She was the inaugural director of the Institute for Photonics & Advanced Sensing (IPAS) [4] (now known as the School of Physical Sciences).

[7] Monro was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree with first class honours in 1995[8] followed by a PhD in 1998 from the University of Sydney for research on waveguides.

Monro credits a teacher at Sydney Church of England Girls Grammar with inspiring her interest in physics.

[15] Although, not a single one of these patent families have resulted in any commercial applications or uses - this is very typical of blue sky researchers.

[23] Monro is a science fiction fan, and played cello in the Burnside Symphony Orchestra in Adelaide.