fantastically well their minds worked” in different IT workshops.  

Ms Giannakaki’s own career has spanned IT management, financial analysis, data resources management, and teaching. 

“The most rewarding part of my own career is being in the classroom and feeling that I am able to convey knowledge to students,” she said. 

“I think there is no better feeling than seeing that ‘a-ha!’ moment in someone’s eyes when they have understood something that you have explained to them.”  

Ms Giannakaki said CodeCrush was a perfect mix of hands-on learning, representation and visibility.  

Among the hands-on workshops was ‘Byte Club - Girls that hack!’, run by award-winning STEM teacher and Murdoch alumna Donna Buckley.  

Ms Buckley is president of the Mathematics Association of Western Australia, and a recipient of the Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Secondary Schools. 

This activity saw students play either codemakers or codebreakers as they learned about encryption and cyber security. 

It was followed by a panel of speakers including Michelle Sandford, Matt Schneider-Founder of Optika Solutions and Quantum Mining AI, Lindsey Duncan from Interfuze, Luke McKenna from Bankwest, Hannah White from the Australian Institute of Marine Science, and Dan Haagman from Chaleit.  

The panel was moderated by Senior Lecturer Dr Joo Yeon Park, who said when young women see other women working in the IT field, they begin to believe it’s possible for them too. 

“That belief can change their lives and the industry,” she said. 

I believe that when more young women join the IT field, it enriches the diversity of ideas and drives more meaningful innovation.

Attendees were also able to attend excursions to sponsoring companies, including Immersive Technologies and Bankwest, so they could see firsthand what a career in IT can look like. 

CodeCrush program coordinator Associate Professor Pol Koutsakis said the event was the perfect opportunity to inspire young girls – and that he hoped a whole new generation of the IT workforce walked out feeling empowered.  

“This event underscores the University’s commitment to promoting diversity and inclusion in the tech industry, highlighting dedication to supporting and nurturing the next generation of women in IT,” Associate Professor Koutsakis said. 

The closing ceremony was attended by member of the Parliament of WA for Bibra Lake and Murdoch alumna Ms Sook Yee Lai who gave the students their certificates together with the Dean of the School of IT, Professor Dave Parry.

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