Professor Tanya Monro made history this week after being appointed Australia’s new Chief Defence Scientist and the first woman to ever hold the role. Professor Monro is currently Deputy Vice Chancellor Research and Innovation and an ARC Georgina Sweet Laureate Fellow at the University of South Australia. In 2012 she became one of the youngest living Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science elected for ‘exceptional scientific contributions of international significance ’. Throughout her career she has been an advocate for diversity and inclusion and a champion of the Academy’s Science in Gender Equity (SAGE) initiative.