Conference 2021: Women in data science - report

This truly inspiring session on women breaking barriers in data science was chaired by Hira Naveed. It brought together successful women from a range of fields and backgrounds to share their experiences and advice. 

The first speaker on the panel was Carola-Bibiane Schönlieb, Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Cambridge. Carola, originally from Austria, shared her journey of pursuing a career in mathematical imaging, and how she likes to balance her work and personal life. Carola’s advice to other women is to have courage, take up opportunities, and not compare themselves to others.

Sophie Carr, founder and director of Bays Consulting Ltd, started off her empowering talk with sharing her passion for airplanes and how this motivated her to attend university, ultimately pursuing a PhD in Bayesian statistics. Sophie founded Bays Consulting Ltd, a company that encourages other women to follow a career in the tech field. Her main advice for women working and studying in this field is to never give up and follow their dreams. 

Johanna Hutchinson, director of data and data science in the Department of Health and Social Care, shared her incredible journey in both academia and industry. After working in academia for most of her twenties, Johanna made the switch to the civil service. Her work during the Covid-19 pandemic, as part of NHS Test & Trace, focuses on advising on national lockdowns, tiering systems, and international travel using various analytical tools.  

Our next speaker, Eugenie Hunsicker, senior lecturer in pure mathematics at Loughborough University, gave an overview of the exciting work she does. Eugenie is particularly interested in data science for social justice and the underrepresentation of women in mathematics. 

The last speaker was Cornelia Schaurecker, the global group director for big data and AI at Vodafone Group. Cornelia started her career in the car industry and has always been greatly motivated by innovation and all the different things we can do with data. Cornelia is passionate about inclusion and diversity at Vodafone and is proud to support women in the company though flexible and hybrid working.

This session is available to watch for a limited amount of time for anyone registered for online access to the RSS 2021 Conference.

Author
Celina Gehringer is a PhD researcher at the School of Health Sciences, University of Manchester.

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