The recent recipient of the 2013-14 Thiess-Minerals Council of Australia women in engineering scholarship, Radke has been given a valuable foot in the door to the challenging industry.

“It’s really nice to receive a scholarship like this because it has given me a lot of confidence as I enter the second half of this year and then my final year,” she told ILN after the awards on Thursday.

“It’s a nice feeling knowing that I have the support of a company and a council behind me and it’s given me a lot of motivation to continue my studies, try my hardest and get as involved as possible in the industry while I’m still studying.”

Radke is studying a bachelor’s degree in chemical and metallurgical engineering at the University of Queensland.

She hopes to receive a place in a diverse, preferably rural, graduate program when she concludes her studies at the end of 2014.

Now in its sixth year, the Thiess-MCA award is open to all female undergraduate engineering students studying in Australia and provides $8000 per annum for the final two years of study, with the aim of advancing the role of women in the resources sector.

Radke said the scholarship would also see her embark on a program as a vocation student with Thiess at the end of the year to gain experience at a Queensland coal mine.

MCA chairman Peter Johnston said there was a strong field of around 75 eligible applicants for the scholarship this year, which shows there is a talent pool of women studying engineering disciplines. Radke agrees.

“The numbers are growing compared to previous years. We’ve had four times the number of girls in our cohort compared to last year which is just phenomenal,” she said.

“My cohort has 40 per cent females which is generally unheard of.

“Forty per cent females graduating, hoping to enter the mining industry, those numbers are just fantastic.”

But Radke believes despite the improvement in numbers she will still face the challenge of being a gender minority in the workplace.

“It goes hand in hand with being a woman in the mining industry that you might face some challenges but I think that the trend is looking very positive at the moment, there are changes in attitude and a growing respect,” she said.

On her way home to Brisbane from Minerals Week in Canberra, Radke told ILN she was honoured to receive her scholarship in the company of such well-respected women from the mining industry at the MCA women in mining dinner.

“The benefits [of the event] for me, as a student who was just very lucky to have the opportunity to go, was different to maybe some of the more industry professionals who have been around for a while,” Radke said.

“But I found it was incredibly beneficial to get to know more about the challenges we might face while being surrounded by women who have faced them every day.

“Those first-hand conversations were very helpful and acted as a really great networking opportunity for me as a young professional engineer trying to establish myself in the industry.

“It was also really very beneficial in that it is sometimes very easy to just reflect on the negative, or just reflect on the challenges as opposed to also reflecting on the celebrations and the achievements.”

At the dinner, the MCA also presented certificates to the three winners of the 2012 MCA scholarships for the Australian Institute of Company Directors company directors course.

Vanessa Torres (BHP Billiton), Karin Baxter (BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance) and Sabina Shugg (Momentum Partners) were the three recipients of the scholarship.

The scholarships are worth $9200 and include registration for the company directors course, one year membership of the AICD and travel and accommodation expenses.