ACM-W Europe Newsletter

September 2018

Register NOW to attend!

Keynotes:

Kathleen Richardson, Professor of Ethics and Culture of Robots and AI at De Montfort University, Leicester will open ACM Celebration of Women in Computing: womENcourage on October 4th at 9:15 AM.

A dystopia in the making? – the rise and rise of ethics of robotics and AI

Philosophical ethics is the study of principles to guide moral action of human and societal institutions. There is no absolute ethics, and ethics as a philosophical system can be used to argue many different viewpoints, even contradictory ones. Moreover, many wealthy corporations with poor rates of employing women or people of colour or distributing wealth are presenting their companies as committed to ethics. But can a humanistic ethics exist alongside a class, sex or racial hierarchy? Are there limits to ethics that we need to consider? And what about the humanity of women, can the commercial sexual exploitation coexist alongside women’s freedom and liberation? This talk will explore these themes through a discussion of sex robots, libertarianism, ethics and contemporary AI.

Radha Narayan, Software Engineer at Google since 2005 will give the second keynote address at 9AM on Friday October 5th.

The Four C’s of a Fulfilling Career

Being good at your work gives you a sense of achievement, a key ingredient of life satisfaction discovered by positive psychology. It also gives you the power to negotiate for the other components of a fulfilling job, such as the ability to work on meaningful projects and undertake engaging tasks. The journey is usually the most interesting piece – here is a snapshot of Radha’s, a Google Employee, first 10 years in tech.

Looking forward to both of these keynote addresses.

ACM Celebration of Women in Computing:
Do you wish to organize womENcourage 2019? Submit your proposal by 25 September, 2018.

ACM-WE womENcourage Celebration is organized annually. It is an exciting event that continues to attract women from diverse technical disciplines. They come together to exchange knowledge, ideas and experiences through hackathon projects, workshops, tutorials, posters, keynotes, technical talks, panels, and poster presentations. The event provides excellent opportunities for networking through the Celebration programme and social events. womENcourage supporters take part in the career fair and promote employment opportunities with their organizations.

The womENcourage Steering Committee is now inviting proposals for organizing womENcourage 2019. The deadline for the proposal submission is 25 September, 2018. The decision will be finalized by 30 September, 2018.

Please use the .doc template or PDF template and send the completed proposal to the womENcourage Steering Committee: [email protected]. The decision will be made by 1 October, 2018.

News Around the World

HiPEAC Computing Systems Week Registration is open.

ITforSHE Programming workshop for kids, Poland

On August 20-24 at the Kosakowskie Cultural Centre, ITforSHE presented free classes teaching programming in cooperation with the Polish-American Freedom Foundation to children aged 8 years and older. The project aims to integrate a group of young IT students, thereby stimulating the children's imagination, helping them discover the cyber world and to show that programming is for everyone. It also builds confidence while the students are having a fun experience.

The goal of the ITforSHE program is to help talented women studying IT with entering the job market. It includes: Europeâ€™s biggest themed camp for young women in IT â€“ Women in Tech Camp, a mentoring program at the best technology companies and a volunteering campaign in small towns. encouraging children to learn programming.

ITforSHE sends active young women studying IT to small towns in summer, to teach programming and tech knowledge at schools. Its goal is to increase interest in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) area among children, to promote women in the role of technology experts and to activate their social potential. We see the result of this program in this workshop.

During the workshop the children learned programming using Building Lego Mindstorms, Be Creo and Dash-Dot. What is more, they can try to use 3D printer and design their own projects. As you can see from the video all of the children had a wonderful time.

Check out this video.

Gender Gap in Science: Deadline Extended to December 31st

The 2018 Global Survey of Mathematical, Computing, and Natural Scientists has been launched on May 1st, 2018 and will be opened for answers until December 31st, 2018.

Click here to complete the 2018 Global Survey of Mathematical, Computing, and Natural Scientists.

You are welcome to forward this link to the survey to your colleagues, men and women. Invitation letters to participate in the survey are available here in: English, French, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Spanish and Arabic.

ACM Local Celebrations of Women in Computing

If you are planning a Celebration that will take place between July 1, 2018 and June 30, 2019, please fill in this Registration Form.

All Celebrations are expected to join the Celebrations Facebook page

If your event is not registered by July 31st, 2018, we cannot guarantee funding.

Contact Wendy Powley [email protected] if you have questions about support and funding.

ACM Awards and Advanced Grades of Membership Deadlines

Celebrating Accomplishments of ACM Women in Europe

Each year ACM recognizes outstanding achievements of its members through awards that cover a spectrum of professional and technological areas and different stages of professional development.

Following the mission of ACM-W to foster women participation in the field of computing, ACM-W Europe invites the community to welcome and recognize accomplishments of ACM Women in Europe who made significant contributions through their technical and professional excellence.

Advanced Grades of Membership Deadlines:

ACM Fellow: September 7, 2018
Distinguished Members: August 1, 2018
Senior Members: Dec 3, 2018

Nominations are due January 15, 2019 for the following ACM awards:

A.M. Turing Award: Major contributions of lasting importance in computing;
ACM Prize in Computing: - (previously known as the ACM-Infosys Foundation Award) early to mid-career fundamental innovative contribution in computing that, through its depth, impact and broad implications, exemplifies the greatest achievements in the discipline;
Distinguished Service Award: service contributions to the computing community at large;
Grace Murray Hopper Award: outstanding young computer professional, based on a single recent major technical or service contribution;
Paris Kanellakis Theory and Practice Award: theoretical accomplishments that have had significant impact on practice;
Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award: advancing new teaching methodologies, curriculum development in computing, or significant contributions to ACM's educational mission;
Eugene L. Lawler Award for Humanitarian Contributions within Computer Science and Informatics: recognizes an individual or group who has made a significant contribution through the use of computing technology. The presentation of this award alternates with the ACM Policy Award;
ACM-AAAI Allen Newell Award : career contributions with breadth or that bridge computer science and other disciplines;
Outstanding Contribution to ACM Award: outstanding contributions to ACM, in both value and degree;
Software System Award: developing a software system that has had a lasting influence;
ACM Athena Lecturer Award: celebrates women researchers who have made fundamental contributions to Computer Science;please note: nominations for the Athena Lecturer Award are now open to all (prior to 2016 only SIG Leaders could submit nominations).

Please refer to the ACM Awards website for:

Nomination process ( and the online nomination form), and members of the 2018 Award Committees;
Links to the listing of past award recipients and their citations.

For SIG-specific Awards, please visit the SIG Awards page.

Thank you for joining us in recognizing accomplishments of ACM Women in Europe and ensuring they are nominated for ACM Awards they deserve.

womENcourage 2018, the ACM - WE Celebration of Women In Computing
Organize the next womENcourage in 2019
News Around the World
Gender Gap in Science: Deadline Extended to Dec. 31st
ACM Local Celebrations of Women in Computing
ACM Award and Advanced Grades of Membership Deadlines