ACM-W Europe womenENcourage Celebration of Women in Computing
On March 1, 2013, we experienced the first ACM-W Europe womENcourage Celebration on Women in Computing (womencourage.acm.org), in Manchester, UK. Eva Navarro Lopez opened the conference of 240 participants, from 31 different countries with a moving welcome. Additionally ACM-W Europe, ACM-W, and ACM representatives, including Vicki Hanson, Mashhuda Glencross, Valerie Barr, Reyyan Ayfer, and George Eleftherakis, warmly welcomed the delegates. Valerie, ACM-W Chair, emphasized the importance of this event as a conference on women in computing and not of women in computing.
The day provided many networking opportunities for participants, and was filled with inspiring talks, panels and an unconference session. The 54 travel grant recipients are shown ready to be inspired by the events of the day.
Professor Dame Wendy Hall proved the importance of networks as she shared her life and career story in her talk “How to enjoy a career as a woman in computing: the power of networks”. Prof. Hall advised young researchers to “have the courage of their convictions”, and create networks that will support them throughout their career. Beryl Nelson (Google) led panelists Claire Vishik (Intel), Cornelia Boldyreff (University of Greenwich), Philip Su (Facebook), and Christine Flounders (Bloomberg) to answer questions about career opportunities.
All the panelists marked the importance of developing fundamental skills and getting rid of self-limiting beliefs. Then Technical talks by Carole Goble (University of Manchester) and Yasemin Altun (Google) were followed by “Unconferences”, during which the attendees assembled in small groups to discuss key issues suggested earlier in the day. The day ended with a lively panel session led by Lynda Hardman (IE), during which Jessa Lingel (Microsoft Research), Flora Ponjou-Tasse (University of Cambridge), and Luz Rello (Universitat Pompeau Fabra) shared their passion for changing the world. A world, where “we do not need to have women in computing events” (Valerie Barr), where men realize that “Women in computer science: It is not a women’s problem, it is a men’s problem” (Dame Wendy Hall).
Finally, next years co-chairs, Maria Andreina Francisco and Virginia Grande (both Uppsala University) announced womENcourage 2015 will take place in Uppsala, Sweden. Watch for further announcements. If you are interested in volunteering send an email to acm-w-europe@acm.org
The night prior to the celebration of women in computing approximately 200 participants met with the generous supporters of ACM-W womENcourage 2014. The travel grants were funded by: Google, Bloomberg, Intel, Microsoft Research, Facebook, Yahoo Labs and Cisco. Both the representatives of the companies and the attendees thought it was a great opportunity to meet and discuss the different career paths. ACM-W Europe thanks the supporters who made the womENcourage celebration of women in computing and Career Fair a success.