School of Computing 'Women in Computing' lunch

On Tuesday 26 February, Jacqui Chetty, Student Success Manager at The School of Computing, hosted a “Women in Computing” lunch bringing 24 of its female students together.

This event encouraged our female students to get-together over lunch, get to know each other a little more and share their experiences about being a women at the University of Kent and School of Computing.

Following the buffet lunch, the students were invited to take part in some activities and express their “likes” and their "wishes” as a female student in the school. The “wish” list outweighed the “like” list generating some interesting food for thought for Jacqui to consider moving forward.

Jacqui said "We held a women's event and there was a great turnout. Female students were given an opportunity express how they felt about being a minority group within the school of computing. Although female students within the department perform well academically, listening to their "I wish" list I recognised that we could be providing them with more support. We look forward to implementing some of these."

Professor Ursula Martin, from the University of Oxford, joined in to share her own experience prior to giving her presentation to the whole school about “The Scientific life of Ada Lovelace” and why computer scientists should care about history. Ada, Countess of Lovelace is best known for a remarkable article about Babbage’s unbuilt computer, the Analytical Engine. The comprehensive archive of Lovelace’s papers is preserved in Oxford’s Bodleian Library and displays Lovelace’s wide scientific interests in everything from geology, to acoustics to chemistry.

Professor Martin started the talk by exploring Lovelace, her background, her scientific ideas and her contemporary legacy and reflecting more broadly on the role of history for computing in present day thinking about the discipline.

A great day enjoyed by all!