PREPARING TO MENTOR
PANEL
Refresh page and press play to start event. Please press 'unmute' on the event stream, and ensure volume is up high (bottom right blue bars). Should your stream appear blurry, you may increase and adjust the quality by navigating to the cogwheel on the bottom right of the video window, and select 720p or higher.
If you experience any technical difficulties, please chat to us via the box on the bottom right of this page. Otherwise, you may choose to watch the event via the alternative link here.
Meet Our Panellists
Jane Black
Careers Specialist, University of Melbourne
Jane is a Careers Specialist within the University of Melbourne’s Careers and Employability team. Her career has focused on working with people to develop the knowledge and skills they need to flourish in work and life. From working with early school leavers on finding their first job to University students deciding on next steps, she draws on skills in developing personalized and practical strategies to support early career journeys. With qualifications in education and career development, she has delivered programs focused on mentoring and workplace skills, developed career learning curriculum and implemented initiatives to lift student employability.
Associate Prof. Jen Martin
STEM Mentor
Associate Professor Jen Martin spent many years working as a field ecologist until she decided the most useful thing she could contribute as a scientist was to teach other scientists how to be effective and engaging communicators. Jen founded and leads the University of Melbourne's acclaimed Science Communication Teaching Program and is deeply committed to helping scientists develop the skills they need to be visible, make connections and have impact. She also practices what she preaches: for 18 years she's been talking about science each week on 3RRR radio, she writes fora variety of publications, hosts the Let's Talk SciComm podcast and MCs events.
Jen was named the 2019 Unsung Hero of Australian Science Communication, is Ambassador for The Wilderness Society's Nature Book Week and is a member of the Homeward Bound Faculty, a global leadership program for women in STEM. Jen's first popular science book, 'Why am I like this? The science behind your weirdest thoughts and habits' was published in 2022.
Chetan Beeravelli
ABP mentor
Chetan is a registered commercial builder with the Victorian Building Authority and works as a Project Manager at Midson Construction. He is a highly educated construction professional, with a Master’s in Construction Management from the University of Melbourne and holds a bachelor’s degree in Architecture from India. Having a wide range of skill sets, Chetan is passionate about optimizing the construction process through efficient management, effective design, and ground-breaking research.
Chetan has worked on various tasks ranging from designing, quantity surveying, estimating, administering, and project management which allowed him to be adept at working in various roles with diverse clients, under tight deadlines and synergistic solutions.
Tommy Tran
Previous Access Connections Mentee
Completed a bachelor’s degree in science, majoring in Physics, Tommy is currently participating in the Vietnamese Museum Australia program where his focus is on research about the history of Vietnamese refugees in Victoria.
Tommy’s passions include research in astronomy, learning about history as well as volunteering in the Vietnamese community. In his free time, Tommy enjoys reading, looking up at the night sky with his telescope and walking in nature. Tommy is an advocate for environmental sustainability and aspires to work in environmental science.
.png)
Dr Jennifer Henry | Facilitator
Senior Gifts in Wills Manager, University of Melbourne
Jennifer was raised by scientists, and studied agricultural science at the University of Melbourne. After several years working with state government and in industry, she returned to the University of Melbourne, earning her PhD in the genetic engineering of transgenic crops. She opted to move into the field of scientific communication, which she loves. She first spent nine years as an editor in the scientific journals division at CSIRO Publishing in Collingwood, before realising her dream to live in New York City (with two years as a Publishing Manager at Nature Publishing Group and five years as Director of Life Sciences at the New York Academy of Sciences). Wanting their children to have an Australian education and upbringing, Jennifer and her husband returned home to Melbourne at the end of 2014, and she joined the Advancement team at the University of Melbourne. As a member of the Gifts in Wills team, she builds relationships with alumni and friends of the University who have chosen to leave a gift to the University in their Will, and liaises with colleagues across the University to roll out research grants and scholarships from realised estates. Outside of work, Jennifer enjoys choral singing, opera, volunteer tree-planting, wine appreciation, reading and wood chopping.