The Westpac Scholarship That Creates Space to Build.
6 July, 2026
Every founder needs funding. But what many founders need first is something even more valuable: the time, confidence and headspace to focus on building.
For three women in the UNSW Founders community, the 2025 Westpac Scholarship provided exactly that.
Rather than juggling consulting work and sacrificing personal wellbeing , the scholarship gave these founders the freedom to invest in what mattered most – turning ambitious ideas into ventures with the potential to improve lives.
From transforming women's healthcare and tackling antimicrobial resistance to reducing retail waste with artificial intelligence, the 2025 recipients are solving some of today's biggest challenges. Their stories show what's possible when talented women are given the opportunity and space to build.
As we are about to announce the 2026 Westpac Scholarship winners, here's where the 2025 recipients are today.
Tori Fox | Giving women answers sooner
For the one in seven women living with endometriosis, getting a diagnosis can take years. During that time, many experience chronic pain, repeated medical appointments and uncertainty before finally receiving answers.
A problem Tori Fox has spent her career trying to solve.
After more than two decades working across healthcare and medtech commercialisation, Tori founded Arelis with one clear mission: women deserve answers sooner.
The company is developing ArelisENDO, a non-invasive urine test designed to help diagnose endometriosis in days rather than years. While still progressing through clinical validation and regulatory approval, the technology has the potential to dramatically improve the diagnostic journey for millions of women.
That potential is already gaining international recognition.
Earlier this year, Arelis won the Australian final of the Startup World Cup in Victoria, earning the opportunity to represent Australia in San Francisco this November, where Tori will compete against founders from around the world for US$1 million in investment funding.
The company has also secured key partnerships with the Ainsworth Endometriosis Research Institute (AERI) team at UNSW and Awanui Health in New Zealand to validate the technology in real-world clinical settings – another important milestone on the path to commercialisation.
Behind these achievements is a founder who knows what it means to balance competing priorities. At the time she joined the UNSW Health 10x Accelerator, Arelis was largely bootstrapped. Based in Melbourne and raising four boys, Tori was balancing family life, consulting work and the demands of building a regulated medtech company.
The Westpac Scholarship helped create something every founder needs but rarely has enough of: uninterrupted time.
"The scholarship allowed me to be fully present during the UNSW Health 10x program. The funding reduced the need to take on consulting work while participating in the program. That space to focus was invaluable and allowed me to dedicate my time and energy to building the company, strengthening partnerships and progressing our validation pathway."
Emma Sierecki | Protecting the future of antibiotics
Antimicrobial resistance is one of the world's greatest public health challenges.
Every year, more infections become resistant to the antibiotics designed to treat them. Yet in many hospitals, identifying which antibiotic will work can still take more than 15 hours.
Emma Sierecki wants to change that.
Through AttoQuest, Emma is developing highly sensitive diagnostic instruments capable of identifying the right antibiotic in as little as two hours. By directly detecting individual bacteria and monitoring their growth in real time, the technology could help clinicians make faster, evidence-based treatment decisions while reducing unnecessary antibiotic use.
The startup recently secured an Australian Economic Accelerator (AEA). Ignite grant to work alongside Westmead Hospital, validating the technology in real clinical settings while exploring new applications beyond healthcare, including aquaculture and environmental monitoring.
For Emma, building a startup isn't just about developing breakthrough technology. It's also about building sustainably as a founder. That's why the Westpac Scholarship has had an impact beyond the business itself.
"I'm grateful for the Westpac Scholarship and its focus on supporting female founders as people, not only as entrepreneurs. The scholarship is helping me take well-deserved mental breaks, such as holidays and weekly lunches, which support my wellbeing and resilience as a founder."
Nilufer Haksever | Helping retailers make smarter buying decisions with AI
Every year, retailers lose billions of dollars through excess inventory. Poor buying decisions don't just impact profits– they also contribute to unnecessary waste, with products often ending up in landfill before they're ever sold.
Nilufer Haksever believes better decisions start with better data.
Through SeeStone, she is building an AI-powered platform that helps retail and wholesale teams make faster, more informed buying decisions before committing to inventory. By combining AI, data and visual intelligence, the platform enables businesses to reduce excess stock, improve profitability and make more sustainable purchasing decisions.
The venture has already reached an exciting milestone, with its first customer now live on the platform. More recently, SeeStone was recognised in that customer's ASX announcement—a proud moment for an early-stage startup and a strong validation of the value it's creating. The team is now expanding the platform ahead of onboarding another major customer, taking the next step from proving the product to demonstrating it can scale across the retail industry.
For Nilufer, the Westpac Scholarship created the opportunity to invest not only in the business, but in herself as a founder.
"We're a lean and frugal founding team, building in a very fast-moving AI market where speed matters, but so does focus. The scholarship gave me breathing room to prioritise properly, keep developing as a founder, and build skills in areas where I had limited experience before. It helped create the space to grow into the role that the company needed me to play."
Creating The Space to Build
Building a startup rarely follows a straight line. It takes resilience, curiosity and countless moments of backing yourself, even when the path ahead isn't clear.
For Tori, Emma and Nilufer, the Westpac Scholarship became part of that journey by giving them the support to keep pursuing it.
Through its partnership with UNSW Founders 10x, Westpac is helping more women take that next step, whether that's advancing life-changing medical technologies, protecting the effectiveness of antibiotics, or using AI to tackle one of retail's biggest sustainability challenges.
The impact extends well beyond individual founders. It's about creating the conditions for more women to lead innovation, build globally competitive ventures and solve problems that matter.