Oxfordshire

The 4th BCS Oxfordshire Women in IT event, this year held on Ada Lovelace Day at Oxford Brookes University

Agenda

18:00 Simon Jones FBCS

Title: A Personal Perspective on Achieving Gender Equality in the IT Profession
Bio: Simon Jones was Chief Executive of the United Nations International Computing Centre 2011-2017, leading a team of 450 staff and contractors providing shared IT services to over 40 UN bodies. He was previously Chief Information Officer in the Department for International Development. After retiring from full-time work he has taken a range of non-executive positions, including a full term as Independent Governor at Oxford Brookes University 2017-2025. Simon has long championed equality and diversity of all forms in the IT profession and will provide a short high-level perspective from his experience.

18:10 Dr Arantza Aldea

Title: Computing at Oxford Brookes
Bio: Dr Arantza Aldea has a BSc (Hons) in Physics from the University of the Basque Country in Spain and a PhD from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. She is the Programme Director in Postgraduate and international computing programmes at Oxford Brookes University. She has extensive experience at teaching at all levels from foundation years to masters students. She has also supervised PhD students in Spain and the UK. Arantza has always been interested in AI, in particular knowledge representation and reasoning. In recent years she has become interested in how AI can be applied in healthcare particularly in supporting people with diabetes to manage and understand their condition.

18:30 Jiayuan Zhu

Title: Women in Computer Science at Oxford: Building Community and Representation
Abstract: Oxford Women in Computer Science (OxWoCS) is a student-led society that supports, promotes, and connects women in computing across the University of Oxford. In this talk, I will share an overview of OxWoCS and its mission, including events such as GirlsWhoML and Oxbridge Conference. I will also reflect on my personal journey in computer science and how these experiences have shaped my perspective as a woman in AI research. Alongside this, I will briefly introduce my doctoral research on AI for healthcare, which aims to improve screening for neglected diseases in resource-limited settings.
Bio: Jiayuan is a DPhil candidate in Sustainable Approaches to Biomedical Science: Responsible and Reproducible Research (SABS CDT) at the University of Oxford. Her doctoral research focuses on improving the screening of Female Genital Schistosomiasis in low- and middle-income countries using AI techniques. She is also the current president of Oxford Women in Computer Science (OxWoCS), where she has been actively involved for the past two years.

19:00 Keynote – A Representative from the National Cyber Security Centre

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