Tanya Moran

In her own words

I grew up in a maths, science and geography family. My Dad was a mathematics college lecturer and my Mum a geographer, and both also held diplomas in education, so it was pretty evident that my strengths lay with numbers and logic and the sharing of knowledge. Engineering was my first option at university, particularly because of the diversity it offered for specialising later in the career. 

I first became involved in transport as part of the graduate rotation program with Jacobs Engineering in Perth and worked with some great engineering leaders who still contribute to the transport industry today. I had one notable female mentor and I greatly admired how she went about her work, in particular her approach to community, thinking about people rather than just the business and sustainability. I learnt so much working alongside her. She inspired me to stay in the transport sector and here I am 22 years later.

My career has been characterised by a preparedness to experiment and take on new challenges. I have often placed myself beyond my comfort zone to learn and understand different perspectives. Participation and recognition in discussions around transport challenges opens me to opportunity to communicate to the engineering and transport sectors with professionals from other backgrounds. Self-awareness allows me to create and make the most of opportunities that are presented to me. This is a mindset I have developed through roles in engineering projects of increasing scope and scale, in managing and growing a business, and in the last 10 years, taking full ownership in establishing a new business in a new market on behalf of my firms.  I have a clear sense of where I can add value, and when and how to support and draw upon collaboration from both colleagues, peers, and my clients. 

My heart lies in community creation, designing neighbourhoods that are safe and cater for all users. I want my daughters to grow up and not have to think about safety in travel choice because they have to walk through a park in low light conditions or being in the way of a speeding vehicle. I want them to have the freedom of choice in how they move around because we have applied equitable and inclusive design in our planning and engineering of our cities and neighbourhoods. 

I was attracted to join PJA because of their great leaders, flexibility for change and their vision to create great places through great design. Great places are where we feel at home, safe and can move around without feeling anxious or unsafe.  Obtaining perspectives of a good cross section of the community is so important to build inclusivity and safety and create spaces for different people. In my current role I love the industry collaboration, partnerships, and focus on safety across all our work, the opportunity to grow a team and a business, and the exhilaration of sharing success with team members. 

Visibility of leadership

I have experienced a fair amount of challenges as a woman in a male dominated industry. While many things have changed for the better, there is still a lot more work to do to make systematic changes to break bias, fix gender pay gaps and grow the awareness among young girls of the diversity of work engineering offers, so it is at the forefront of their minds when choosing their career. The importance of ensuring girls are doing STEM subjects cannot be understated. 

I am a particularly strong advocate for the role of women in the male-dominated engineering and technical professions. I extend this advocacy into industry, contributing to Women in Engineering and Women in Transport and Property organisations. I regularly support International Women’s Day, previously presenting to over a hundred university students, promoting engineering and the important role of women in the profession.  Between 2006 to 2023 I have been a Committee Member of the Engineers Australia Transport Panel Committee in Western Australia and Queensland. I was also invited by Engineers Australia (Western Australia Division) to apply for Fellowship Status – a recognition of industry and professional leadership.

Companies have a role to play ensuring they have a diverse group of executives. It is critical as a graduate that you can see women leaders and their positive contribution to society. I was very lucky to have had a strong and influential mentor as a young graduate. I am proud to have been my previous company’s third ever female (and youngest) appointment as a Director, and now the first female Director at PJA. I’d like to play a mentoring role for my firm’s young female engineers and transport planners and affirmation that you can be perfectly imperfect and find a balance of worlds. 

I take great pride in my Burmese heritage and for over 20 years I have been a passionate supporter and contributor to fundraising for schools and education projects in remote villages in Myanmar. In addition, I have been a volunteer for Saving Animals from Euthanasia (SAFE), supporting their efforts to foster and rehome canines.

Imagining better

While I have had many highlights throughout my career, one particularly rewarding project has been working with my team to implement Safer Streets in Perth. Its evolution has been large in a short time. It started in 2014 as a Dutch imagineering workshop to introduce the Dutch practices of walking and cycling to WA’s suburbs, and since then the work has just kept evolving. Today WA has  20+ examples of Safer Streets across the transport network. The project is so satisfying because when we first started there was so much resistance to change.  Now the ideas of low neighbourhood speeds, street activation and prioritising people on foot and wheels over cars have been mainstreamed and for the betterment of our communities. Safer Streets mean the community is encouraged an open to a more active lifestyle, improving mental health through social participation and above all, it will save lives. 

Being open to new ideas, saying yes to opportunities and nurturing your network are all important in building your career and contributing to meaningful projects.