AirTrunk founder gifts $100m for women in STEM ‘pipeline’


Joseph Brookes
Senior Reporter

A $100 million donation by AirTrunk founder Robin Khuda to the University of Sydney will create a pipeline of girls and women from Western Sydney studying STEM subjects over the next 20 years through tutoring, mentoring and scholarships.

Revealed on Wednesday, the three-tier program has been 18 months in the making and enabled by the largest single philanthropic gift in NSW — and one of the biggest STEM diversity investments globally.

It comes after Mr Khuda founded and built AirTrunk into a data centre powerhouse that Blackstone acquired late last year for $24 billion, and is aiming to make a dent in stubbornly low representation levels.

Gamechanger: the Khuda Family Foundation’s $100m donation ains to create a pipeline of female STEM workers from Western Sydney. Image: University of Sydney

“Over the past 10 years building AirTrunk, I’ve seen firsthand the need for more people with STEM skills and the underrepresentation of women in STEM education and the workforce,” Mr Khuda said in a LinkedIn post.

“Diversity in STEM is crucial to enable innovation, problem-solving, and creativity.”

The donation comes from the Khuda Family Foundation established in 2020 to STEM skills and increase the number of women in technology.

Mr Khuda lived in Western Sydney when he arrived in Australia from Bangladesh and he opened his first data centre there in 2017.

But finding female staff for the burgeoning data centre business has been difficult, he said.

“Western Sydney, compared to other areas of Sydney, hasn’t had the same level of educational support for students to pursue an early interest in science and technology, and converting their interest into a university degree with that focus.”

A national review of STEM diversity last year found a myriad of government programs have failed to address the structural diversity barriers in Australia’s science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields over the last decade.

Girls now make up 47 per cent of Year 12 STEM enrolments. But growth in enrolments has been slow over a decade and representation is much lower in engineering (24 per cent) and technology (26 per cent).

University STEM enrolment and completion figures are better, but are still below 40 per cent and women completing engineering or technology degrees falls to around 21 per cent. Women’s representation in vocational education and training is even lower.

At the workforce level, Women in STEM occupations is just 15 per cent.

Mr Khuda approached the University of Sydney in 2023 about the challenge, and has worked with the institution on a new approach.

The new program will provide support at three levels to create a first of its kind ‘pipeline’ model.

Under the first ‘Outreach’ program boys and girls in years seven to 10 will be offered STEM curriculum-aligned activities to ignite an interest physics, maths and engineering, with a target of 40,000 student engagements.

At the second ‘Academy’ level, girls in year 11 and 12 will be offered scholarships and academic support retain STEM subjects, including group tutoring, university student mentoring and on-campus activities.

The final ‘Scholars’ level will offer Academy graduates a guaranteed scholarship stipend, including funds for university-owned accommodation. It aims to graduate a cohort and community of over 300 women.

“We’ve worked together in close collaboration to create this program and forge this partnership, which will create life-changing opportunities for girls and women from Western Sydney,” University of Sydney vice-chancellor and president Professor Mark Scott said.

Do you know more? Contact James Riley via Email.

1 Comment
  1. skgodsell@googlemail.com 5 days ago

    Absolutely brilliant

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