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Ethics Working Group

Despite the many ways new technologies have improved life, they cannot be regarded as unambiguously beneficial or even value-neutral. Recent experience shows they can lead to unintended but harmful consequences. Our Working Group, as part of the Informatics Europe community, can contribute among others at the following levels:

  • As an Informatics community, we need to ensure that socio-technological systems in the domain of informatics have a socially beneficial and ethical impact. This is especially important when it comes to emergent technologies, particularly for the new artificial intelligence and cognitive technologies in all phases of their development, from the design to implementation and in different applications. The current EU Artificial Intelligence Act, The European Approach to AI, presents a basis for the discussion.
  • Likewise important for us as a community of educators in Europe is to help introduce the teaching of ethics and social aspects at technical universities in Europe. ETHICS4EU project provides a foundation for continuing work on ethics education. Implementation of the ETHICS4EU results should be done through the various departments.

We want to educate our students to think not only about which systems they could build, but whether they should build them in the first place. We need to find ways to encourage informatics students to think about:

    • What are the intended and thinkable unintended consequences of a product or feature?
    • What are the positive consequences we want to focus on?
    • What are the consequences we want to mitigate?

Long-term Goals

  • Create a sustainable European Community of Practice in Informatics ethics
  • Ensure that the importance of teaching ethics in Informatics degree courses is recognized
  • Increase literacy on ethics among Informatics lecturers
  • Increase literacy on ethics among decision-makers (CEOs, policymakers political organizations)

WG Operation

  • Chair: Covadonga Rodrigo, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), Spain
  • Next meetings: TBA 

Get Involved!  

Would you like to join us in our current initiatives or suggest new ones. Join our Working Group here. 

Visit our Ethics webpage to know more about initiatives and outcomes on the topic by the Informatics Europe community.

Education Research Working Group

Motivation

Since 2012, Informatics Europe has been proactively working on the matter of  Informatics Education in Schools. Beyond the publication of several reports, IE is a founding member of the Informatics for All Coalition and a member of the Steering Committee of the ACM ITiCSE conference. The IE Education Research Working Group started in 2022, aiming to advance and establish a more formal forum for collaboration across Europe, particularly in Informatics Education Research. 

General Goals

  • Establish Informatics as a fundamental discipline to be taken by all students in school, recognised by all as a truly foundational discipline that plays a significant role in education for the 21st century. 
  • Build and maintain a European network of Informatics education researchers. 

WG Operation

  • Chair: Jan Vahrenhold, University of Münster, Germany
  • Secretary: Stefan Pasterk, University of Klagenfurt, Austria
  • Monthly online meetings (10:00 to 11:00 am CET. On every second Monday in odd month and on every second Tuesday in even month) and one annual physical meeting/workshop in association with the ITiCSE conference (agenda will be provided on the Friday before).  
  • OneDrive for the exchange of information, including meeting minutes.

Recent Objectives and Related Activities

  • Organise the annual International summer PhD school on Informatics Education Research (third cohort on 7-11 Sep, 2026 in Glasgow, Scotland. Further details here).
  • Report on academic/industry collaboration in Informatics Higher Education, including a description of the status quo and good practices, as well as a framework and contact points for implementation (as defined during ECSS 2024 Education WS, in Malta).
  • Collaborate in joint EU project proposals, aiming at strengthening the Informatics Education Research Network and related policies.
  • Promote the Informatics Reference Framework for School (IRF4S). 
  • Advisory support to the European Commission and other international organisations.

Get Involved

Would you like to join us in our current education research initiatives or suggest a new task force to promote Informatics Education Research? Join our Working Group here.

Visit our Education Webpage to know more about initiatives and outcomes on the topic by the Informatics Europe community.

 

Early Career Researchers Working Group

Empowering the next generation of Informatics researchers, in and beyond academia.

IE’s Early Career Researchers (ECR) Working Group serves as a platform for connection, mentorship, and opportunities, supporting early career researchers as they navigate the diverse paths of an Informatics career. Originating from the ECSS's Professional Workshop for Early Career Researchers, the Working Group now provides year-round support, extending the momentum and impact of the initiative beyond the annual workshop.

Through community-building, knowledge-sharing, and advocacy, the Working Group aims to empower early career researchers in Informatics while helping member institutions foster environments where their talents can flourish.

Mission & Objectives

Our mission is to support early career researchers in Informatics by:

  • Facilitating meaningful connections across the European Informatics community;
  • Providing access to mentorship, training, and career guidance—both academic and non-academic;
  • Promoting interdisciplinary collaboration and visibility for emerging researchers;
  • Advocating for inclusive and supportive development programs tailored to early career needs;
  • Supporting member institutions in strengthening their frameworks and initiatives that help early career researchers thrive.

We strive to ensure early career researchers are equipped, confident, and connected to succeed throughout their career—whether in academia, industry, or beyond.

WG Operation

  • Co-Chairs: Dimka Karastoyanova (University of Groningen, the Netherlands) and Elisabetta Di Nitto (Politecnico di Milano, Italy).
  • Online meetings held approximately every 6 weeks, scheduled in coordination with WG members.

Get Involved

Early career researchers bring fresh ideas; experienced professionals offer invaluable knowledge and guidance. By bringing together diverse perspectives, we gain a deeper understanding of emerging researchers’ needs and can develop initiatives that truly make a difference for the individual members of the Informatics community and will help equip the organisations they work for with best-of-breed means to nurture talent. Whether you are seeking support or eager to offer it, your voice matters. 

Join our Working Group by registering here, or get in touch with us via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

  • Current members:

     

  • Past Editions of the Professional Development Workshop for Early Career Researchers

    • October 2025 – Held on 27 Oct in Rennes, France, as part of ECSS 2025.
       Workshop slides and posters available here.

    • October 2024 – Held on 28 Oct in Sliema, Malta, as part of ECSS 2024.
      Workshop slides and posters available here.

    • October 2023 – Held on 23 Oct in Edinburgh, UK, during ECSS 2023.
      Featured a talk on "A Fresh Approach to Research Leadership" and a panel discussion on "How to Turn a Research Career into a Success".
      Workshop slides and posters available here.

    • October 2022 – Took place on 24 Oct in Hamburg, Germany, at ECSS 2022.
      Included talks from academic and industry leaders, a breakout session, and an employer panel on the future of Informatics careers.
      Workshop slides available here.

    • October 2021 – Debut edition, held on 25 Oct in Madrid, Spain, as part of ECSS 2021.
      Workshop slides and video recordings available here.

Overview of our Societal Impact Activities

Scientists and technologists, first and foremost as human beings, must consider the social impact of their work—a principle rooted in Hippocrates' Oath, which became the reference code of ethics for physicians.

Informatics scientists now face a similar challenge. While Informatics-driven automation offers vast progress, it can also impact quality of life and fundamental rights of individuals and society. Often, the consequences are only fully recognized when things go wrong, with technical issues or software bugs causing significant financial loss and even loss of human lives. Experience shows that, as the power and autonomy of these systems grow, so does the potential severity of incidents.

As a scientific community, we must increasingly embrace the social responsibility of Informatics, further integrating it into both teaching and research.
 Informatics Europe has given significant emphasis to ethical development, implementation, and monitoring of informatics research and education since its establishment, with growing attention to the various aspects of diversity and inclusion, as well as green ICT. Moreover,

Explore the following pages to learn more about our ongoing initiatives and working groups aimed at fostering positive societal changes through Informatics. 

Ethics

Addressing the ethical implications of technological development. Fostering awareness and responsibility in our community.

Green ICT

Advocating for the development of efficient, eco-friendly ICT infrastructure while leveraging technology to enhance sustainability across society.

Digital Humanism

A collaborative initiative to explore the evolving relationship between humans and machines, Informatics and society.

Diversity and Inclusion

Encouraging and supporting practices of diversity and inclusion in all aspects of Informatics, through activities that range from EU-funded projects to the IE Minerva Informatics Equality Award.

COST Action "European Network For Gender Balance in Informatics (EUGAIN)"

eugain logoWomen are underrepresented in Informatics (Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Computing, ICT) at all levels, from undergraduate and graduate studies to participation and leadership in academia and industry. Increasing female representation in the field is a grand challenge for academics, policymakers, and society as a whole. Although the problem is evident, progress has been invariably slow, in spite of all the momentum and impulse for change happening across Europe. The main aim of this COST Action was to improve gender balance in Informatics through the creation and strengthening of a truly multi-cultural European network of academics working on the forefront of the efforts in their countries, institutions, and research communities. EUGAIN featured more than 160 members from over 45 countries, including 5 non-European ones. Building on their knowledge, experiences, struggles, successes, and failures, we worked on developing and sharing best practices as well as a set of guidelines to support policymakers in adopting gender balance in Informatics.

Informatics Europe was the main proposer and is currently the leading organization in this COST Action. To learn more, visit the EUGAIN COST Action website and follow the project on Twitter and YouTube. 

Gender Diversity: Outcomes

  • The 2022 and 2023 Gender Equality in Informatics webinar series, aiming to contribute to sharing best practices as well as relevant research about gender equality and diversity in computer science. The series is a way to strengthen both the understanding as well as the action perspective of this topic.

  • Informatics Europe was the main proposer and the Grant Holder in the COST Action “European Network for Gender Balance in Informatics (EUGAIN)” from 2020 to 2024, which created a European network of colleagues working at the forefront of the efforts for gender balance in Informatics in their countries and research communities, eventually across Europe at all levels. The COST Action objectives were divided over five Working Groups (WG): From School to University; From Bachelor/Master to Ph.D.; From Ph.D. to Professor; Cooperation with Industry and Society; Strategy & Dissemination.

  • The annual workshop of the WIRE Working Group organised since 2018 and collocated with the European Computer Science Summit. The first workshop was held in Gothenburg, October 2018; the second - in Rome, October 2019, the third was held online in October 2020.

  • The annual Minerva Informatics Equality Award, first issued in 2016, recognising best practices in Departments or Faculties of European Universities and Research Labs that encourage and support the careers of women in Informatics research and education.

  • Supporting the womENcourage conferences, enabling a number of free registrations for students of Informatics Europe member institutions in several editions. Lynda Hardman, President of Informatics Europe, was a keynote speaker at the ACM-W Europe womENcourage 2016.  

  • Publication in 2016 of the best practice booklet "More Women in Informatics Research and Education". The booklet, now in its second edition, is a compact source of best practices for deans and heads of departments aiming to increase the participation of women in their institution, both as students and as faculty members. Many tips are inspired by colleagues in leading positions who have successfully implemented actions to attract and retain more women in their institution. The booklet is endorsed by the European Commission.
    More Women in Informatics Research and Education

Gender Diversity: Resources

Best Practices in Supporting Women: all entries to the Minerva Informatics Equality Award

Below is a list with European and worldwide initiatives designed to tackle the challenge of gender balance and to increase female representation in Computing. It also includes relevant European initiatives and projects that address the issue of gender imbalance in science in general. This list is a work in progress, more organisations and initiatives will be added incrementaly. If you would like to suggest additions to this list, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Relevant Blogs and Videos

 

European Initiatives

  • ACM-W Europe
     ACM-W Europe is a standing committee of ACM Europe and will work to fulfill the ACM-W mission in Europe. The ACM-WE vision is a transformed European professional and scholarly landscape where women are supported and inspired to pursue their dreams and ambitions to find fulfillment in the computing field.
  • DigitalMuse.org
     DigitalMuse.org is a global collaborative network stimulating girls’ interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and improving their digital skills through creative enterprises such as music & DJ-ing, design & visual arts, video games & software programming, and TV, film & audio production.
  • Equal-IST
     The EQUAL-IST project (Gender Equality Plans for Information Sciences and Technology Research Institutions) aims at introducing structural changes to enhance gender equality in Information Sciences and Technology (IST) research institutions. The project aims to address objectives in relation to gender equality by supporting seven Research Performing Organisations (RPOs) from Northern, Southern and Central European countries, as well as one CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) country in developing and implementing tailored Gender Equality Plans (GEPs).
  • epws - European Platform of Women Scientists
    The European Platform of Women Scientists is an international non-profit organisation that represents the needs, concerns, interests, and aspirations of more than 12.000 women scientists in Europe and beyond.
  • genPort
     GenPORT is a developing online community of practitioners, served by an internet portal and made up of organisations and individuals working across the globe for gender equality and excellence in science, technology or innovation. GenPORT covers all sciences - natural and social sciences, and humanities. GenPORT offers an arena for organisations and individuals to showcase and access the world's best research resources, practical materials, policy briefings, experiences, and much more.
  • Hypatia
     Follow up of the project Science: It's a girl thing! (see below) Hypatia is an EU Horizon 2020 funded project that addresses the challenge of gathering different societal actors around bringing more teenagers, especially girls, into STEM careers both in school and as a choice of learning and career in the future. It aims at changing the ways sciences are communicated to young people in and out of school to make them more gender inclusive.The project will produce a toolkit, work around national hubs and organise a series of events. There will also be a campaign targeting teenagers all around Europe. Called “Expect Everything”, it will build on the results achieved by Science it’s a Girl Thing.
  • Portia
     Portia's is non-profit organization working to help women and men have the same opportunities for engagement and advancement in science, across all science disciplines by: 1) promoting cultures that are collaborative and sensitive to gender issues; 2) ensuring that quality of research and innovation is enhanced by addressing gender issues, where relevant; and 3) showing how new ideas and markets for science knowledge can be created by including women as co-owners and co-solvers of problems facing society. Flagship projects include genSET: gender in science and The Gender Summits: Quality Research and Innovation through Equality.
  • Science: It's a girl thing!
    First phase of the campaign 'Women in Research and Innovation'  created by the European Comission Research & Innovation Directorate designed to encourage more women to choose research careers. The first phase of the campaign, under the slogan "Science: It's a girl thing!", targets high school girls (aged 13-18) especially those who would not normally be interested in pursuing careers in science and research. Through online and face-to-face activities with inspiring women scientist role models, the campaign aims to reach out  teenagers to give real information about the excitement and challenges of being a professional scientist or engineer. The second phase of the campaign is planned to encourage young women, aged 19-25 at university, to choose research as a career.
  • Top Women Tech
    Top Women Tech is an recruiting and networking event, organized twice a year, where around 120 talented and ambitious women meet with 18 top international companies.
  • Women2020.org
     Women2020 is a partnership supported by top-level Belgian and European public and private-sector organizations, whose mission is to promote women's contribution to   achieving the Europe 2020 vision of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Women2020 is a platform for a multi-stakeholder, cross-generational and public-private sector dialogue in the form of a series of high-level, invitation-only gatherings during the course of 2013.

 

International Initiatives

  • ACM's Women in Computing
    ACM-W supports, celebrates, and advocates internationally for the full engagement of women in all aspects of the computing field, providing a wide range of programs and services to ACM members and working in the larger community to advance the contributions of technical women.
  • Gender Summits
    The Gender Summits are a series of interconnected action based conferences held across the globe under the theme "Quality Research and Innovation through Equality". Their aim is to make gender equality the norm     science and to embed gender as a primary dimension of research and innovation quality.The Summits were established in 2011 in Europe. After that 4  Summits were held; bringing together over 2000 participants and 300 speakers and contributors representing expertise and leadership in policy, gender scholarship, science decision making and industry. In 2015  Summits will be held in Africa, Asia-Pacific and Europe.

  • Women in Music Information Retrieval (WiMIR)
    The initiative offers a mentoring program, travel grants, and technical workshop to women in Music Information Retrieval (MIR), a subfield of Computer Science. It provides mutual enforcing instruments for recruiting, supporting, and retaining females in the MIR field. The WiMIR mentoring program is organized on a yearly basis, with 4 remote sessions over a period of 6 months between mentor and mentee, so far spanning the continents of Europe, North and South America, Asia and Oceania. The WiMIR travel grants complement the remote nature of the mentoring program by enabling women to attend the yearly ISMIR conference and to meet the MIR community.  The WiMIR workshop, a satellite event of ISMIR, provides a venue for mentorship, networking, and collaboration among women and allies in the ISMIR community, while also highlighting technical work by women in MIR. 
  • Women in Technology International
    WITI was founded  to help women advance by providing access to - and support from - other professional women working in all sectors of technology. WITI started in 1989 as The International Network of Women in Technology and,  in 2001, evolved into The WITI Professional Association, the world's leading trade association for tech-savvy women. Today, WITI is the premiere global organization empowering women in business and technology to achieve unimagined possibilities.

National Initiatives

Czech Republic

  • Czechitas
    Non-profit organization made up of young women and men who all share one common goal – to increase diversity in the world of IT and to fight for a higher level of digital proficiency among women and in the new generation. Thousands of women and hundreds of children have already benefited and discovered the world of IT with their help.

France

  • Femmes et Informatique
    A press review about women and informatics. An initiative from and curated by the Société Informatique de France.
    The SIF is a space for reflection and advise on the stakes of computing; a space for action and expansion of the activities based on the work the community carries out, bringing together all those who are passionate about making informatics move forward.

The Netherlands

  • IPN EDI (equity, diversity, inclusion) working group
     The IPN EDI (equity, diversity, inclusion) working group strives to improve equity, diversity and inclusion in the Dutch ICT community. The group organizes concrete actions and events in this area and actively discusses EDI-related topics with policy makers, heads of departments and other relevant stakeholders. The working group holds plenary meetings four times per year. It includes representatives from all Dutch universities as well as CWI and NWO.
  • LNVH, the Dutch Network of Women Professors
     The Dutch Network of Women Professors began life informally in the nineties, and became a foundation on the 9th of August 2001. The LNVH is a network of over 1400 female professors and associate professors. Together they represent every discipline and all Dutch Universities. The LNVH aims to promote the proportionate representation of women in academia.
  • VHTO, the Dutch National Expert Organisation on Girls/Women and Science/Technology
    VHTO works in many fronts to increase the involvement of women and girls in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Many activities and initiatives involve secondary education students, but VHTO has also in more recent years intensified its activities within higher STEM education. VHTO participates in a great variety of international projects and networks and uses knowledge gained from working with partners abroad to bring best practice into the Netherlands as well as sharing Dutch experiences with international relations.

Spain

  • Red de Mujeres en Informática (MUIN)
    The goal of the network is to change the current situation in which the female participation in Informatics in Spain does not increase. More concretely the goals are:
    • Increase the presence of Informatics female students
    • Strength the professional/academic career of women in Informatics
    • Organize initiatives related to the women in ICT

 UK

  • Athena SWAN Charter
    The Athena SWAN Charter evolved from work between the Athena Project and the Scientific Women’s Academic Network (SWAN) to advance the representation of women in science, technology, engineering, medicine and mathematics (STEMM).

  • WISE
    WISE's  mission is to increase the gender balance in the UK's STEM workforce, pushing the presence of female employees from 13% as it stands now, to 30% by 2020. Their services are designed to build and sustain the pipeline of female talent in STEM from classroom to boardroom, boosting the talent pool to drive economic growth.

  • Stemettes
    Project to inspire the next generation of females into Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) fields by showing them the amazing women already in STEM via a series of panel events, hackathons, exhibitions, and mentoring schemes.

USA

  • National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT)
    The National Center for Women & Information Technology is a non-profit community of more than 450 prominent corporations, academic institutions, government agencies, and non-profits working to increase women's participation in technology and computing. NCWIT helps organizations recruit, retain, and advance women from K-12 and higher education through industry and entrepreneurial careers by providing community, evidence, and action.

  • Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (ABI)
    Since 1997, ABI has developed tools and programs designed to help industry, academia and government recruit, retain and develop women technology leaders. By providing inclusive platforms designed to ensure women’s voices, ideas and spirits will result in higher levels of technical innovation, ABI delivers programs that are changing the world for women and for technology. The Anita Borg Institute seeks to: increase the impact of women on all aspects of technology, and increase the positive impact of technology on the world’s women.

  • CRA-Women
    The goal of the CRA Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research (CRA-W) is to take positive action to increase the number of women participating in Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) research and education at all levels.

  • TechWomen
    Harnessing the power of business, technology and innovation, TechWomen brings emerging women leaders in technology sectors from the Middle East and North Africa together with their American counterparts for a professional mentorship and exchange program at leading companies in the United States. TechWomen is an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). TechWomen works to empower women and girls through technology. It connects and supports the next generation of women in technology sectors by providing them the access and opportunity needed to pursue careers in technology. TechWomen strengthens participants’ professional capacity, expands and diversifies networks of technology professionals in the Middle East and North Africa region, fortifies partnerships and increases mutual understanding between key professional groups in the U.S. and the Middle East and North Africa, and expands girls’ interest in tech-based careers by exposing them to women role models in the technology field.

  • The Ada Initiative
    The Ada Initiative is a non-profit organization helping women get and stay involved in open source, open data, open education, and other areas of free and open technology and culture. It supports women in open technology and culture through activities like producing codes of conduct and anti-harassment policies, advocating for gender diversity, teaching allies, and hosting conferences for women in open tech/culture.

  • Dot Diva
    The Dot Diva / New Image for Computing (NIC) initiative is sponsored by WGBH, one of the oldest and most accomplished producers of public media, and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the world's oldest and largest educational and scientific computing society. Dot Diva's mission is to create an exciting and positive image of computing for high school girls. Their nationwide survey revealed that not only do the majority of girls think of computing as "boring" and "hard," but they believe it fails to deliver two crucial benefits: "working with others" and "making a difference in other people's lives." Their ultimate goal is to transform this negative perception.

  • Women Who Code (WWCode)
    WWCode is a global nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring women to excel in technology careers by creating a global, connected community of women in technology. Women Who Code was founded in 2011 and has since grown to exceed 12,000 members spanning 14 countries. The organization is best known for its technical study groups, hack nights, career development, and speaking events featuring influential technology industry experts and investors.

Ethics: Task Forces

2018 - 2022 - Ethics4EU

2019 - Report on “Ethical/social Impact of Informatics as a Study Subject in Informatics University Degree Programs”

2017-2018 - When Computers Decide: European Recommendations on Machine-Learned Automated Decision Making

*Note that the affiliation indicated was the one at the time of their participation in the Informatics Europe activities. Some people have changed affiliation since then.

Informatics and Other Disciplines: Task Forces

2020 - 2022 - Interdisciplinarity in Informatics

2018 - 2019 - The Wide Role of Informatics at Universities (the outcome report available through this link)

*Note that the affiliation indicated was the one at the time of their participation in the Informatics Europe activities. Some people have changed affiliation since then.

Informatics and Other Disciplines: Outcomes

The Wide Role of Informatics at Universities

  • Report: “The Wide Role of Informatics at Universities”
    Summary ¦¦ Full Report
    Date: October 2019
    Details: The report presents the results of the online survey conducted to understand the value universities place on interdisciplinary research and teaching, what happens in practice with hiring and supporting interdisciplinary academics, and what structures are in place to support interdisciplinary work. The Data Science’s impact was also examined in detail, given its rapid rise and importance. 

Summer School on Informatics Education Research (SCHIER)

Upcoming Cohort: 2026

7-11 September
at the University of Glasgow (UK)

Application will open by mid-March 2026.
Subscribe to get the 2026 cohort update.

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