WIRE Workshop 2019

"The Computer Science Career Journey - Opportunities and Challenges for Women"

The Informatics Europe working group on Women in Informatics Research and Education (WIRE) organised a full-day workshop on 28 October (Monday), as part of the ECSS 2019 program. The purpose of WIRE is to promote actions that help improve gender balance at all stages of the career path in Informatics (Computer Science, Computing) in Europe.

The main goal of the workshop was to foster a European network of colleagues working at the university and country level on the issue of gender unbalance in Informatics.

More specific aims of the workshop were:

• To increase the visibility of European WIRE-related activities
• To offer a place for exchange, especially experience reports for existing measures
• Bring forward the creation of a European network of actors; discuss contents, how we can support activities
• Strengthened networking; increased participation in our mailing list
• Advance the process for the creation of a list of female professors in Informatics (as candidate speakers, PC chairs/members, etc.)

The workshop was organised by Erika Abraham (RWTH Aachen University), Lejla Batina (Radboud University), Alexandra Silva (University College London) and Cristina Pereira (Informatics Europe) and attendance was by invitation.

Agenda

08:30-09:00 Registration

09:00-09:15 ECSS 2019 Conference Opening

09:15-11:00 Session 1: The Computer Science Career Journey

• 09:15-09:30 Introduction
• 09:30-09:40 Impulse talk by Minerva Award Winner 2018: University of Bamberg, Germany represented by Caroline Oehlhorn
• 9:40-10:00 Discussion on Encouraging female students to enroll in Computer Science/Informatics programmes and retaining them
• 10:00-10:10 Impulse talk by Minerva Award Winner 2017: Radboud University, The Netherlands represented by Lejla Batina
• 10:10-10:30 Discussion on Supporting the transition for PhD and postdoctoral researchers into faculty positions
• 10:30-10:40 Impulse talk by Minerva Award Winner 2016: University College London, UK represented by Alexandra Silva
• 10:40-11:00 Discussion on Developing the careers of female faculty

11:00-11:30 Coffee Break

11:30-13:00 Session 2: Unconscious Bias - Promoting Diversity 

• An interactive session with Geraldine Fitzpatrick, TU Wien, Austria (jointly with the Leaders Workshop)

13:00-14:00 Lunch

14:00-15:45 Session 3: Best Practices, Industry, EU Policy

• 14:00-14:30 Exchanging best practices in thematic groups
• 14:30-15:00 Plenary reports on the group discussions (presentation and documentation of best practices)
• 15:00-15:30 Presentations from further perspectives: Industry and EU Policy
  • Karin Hilton, Elsevier
  • Fabrizia Benini, DG CONNECT, European Commission
• 15:30-15:45 Conclusion

15:45-16:15 Coffee Break

The 2019 WIRE Workshop is Sponsored by