Carina Nixon & Margaret Gayen - Diversity advocates, Engineers and world class sports people

In 2023 I was at the APGA conference, listening to two remarkable people presenting a paper, the audience mostly male listened intently as what I heard shocked me. Both Engineers and both extremely successful at their sport.

The paper is a collection of stories of real experiences that have happened to employees in the Australian oil, gas and pipeline industry relating to gender bias and discrimination. The paper explores issues for both men and women, with key recommendations for individuals, companies and the industry at large. 

The vulnerability displayed by both incredible with the podcast and reels very powerful as you really do start to question if times have changed.

Carina Nixon is a world champion in white water rafting (2014)   And a runner up world champion (2nd place) for white water rafting (2017). 

Carina Nixon

Carina is a young, passionate leader who champions diversity and collaboration in the STEM world. As a Project Engineer at GPA Engineering, she's tackling decarbonisation head-on, from hydrogen projects to sustainable solutions for gas infrastructure. With a double degree in Engineering and Business, Carina doesn't just talk the talk – she's walked the walk as CEO of Youth Without Borders, Chair of Spark Engineering Camps and Gender Equality Advocate for the Women in Pipelines Forum.

Her mission? Inspire a diverse new generation of STEM leaders and prove that collaboration across cultures, genders, ages and types of people isn't just nice – it's necessary for our future.

 Margaret Gayen Margaret Gayen is a Senior Engineer at The Energy Project, supporting the renewable energy transition through energy analysis and solar projects. Margaret's experience spans medical manufacturing, mining, oil and gas, with particular expertise in the use of hydrogen as a future fuel. Margaret was awarded the 2023 APGA Young Achievement Award and 2022 SA Young Professional Engineer by Engineers Australia. She has co-authored key industry publications, including the Australian Hydrogen Pipelines Code of Practice, and a qualitative enquiry into gendered experiences in the pipeline industry titled Creating Cultural Change to Support Gender Equality in Engineering.

Margaret is a passionate advocate for women in industry and continues to educate and spread awareness on workplace gender equality.

 Margaret a 6-time Australian representative in athletics, including a finalist at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in both long jump and the 4x100m relay.