Celebrating the ACM-W Asia-Pacific and India Regions

By Arati Dixit, Chair, Regional Activities Committee, ACM-W Global Leadership Team

Since the start of the year, I’ve been meeting committed local leaders across the ACM-W Asia-Pacific and India regions and celebrating their work. Here are the highlights of three important events that ran in the past few months in our regions.

ACM-W Asia Pacific Scholar Cohort, Malaysia

The ACM-W Asia Pacific Scholar Cohort was ideated in the spring of 2025 by the ACM-W Asia Pacific region team, including Bimlesh Wadhwa (Singapore), Lay Ki (Malaysia) and Anuja Dharmaratne (Australia), along with Rukiye Altin, Chair, ACM-W Global Leadership Team and me, Arati Dixit, Chair, Regional Activities, ACM-W Global Leadership Team. After initial ideation, there were progressively more meetings with the student volunteers: monthly, biweekly, weekly, and finally, daily!

Attending the launch of the ACM-W Asia Pacific Scholar Cohort 2026, on the 11th and 12th of February 2026, at Monash University in Malaysia, was immensely satisfying. It was a promising beginning of a networking platform for scholars in computing! This event brought together participants from 14 countries and was truly an exhibition of companionship and teamwork by the students and faculty from these different institutions in the ACM-W Asia-Pacific region.

Participants of the ACM-W Asia Pacific Scholar Cohort 2026

This event was a perfect blend of topics like impactful technology, career pathways, work-life balance, professional skills development, and strategies for an influential research career. The keynotes, workshops, and training sessions conducted by scholars from diverse backgrounds were highly energetic and inspiring. The keynotes were on engaging, relevant topics, such as ‘Humans in the Loop: Human-Centred Computing for the Internet of Things’ (by Judy Bowen from the University of Waikato, NZ) and ‘Is the Grass Really Greener? Comparing Academic and Industry Career Paths’ (by Chun Yong Chong from Huawei Hong Kong).

Workshops were organized on topics including:

‘From Idea to Proposal: A Practical Writing Workshop’ – led by Rukiye Altin, ACM-W Global Chair
‘Publishing with Impact: Tools, Tips, and Strategies’ – led by John See from Heriot-Watt Malaysia
‘Introduction to Deep Learning & Dos and Don’ts for HPC’ – led by Marcus Lin Jun Yi from Monash University Malaysia
‘Stand Out on Paper, Shine in Person: CV & Interview Mastery’ – led by Mark Shia from Mobius Group Malaysia
‘Industrial Grant Applications: From Proposal to Partnership’ – led by Joanne Lim Mun Yee from Monash University Malaysia
‘Achieving Balance: Well-Being Strategies for Computing Students’ – led by me

Participants found these workshops vibrant, thought-provoking, and interactive, with an emphasis on personal growth. These workshops also provided them with a networking and community-building opportunity, leading to many invaluable conversations at the event and during post-event debrief sessions.

Students were active participants in poster and project demo sessions to showcase their work. This event brought together participants from academia, industry, research labs, and policymaking, all passionate about empowering students in academic settings and beyond. The next host of the ACM-W Asia Pacific Scholar Cohort 2027 event was also announced at the closing ceremony: Congratulations, BITS Pilani, Dubai Campus!

ACM Asia-Pacific Celebration of Women in Computing WiCoDE26 Dubai Buddies Edition 2026, UAE

Participants at the **WiCoDE26** Dubai Buddies Edition

Leadership catching up at the **WiCoDE26** Dubai buddies Edition

The ACM Asia-Pacific Celebration of Women in Computing WiCoDE26 Dubai Buddies Edition 2026 was held on the 16th and 17th of February, 2026, at BITS Pilani, Dubai Campus, UAE. The theme was Empowering Women in Tech Across the UAE. This ACM-W Buddy event was attended by participants and collaborators from multiple ACM/ACM-W chapters in the UAE. Participants came from various universities, including BITS Pilani, the University of Birmingham Dubai, Manipal University, Amity University, Symbiosis International University, and other universities. This event was a summit of ACM and ACM-W chapters in Dubai, where each chapter shared its experiences. This was a student-organized celebration with events such as an Ideathon, Tech Fun event, poster creation challenge, and panels on ‘Career Pathways ‘ and ‘ACM-W Community Opportunities & Growth.’ Other student chapters expressed their eagerness to host WiCoDE27, and we will soon hear more details about that event. The promising growth in ACM-W events in the ACM-W Asia-Pacific region was showcased in these two events, and I cannot wait to see what comes next in this region!

ACM India Celebration of Women in Computing AICWiC26 Hyderabad Buddies, India

Volunteers at AICWiC26 Hyderabad Buddies!

Participants at AICWiC26 Hyderabad Buddies!

The ACM India Celebration of Women in Computing AICWiC26 Hyderabad Buddies was held on the 19th and 20th of February at the Stanley College of Engineering and Technology for Women, Hyderabad, India. ACM-W is hosting ACM-W Buddy events to build local networking platforms for ACM/ACM-W chapters to collaborate and create a community of like-minded individuals. This was an ACM-W Buddy event with active collaboration among various ACM/ACM-W chapters in Hyderabad. It turned out to be a great platform for local networking of students with experts from academia, industry, and research labs. The highlights of this student-led celebration were the meticulous planning and enthusiastic efforts of the students. Their homemade decorations and souvenirs for the speakers and guests added a personal touch to the celebration. This celebration included multiple events such as lamp lighting, a welcome dance, keynotes, thought-provoking panel discussions, poster presentations, team activities, an ideathon, and a closing ceremony. The virtual addresses by Yannis Ioannidis (ACM President) and Rukiye Altin (Chair, ACM-W Global Leadership Team) were very inspiring and impactful. The keynotes were on ‘Beyond the Classroom – Resilience, Leadership, and Lifelong Learning in Computing Careers’ and ‘Designing for Consequences: Responsibility in the Age of Intelligent Systems.’ The panel discussions focused on topics like ‘Beyond Code – Ethics, Trust, and Leadership in Modern Computing’ and ‘Integrity, Inclusion & Impact.’ The student volunteers were eager to engage with the hosts of AICWiC27 Hyderabad Buddies and continue such collaborations in the future!

Final thoughts and thanks

I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of the ACM-W Global Leadership Team to thank the ACM/ACM-W student chapter leaders, student volunteers, faculty members, supporting staff, and host institution leaders. These events would not have been possible without you all!

If you feel inspired and want to learn more about our ongoing activities in these regions, please contact the regional chairs by visiting our Leadership page.