Female researchers honoured on Ada Lovelace Day

Ada Lovelace Day is an international day that recognises women’s contributions to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Ada Lovelace (1815–1852) was a British mathematician and writer. Her notes are generally considered to contain the first algorithm intended to be processed by a machine, and she is therefore often described as the world’s first computer programmer.

Three women with different backgrounds and experiences in the field of technology spoke about their respective research journeys: Najmeh Abiri, senior lecturer at the Department of Computer Science and Media Technology, on her project to rapidly identify dangerous ticks using deep generative methods; Yujing Li, associate professor at the Department of Materials Science and Applied Mathematics, on her passionate interest in a healthy indoor environment; and Asli Rhodin, senior data scientist at Ericsson, on her winding journey from dreams of belly dancing to a PhD in atomic physics.

Sally Bagheri, a PhD student at the faculty, was the event’s compère.

“Celebrating women is, of course, a complex matter, but I hope that we will continue to celebrate this day in the future, regardless of whether women are at the centre of attention or not. For if there was one thing that Ada Lovelace embodied, it was precisely creativity and the ability to envisage solutions other than those that were possible in her time,” says Bagheri.