Get to know Dr Kumi de Silva

Talking imposter syndrome and supporting CALD women

Dr Kumi de Silva is UTS’s new Gender Equity Programs Manager. This role involves overseeing the Athena SWAN program, supporting other gender equity initiatives, and advocating for strategies focusing on intersectional experiences. Her commitment to drive and influence inclusion and belonging has led her from a STEM academic career to her current role. 

Prior to UTS, Kumi worked at the University of Sydney where she co-founded the Mosaic Network, a network to empower culturally and linguistically diverse staff. Kumi also contributed to the successful Sydney Uni Athena SWAN Bronze Award application, and is a Dr John Yu Fellow for Cultural Diversity Leadership. 

We spoke to Kumi about her new role, what it's like to be a woman of colour in academia, imposter syndrome and more. 

Tell us a little bit about your new role. What are you doing at the moment?  

The title of my role is the Gender Equity Programs Manager. The main focus is really to progress with the Athena Swan program, and more specifically, the Cygnet Awards.  

The Cygnets are the next step from the Athena SWAN Bronze Award, which UTS already has. UTS has identified five key barriers to gender equity in STEMM faculties, which it wants to address. These barriers, or priority areas (referred to as Cygnet Awards) will form the crux of UTS’s new plan to address gender inequity in STEMM. So now it's the actioning and implementation process. It's to work with them to help support women's careers in those faculties. But more broadly, across UTS too. 

In your previous role at Sydney Uni, you created the Mosaic Network. Can you tell us about the network and what inspired you to start it?  

I'll take a step back and say that early on in my career, I was very naive and believed that if you were who you were and worked hard and did a great job, that was success. Ultimately, that's what success is for me as an individual. But it was later that I realised that there are many other hidden obstacles and barriers to that progression, and you don't see them. The first time I really realised that I was different from the majority, or I was seen by others to be different, was when I was selected for a leadership program for women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. And I was shocked. Why? Why did they select me? Did they see my value as that part of me? Not all this other stuff that I'm doing, and I think I'm doing well. 

That's when I realised that there's another side to all of this, too, that the university actually recognises there is an issue that needs to be addressed. They were looking at ways of redressing that gap. So, it's actually a good thing. Once I took that opportunity, I realised there was a space for my voice to be heard and valued. And I would be taken seriously if I spoke about these other layers of my identity.  

Once I took that opportunity, I realised there was a space for my voice to be heard and valued. And I would be taken seriously if I spoke about these other layers of my identity.  

The great benefit of doing that program was meeting many fantastic women from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds from across the university that I wouldn't have otherwise met. Because we are all very siloed in what we do. Then we had this conversation with a few people, a few of those participants saying, "What can we do to give back? What is needed?”  

That was what really sparked this idea that we needed, not just a network that was going to be supportive, but where we could engage with the university in their strategic plans and ask for things that people from minority backgrounds needed so that we could be valued and appreciated and celebrated for more than just our academic or professional role. That there's another side that is there. That's how it started.  

You mentioned that there are barriers that women of colour face. Could you tell me a bit more about those barriers in relation to STEMM? What are those challenges that you've either seen or experienced firsthand?  

One thing I think that affects a lot of us is this continuous need to prove yourself to others. If I walk into a room full of people who don't know me, I have to prove that I can speak the language and that just because I look different, it doesn’t mean I'm not intelligent, I'm not capable. When you're in an environment where people know you, it’s easier because they know you. But every time you go to a new meeting or a new conference overseas, it hits you like a wall. That is tiring and difficult to overcome and no one talks about things like that.  

Have you ever experienced impostor syndrome? If yes, how did you overcome that?   

I think imposter syndrome is really a hoax. Let's start with that. I actually heard about imposter syndrome when I was a PhD student decades ago from a well-established senior man in science. This was long before it came into the mainstream, and he was talking about how he felt as a scientist, that you are always unsure of your work, that someone else will disprove what you’ve done because science is always changing, right? 

What's thought of as dogma today will be refuted a few years from now. Scientific knowledge is constantly evolving as we increase our knowledge. The whole COVID pandemic demonstrated this to the world. We changed the way we think about these things. As a scientist, you already think that, you're an imposter, You're there by some fluke.  

I think it's quite common for scientists, both men and women to think like that. There's lots of times I doubt myself, but I don’t think that needs a label like ‘imposter syndrome’. What I’ve said to younger women and my peers is, when they run into this kind of strife, just think about what you have done and what you have achieved.  

It can be difficult when what you see as success is not seen as such by traditional metrics. In my career as a scientist, I know that measures that are important. But what we measure as success is important too. When I'm teaching students – whether research students or undergraduate students – if they're engaged, and then if they go on to careers that are fulfilling for them in things that they want to do, then I've been successful as a teacher. Regardless of whatever the other metrics are.  

‘High quality publications’ are considered another important metric in science. If I publish in journals which are considered important to the field and my papers are cited and result in collaborative projects, I know I'm successful. If I can get grants to do work that is important to industry. I know I'm being successful.  I think the way I deal with self-doubt sometimes is to talk to people who know me and re-engage with people who know and value me. 

If you could give one piece of advice either to your younger self or other young women who aspire to a career in STEMM, what would it be?  

It relates to my answer before. I think value yourself, be confident in what you can do. Be visible as early as possible. Network. I know that's a cliché, but it is so important, and I didn't realise how important that was until quite later in my career. Because you never know when the opportunities might come and if people don't know you, they won't remember you when opportunities come by, so it's important.  

What can we do better as a society to support not only women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, but also women of colour in STEMM? 

Get men involved in the conversation because this is a societal problem. We need to bring men into the equity conversation...

Get men involved in the conversation because this is a societal problem. It's not just in academia, it's how workload is managed at home, the mental workload, how children’s activities are managed. Who organises birthday parties? Who does the planning for weekend sport for the children? We need to bring men into the equity conversation and it's not like, men don't want to be involved. I think there are lots of men who are part of the conversation. But sometimes I think women need to step back a little bit and not feel the need to make sure everything's perfect and make sure everything's running okay. Give others a chance to be part of that. It's not just men and women, but it's a partner role, isn't it? Equal partnership at home I think is important, regardless of gender.  

Where do you see yourself in the future? And what legacy would you like to leave behind for the women who either look like you, or have a story like yours? 

Two big questions. I've just had a big career transition, right? So, I'm not even thinking about where I want to go. But definitely, it will be within this space. To me, making that change has been fantastic. I just love what I'm doing, the people I'm working with, and the potential to have an impact and make a difference in people's lives. 

I guess what I want for the people who come behind me, especially women in STEMM, is not to have these obstacles and that people think about leadership potential in people who don't look like them. I'd like to see the leadership across higher education, and in the corporate world, that looks like the general population in Australia. And it shouldn't be such a big surprise when a person from any ‘minority’ group is appointed to an executive position. That should just be normal. It's just the way things should be. I think that's what I hope, to try to have even a small impact on this. I often think of what I do as trying to stir the ocean with a teaspoon. But I'm hoping I'm making more of an impact than that. 

I often think of what I do as trying to stir the ocean with a teaspoon. But I'm hoping I'm making more of an impact than that.