Informatics Europe Bulletin: Get Ready for ECSS 2023: Last Call for Early Birds

Informatics Europe

Informatics Europe Bulletin - September 2023

You are receiving this message because you have subscribed to our Bulletin. We thank you for your support!

In this issue:

Oct 23-25: ECSS 2023 in Edinburgh – Enhanced Program & Last Call for Early Birds

Seize your final opportunity to take advantage of the early bird special for our annual European Computer Science Summit (ECSS) here!

Between 23 and 25 October in Edinburgh, we welcome informatics leaders and research enthusiasts to ECSS 2023, a crucial event in the European informatics research and education community. Our aim is to unite decision-makers from various levels and diverse backgrounds, enabling them to broaden their international connections, exchange ideas and collaborate on initiatives in informatics and related fields, all for the betterment of society.

Check out our continuously enhanced conference schedule and individual session webpages covering all details about our sessions, featuring prestigious speakers from across Europe! Don’t miss these new exciting updates:

  • Leaders Workshop: a newly added 2-hour training session with Richard Boardman, a HR and change management expert, where we dive into thought-provoking discussions and activities to develop strategies to lead in a more inclusive and engaging way.
  • Poster Session for Early Career Researchers: limited number of grants are still available for PhDs (non-UK residents) who take part in the poster session. Come join us to showcase your talent, broaden your network and earn invaluable insights from leading informatics researchers, including our newly announced panellist Ambrish Rawat, Senior Research Scientist of AI Security and Privacy from IBM Research AI.
  • AI and the Future of Informatics Education: pre-workshop reading materials and discussion points are newly added to our webpage. Be part of a pan-European conversation, share your nation’s unique challenges, and gain insights from experts shaping the future of informatics education.

For IE members, we offer an exclusive opportunity to boost visibility and partnerships in informatics and related fields through Members Spotlight. You can also have your physical leaflets distributed at the ECSS venue in Edinburgh. Follow the instructions here to get in the spotlight!

ECSS 2023 is co-organised with our UK’s member institute the School of Informatics of the University of Edinburgh, and sponsored by Huawei and Edinburgh Innovations, the University of Edinburgh’s commercialisation service. Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter for the latest updates. We look forward to meeting you at ECSS 2023 in Edinburgh!

Education Research Working Group (WG) - Michael E. Caspersen on People of ACM

In May, we celebrated Michael E. Caspersen, IE’s former Board Director and Co-chair of our permanent education research working group, for receiving the 2022 ACM Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Education Award. As the second person from Europe to receive the Award since its establishment in 1989, Michael has been featured in the July edition of People of ACM, a series which highlights the unique scientific accomplishments and compelling personal attributes of ACM members who are making a difference in advancing computing as a science and a profession.

The article highlights Michael’s contributions to computer science education research and his policy work at the national and international levels to advance the teaching of informatics for all. He mentioned, “ACM Europe and Informatics Europe have worked together for more than 10 years to provide informatics education for all in Europe, initially in the context of the Committee on European Computing Education (CECE). In March 2018, the coalition Informatics for All was formally established. So far, the most influential and effective effort of the Informatics for All coalition has been the development of the Informatics Reference Framework for School. The document was developed to provide a coherent vision and shared terminology related to offering informatics for all in Europe, as requested by the European Commission in its Digital Education Action Plan.”

Congratulations once more, Michael! We extend our gratitude for your unwavering commitment and hard work, not only in supporting Informatics Europe's mission and activities but also for the broader informatics community's benefits. We look forward to more successes achieved together with our members and community!

For full coverage of Michael’s interview with People of ACM, read the article originally appeared in Association for Computing Machinery here.

Ethics WG - Brand New Webinar Series & Survey Deadline Extended

This month IE's Ethics Working Group will launch a brand-new Ethics Webinar Series. As we expand our use of informatics, we face ongoing challenges such as developing and responsibly deploying machine learning software, striking a balance between privacy rights and the benefits of Big Data analytics, determining the utility of this technology, and defining ethical and standard guidelines for its widespread use. These are some topics we will explore in this webinar series presented by speakers from our member institutions. All webinars are free and open to all:

More webinars will be announced soon. For full details and updates, please visit our webinar webpage.

We also kindly ask for your participation in the Working Group’s survey on computing ethics. Computing Ethics deal with the impact of ICT on our societies and the environment at large. Given the recent rapid advances in technologies such as Generative AI and the emergence of forthcoming legislation such as the EU AI Act, there is a crucial role for educators to play in the instruction of computer science and informatics students with regard to the development of ethical technologies. Our survey aims to understand the landscape with respect to the teaching of ethics in computer science and informatics at higher level education institutes across Europe. Whether or not your institution teaches ethics in computer science programmes, your feedback on this crucial topic is invaluable to us. Fill in the questionnaire here by 18 Sep.

EUGAIN – Contribute the Survey on Gender Balance Initiatives across Employment Sectors 

This is a call for participation to the survey about gender balance initiatives across employment sectors, developed within the COST Action EUGAIN. The collected information should help EUGAIN researchers develop a toolkit and policy recommendations for better cooperation between all related stakeholders, at a local, regional, national and EU level. The Working Group will analyse the reported practices put in place by academic institutions to deal with external cooperation related to gender issues, while evaluating the existing assessment for these practices.

The survey is open to input from all European organizations, institutions, companies, and units, seeking both positive and negative experiences to enhance EUGAIN research and work on policy recommendations. Complete the survey here.

***
Informatics Europe partnership contributes to the success of European funded projects such as EUGAIN. Looking for a pan-European networking partner to strengthen and support your research or education projects? Reach out to us: administration@informatics-europe.org.

IE Present at the Humanism Summit on AI and Democratic Sustainability 

Our President, Enrico Nardelli, attended on behalf of Informatics Europe the Digital Humanism Summit on AI and Democratic Sustainability, a two-day invitation-only event organized by the Digital Humanism Initiative, the OSUN Hannah Arendt Humanities Network at Bard College, the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM), and Digital Enlightenment Forum, Brussels.

The Summit focused on the identification of possible responses to the global challenge posed by the power of generative AI and the discussion of how to face it through collective action such as policy recommendations. During an afternoon session of “The Sociopolitical Impact of AI”, Enrico has given a lecture “AI and Education: a Multi-faceted Relation”. The event was attended by academic scholars, political experts and regulators from more than 20 countries, with a Statement of the Digital Humanism Initiative on Generative AI and Democratic Sustainability issued to conclude the Summit.

For further insights into our collaboration with the Digital Humanism initiative, explore our webpage here.

CV Repository Users Invited to the Synapse AI Symposium

To celebrate the launch of IE’s CV Repository, Bending Spoons, our CV Repository sponsor, extended an exclusive invitation to 10 outstanding female students in artificial intelligence or STEM from our member institutes to the Synapse: AI Symposium organised in Milan on 30 September 2023. Selected through the CV Repository, the awarded Master’s or PhD students will receive a sponsored package including travel and accommodation to the Synapse. We appreciate the enthusiastic responses from students of over 12 countries to this invitation. Ten students have already been selected and notified by Bending Spoons. We extend our congratulations to these outstanding students.

For those who have missed the Synapse invitation, you still have a chance to benefit from our CV Repository’s Summer Reward Special, which runs until 20 September. Applicants have the chance to receive cash rewards and recruiters free trial access to our cutting-edge platform. Check out the full details here and register to benefit now! Kindly assist us in extending this invitation to your colleagues and students, encouraging them to register and become part of our CV Repository.

***
The CV Repository, with platform development sponsored by our industrial member Bending Spoons, is IE’s most recent career service committed to connecting early career professionals from our member institutions and employers in informatics and related fields across Europe.

Association News

Board & Executive Committee Meetings

  • 22 Sep (Fri), 16:00-17:00, Zoom
  • 22 Oct (Sun), 14:00-18:30, ECSS2023/Edinburgh
  • 26 Oct (Thu), 08:30-16:00, Edinburgh (Executive Committee only)

Member representatives are welcome to submit agenda topics and participate as observers in board meetings. Let us know if you’d like to join us!

Don’t Miss These IE & EC Activities

  • Second round of European Statistics Awards on Nowcasting: join on your own or with a team of peers, using advanced modelling techniques and (nearly) real-time auxiliary data, to come up with nowcasts for key energy time series way ahead of the official figures. Try your chances to win up to €8 000 per nowcasted time series. If your team secures the top spot for all three time series, you could earn up to €24 000 in this round of European Statistical Awards For Nowcasting. For more information: please visit the Awards website here.

***
Visit our Open Activities webpage to get an overview of how you can contribute and benefit from our activities!

Events by Members

Members News

Politecnico di Milano - CAiSE2023: DEIB Research in the Field of Information Systems Engineering Receives Outstanding Recognition

Anna Bernasconi, researcher from the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering at the Politecnico di Milano, won the CAiSE PhD Award 2023. She received the award for her Ph.D. thesis in Information Technology, titled “Model, Integrate, Search... Repeat: A Sound Approach to Building Integrated Repositories of Genomic Data”, during the 35th International Conference on Advanced Information Systems Engineering (CAiSE), which took place in Zaragoza, Spain in June.

In her awarded thesis, Anna proposes a conceptual model of metadata and an extended architecture for integrating genomic datasets, and then describes a user-friendly search system providing access to the resulting consolidated repository.

The excellence of DEIB’s research in the field of Information Systems Engineering received further recognition from CAiSE. The paper “DOML: A New Modelling Approach to Infrastructure-as-Code” written by Prof. Elisabetta Di Nitto (IE Vice President) together with Bin Xiang and Gaia Novakova Nedeltcheva, both research assistants at the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering of the Politecnico di Milano, was awarded the Best Explorative Paper Award. The paper introduces a new Cloud modelling language for infrastructure deployments that can address IT infrastructure provisioning, application deployment and configuration at once. The idea behind it is to use a single modelling paradigm which can help to reduce the need of deep technical expertise in using different specialized languages.

Read here for the full story.

***
Would you like to share the latest updates about your institute to fellow IE members and professionals in informatics and related fields? Simply email the relevant news in brief to our Communication Specialist Kit Wan Chui to get featured in our Bulletin, LinkedIn and Twitter.

New Jobs @ Informatics Europe Job Platform

There are 22 new job ads on the Informatics Europe Job Platform.

As members, you can advertise and extend your search to attract the best candidates for your open positions on the IE job platform free of charge!

About the Bulletin

The Informatics Europe Bulletin is distributed monthly to member representatives of Informatics Europe and subscribers who are interested in public and private informatics research and education activities in Europe and neighbouring countries. Kindly share the Bulletin with others in your institution and network who may find it relevant. Alternatively, if you have colleagues you'd like to include, please provide us with their email addresses and we will subscribe them to our Bulletin directly. We thank you for your support.

For changes, please contact administration@informatics-europe.org.

Copyright © 2024 Informatics Europe. All rights reserved.
 
Powered by AcyMailing