
Building A Thriving Career in Newcastle and Beyond!
Wednesday 20th August 2025, 5:30pm
The University Gallery, NSWWe all know that navigating a career within the health and medical research ecosystem can look very different depending on where you are located. That is why Franklin Women is excited to be back in Newcastle to connect women in the region and explore the practical ways they’ve tackled unique challenges and leveraged local opportunities to build their careers.
We have assembled a stellar panel of women representing diverse careers, from lab science and clinical trials to research translation and health services delivery. Together, they will reflect on their career paths, how they’ve drawn upon community knowledge and local lived experience to make an impact, and share insights for building and maintaining career connections and collaborations.
They will also reflect on the future of research and healthcare in Newcastle and the wider Hunter New England region – a timely discussion given that regional and rural research and innovation is a major strategic priority for the Government. Many who live and work in the area know the Hunter New England Region sits at a crucial intersection of metropolitan, regional and rural health research and its translation.
Like all Franklin Women events, there will be plenty of time to ask questions of the panel and connect with other women working in different roles, organisations, and career levels within the ecosystem – a fabulous opportunity to build new (or strengthen existing) career connections over some good food and drinks!
We’ll also be live-streaming so that you can still be part of the conversation if you’re not able to join us in person, or if you’re not based in Newcastle but would like an insight into what’s happening in the region and would value some practical tips from other women contributing to research and healthcare beyond metropolitan areas.
Please note: This event will start with a networking session from 5.30pm and the panel discussion will begin at 6.15pm.
20th Aug 2025
From 5:30pm - 8:00pm
The University Gallery
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Tickets
Registration for this event closes at 23:59 on Tuesday 12th August 2025.
In Person
Your ticket includes food and drink!
Ticket pricing
Original price was: $65.00.$35.00Current price is: $35.00. Member discount!You have a subscription in your cart that gives you member pricing - we look forward to welcoming you to Franklin Women!
Our Guest Speakers
Jessica Bennett

Jessica Bennett
I am a proud Gamilaroi woman growing up on my traditional lands in northwest NSW. My family line is the Natty/Darlington’s with connection to the Naomi River run. I am a proud mother to three beautiful babies; I am a Neonatal nurse who is passionate about providing care in vulnerable times for our mob and a PhD student exploring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health in the Neonatal space to improve cultural safety in these settings.
Cate Dingelstad

Cate Dingelstad
Cate Dingelstad is an experienced leader in the health care system, passionate about leveraging the community voice to impact on systems improvement and health outcomes for people. Her experience ranges across all levels of health care from primary health care service provision, through to secondary and tertiary health care, enabling provision of a unique and strategic perspective on health care management and delivery.
Kirsty Pringle

Kirsty Pringle
Professor Kirsty Pringle is Assistant Dean Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in the College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing and a teaching/research academic in the School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy and at the University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia. Kirsty completed her PhD in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Adelaide before joining the University of Newcastle in 2008. She leads the Placental Biology and Pregnancy Research group at the Hunter Medical Research Institute. Kirsty is passionate about improving outcomes for mothers and their babies, especially in Australian Aboriginal communities. Her research focusses on improving our understanding pregnancy complications so that we may better identify and treat these conditions.
Shanthi Ramanathan

Shanthi Ramanathan
Dr Shanthi Ramanathan is the Head of Research Impact and Evaluation at the Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI), a Conjoint Academic with the College of Health Medicine and Wellbeing at the University of Newcastle, and Co-chair of the Research Impact Committee and Community of Practice of the Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes (AAMRI). She is recognised as a leading impact practitioner in Australia who is passionate about building impact capacity, capability and culture across the research community, providing leadership in research impact through contributing to scholarship and policy advice, and honing her expertise in impact planning and assessment. Since 2016, Shanthi has been leading the application of the Framework to Assess the Impact of Translational health research (FAIT) to NHMRC Centres for Research Excellence, Translation Research Centres, research collaboratives and organisations, NHMRC, ARC, MRFF and philanthropically funded research projects, international research projects in Samoa and Indonesia and over ten NSW Health funding schemes including the Prevention Research Support Program, the Cardiovascular Funding Scheme and the Early to Mid-Career Fellowships Program.
Shanthi is a sought-after presenter and workshop facilitator having built research impact knowledge and capacity amongst over 3,000 academic and clinician researchers, policymakers and consumer representatives through 118 workshops, 44 one-on-one coaching and over 60 in-person and online presentations since 2017. She has been invited to speak about research impact at the Network for Advancing and Evaluating the Societal Impact of Science (AESIS) International Conference, to the Australian Council of the Deans of Science Research Leaders Network and at the Reframing Research Success workshop organised by the Australian Academy of Sciences. She has also led the development of a suite of publicly available, online resources to support the application of FAIT to cardiovascular research projects in basic science, clinical trials and translational research.