We are proud to announce PhD Scholar, Atshaya Sundararajan has been selected for this year’s Turn the Tide Entrepreneurship and Leadership program by Women in Seafood Australasia (WISA), the only national organisation representing women working in the seafood industry.
Turn the Tide is a three-year program designed to connect, enable, support and champion women in the Australian seafood industry, funded under a Women’s Leadership and Development Program Lead and Succeed Grant provided by the Australian Government through the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
As part of the 6 month program, Atshaya and fellow participants will be allocated shared problem within the seafood industry, and will work together in small groups with a facilitator, project team and industry experts who will guide, train, and support the team through defining the problem, developing practical and measurable tools to address it.
At the end of the 6 months, the teams will present their ideas and findings to the broader seafood industry in Canberra.
We spoke with Atshaya on here selection into the program and the impact on sharing her research further:
“Last year I met Jill Briggs at the Seafood Directions 2024 in Hobart and from that day, my journey with WISA started. Early this year, I applied to the flagship Turn the Tide Entrepreneurship and Leadership Program and our amazing team is currently working on: “Growing deeper and stronger connections, teams and networks among seafood women to build resilience and opportunity.”
“Based on the feedback from earlier participants and my experience with the workshop sessions so far, I believe I’ve got myself a golden ticket to a transformative journey—learning how to become a holistic leader in the blue economy space. It will help boost my confidence and interpersonal skills, and most importantly, it’s a great platform to meet new people and establish meaningful connections with other inspiring women in seafood.”
“This program also offers me the opportunity to share my research in benchmarking Atlantic salmon to the wider seafood industry at the upcoming Canberra conference. I’m excited to apply the strategic thinking and public speaking skills acquired by the end of this program to my PhD toolkit, thereby enhancing the overall impact of my research.”
Atshaya’s PhD research with the Blue Economy CRC is on Translational Research on Atlantic Salmon Performance Using OMICS Technologies, investigating the effects of both short- and long-term changes in temperature and oxygen on Atlantic salmon production biology. Her research will provide critical knowledge of the effect of major environmental variables on Atlantic salmon cultured in Tasmania, which will help boost salmon production in future.
Atshaya’s PhD supervisor, Blue Economy CRC Seafood & Marine Products Program Leader and Project Lead of the Experimental Platform for Aquaculture Production project, Professor Chris Carter states,
“Atshaya is a fantastic ambassador for the Experimental Platform for Aquaculture Production project, industry-relevant research on seafood and the Blue Economy. This is a great opportunity for Atshaya and one she will undoubtedly make a unique contribution to. The team are very proud of her achievements”.
