MEG and Katherine Bennell-Pegg
On the 6th of May, a group of us JMSS students were lucky enough to get invited by the Monash Engineering Girls (MEG) to an event with the 2026 Australian of the Year, Katherine Bennel-Pegg at Monash University. The afternoon ran as a panel session, moderated by Professor Larry James who has held several positions in NASA and is now Professor of space innovation at Monash Uni. The panellists were group of incredibly inspiring and talented women, including;
- 2026 Australian of the year, Katherine Bennel-Pegg
- Dr Megan Clark, Chancellor at Monash Uni and Inaugural Head of the Australianspace agency
- Keira Moran, NISA alumni, NASA JPL intern and current Mechatronics and Biomedical student at UNSW
The panel explored each person’s career journey and also the importance of space exploration and development, not only on a national/Australian level but also on a global scale.
From Katherine we learnt about the incredible pathway she took to become an astronaut and all the lessons she learnt along the way. Something she talked about was the power of space and also science as a whole to inspire world peace. Breakthroughs in space travelcan excite nations and make them work together and so it is incredibly important globally. She also encouraged dreaming big and providing pathways so that young people feel thatspace isn’t something unachievable and inaccessible but rather something possible.
Dr Megan Clark emphasised the importance of Australia in the future of space and all theincredible opportunities that will be available in helping space develop and grow withinAustralia in the future.
And finally, Keira spoke to us about her experience studying engineering and the amazing opportunities and programs she has been part of, things like JPL in NASA and the NISA program in Australia really opened our eyes to all the possibilities and pathways you can take in engineering. As well as the huge, real impact engineering has upon the world.
From Katherine and her inspiring story about breaking every boundary that she faced to DrMegan Clark’s empowering story about Australia in space, we all left feeling incredibly empowered and excited to be a part of Australia’s bright science future.
We would like to thank everyone who allowed us the opportunity to go to this event, including; the MEG organisers, Ms Grainger and Dr Hale. It was an absolutely amazing experience and incredibly inspiring.
~ Eliska van der Veen
