Dr Silvia Marchesan -“Postdoc at CSIRO and continued collaboration”

During her time at CSIRO, she was sponsored to attend a conference in Europe and present her research. She was very proud to be awarded the Best Young Scientist Award and has recently been profiled in Nature as an emerging leader in her field.

She also participated in the video “CSIRO delivering positive impact” with her colleagues and friends. The video captures the spirit of research, highlighting the importance of diversity and inclusion – of people, and of science – to create a positive impact on society. Silvia feels that it’s a great model for scientific research and she wishes more institutes embraced this direction worldwide. Looking back, it portrayed a moment in her life where she felt empowered to realize her dreams to make changes for a better world.

Silvia returned to Italy in 2012 and continued to collaborate with former CSIRO colleagues. She is deeply grateful to all her mentors and colleagues at CSIRO as they supported her multi-disciplinary training, across projects, committees and discussions. During her time with CSIRO she was exposed to a diverse research environment and gained skills allowing her to take responsibility over her projects. All of this shaped her as a researcher.

“I wish there were more opportunities to favour keeping in touch to collaborate, since there are natural hurdles to do that. I’d be very happy to stay connected.”

During her time at CSIRO, Silvia was fortunate to find a mentor in her then co-supervisors Pat Hartley and Keith McLean, then our director of Manufacturing.

Silvia recently wrote to Keith to thank him for his valuable mentoring.

“You’ve allowed me to develop my own ideas as well as learn many diverse techniques, and participate in highly multidisciplinary projects.”

Mentors play a valuable role in helping shape careers. The reflection and advice, often based on their own experiences, provide great insights and learnings. Become a member of the CSIRO alumni network and find out about our mentoring programs across CSIRO.

Silvia has been profiled in Nature as an emerging leader in her field.