Inaugural CignetS Athena SWAN for Computer Science Workshop

The inaugural CignetS Athena SWAN for Computer Science workshop will take place at the British Computer Society Headquarters on the 1st Floor of the Davidson Building (5 Southampton Street, London WC2E 7HA) from 10am to 4pm on Monday, 1 December 2014. The event is sponsored by the BCS Academy of Computing; the link to the event website is www.bcs.org/content/conEvent/8848, and the link for booking a place is events.bcs.org/book/1171.  The agenda is attached below.

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CignetS
Athena Swan for Computer Science Workshop 
1 December 2014 
1000-1600 at BCS HQ   
Sponsored by the BCS Academy

The enthusiastic engagement of Computer Science in Athena Swan is steadily removing barriers to the participation and advancement of women within our departments and is improving working conditions for all. 2013 in particular saw the largest number of Computer Science and related departments successfully achieve Athena Swan Bronze Awards. We are aware that many departments are considering engagement in Athena Swan and that current award holders wish to encourage and support them.

Experience of preparing Athena Swan applications varies a good deal between institutions and the challenges vary accordingly. We will provide practical advice that takes the level of institutional experience, expertise and support infrastructure into account.

Our workshop provides an opportunity for those new to Athena Swan and established award holders to exchange ideas and share best practice. Those already holding Bronze awards will also find encouragement and advice on making further progress.

Our workshop is intended to foster positive collaborative support and to help develop a Computer Science Athena Swan community. 

Lunch and refreshments will be provided.

Venue: BCS, 1st Floor,
The Davidson Building 

5 Southampton Street

London, WC2E 7HA


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Programme of the Workshop
1 December, 1000 – 1600

Morning session, 1000-1200


The 4 main speakers will speak for 15 minutes each with 10 minutes for questions.

1000-1015:  Arrival, registration, refreshments.

1015-1020:  John Clark (York) – introduction to the workshop.

1015-1040:  Harri C Weeks (ECU) – past, present, future of Athena Swan; some statistics on awards; recommendations on Bronze versus Silver for first-time departmental entry, etc.

1040-1105:  Peter Clarkson (Kent) –  case study on how to manage an Athena Swan departmental application in a University with little experience or expertise in Athena Swan

1105-1110: Break

1110-1135:  Jane Hillston (Edinburgh) – case study on how to manage an Athena Swan departmental application in a University with a lot of  experience and expertise in Athena Swan

1135-1200:  Caroline Wardle (UCL and Queen Mary) – a panelist’s viewpoint on good and bad practices in developing an application for an Athena Swan Bronze or Silver dept. award; reflections on the judging process.


All participants are invited to identify one or two aspects on which they would like advice and post-note them to a board during the morning. These notes will serve to inform the panel session and later discussions.
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1200-1300:      Lunch and networking


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Afternoon session: 1300- 1600
These sessions will share ideas and experiences, allow issues identified earlier to be discussed, and provide further opportunities for networking.

1300-1400:      Ideas we have found highly effective
A session where participants are invited to identify their top one or two Athena Swan related
ideas to improve CS Departments.

1400-1445:      Discussion topics and panel
This session will be driven by the discussion topics identified earlier.

1445-1515:      Refreshments and networking

1515-1600:      Final session: The way forward for the CS Athena Swan Community


G.Hack Programming Workshop at Music Tech Fest


A G.Hack team will give a workshop on how to hack a Web Audio API straight through the Google Chrome web browser to make a sound map of Centre Pompidou in Paris as part of the Music Tech Fest. The team comprises of Magdalena Chudy, Katja Knecht, Nela Brown and Patrizia Carlota.

Description (from EventBrite):

After noticing the low number of women hackers at Music Hack Days, G.Hack decided to put together a series of workshops in which female participants would learn about the culture of software and hardware hacking through short demos and examples, before moving on to building some cool hacks!

For Music Tech Fest Paris 2014, G.Hack prepared a workshop in which participants will learn how to hack a Web Audio API straight through the Google Chrome web browser to make a sound map of Centre Pompidou. The Web Audio API is a high-level JavaScript API for processing and synthesizing audio in web applications. It includes capabilities found in modern game audio engines and some mixing, processing and filtering tasks found in modern desktop audio production applications.

This is a workshop for women beginners with no previous programming experience, though all levels are welcome!

IEEE-WiE & IEEESB QMUL Meet & Greet Event

The QMUL IEEE Women in Engineering & IEEE Student Branch Committee presents an evening for all the undergraduate and postgraduate students to get involved in IEEE (Institute of Electrical & Electronic) activities at QMUL. We have a zestful IEEE student branch (IEEESB) and a new revamped IEEE-WiE (Women in Engineering) affinity group.

The event is for students to come out of their course books and have a look at the engineering world outside. IEEE promises to bring a variety of benefits to the students, ranging from memberships, exciting engineering/science/technology events & news, student awards/scholarships, mentorship programmes , industrial networking , volunteering activities and careers.

IEEE-WiE & IEEESB brings,“THE FOCUS IS YOU” programme through this event, where the students get the opportunity to be the part of extensive IEEESB committee at QMUL, build industrial/academic networks and organize IEEE events.

Don’t miss the free food, drinks and an opportunity to interact with our guests on 26 November, 4-6 pm (Venue – Eng. 207, Engineering building, Mile End Road, E1 4NS).

For further details, please visit ieeesb.elec.qmul.ac.uk or email at sb.qmul@ieee.org .

Connect with us on Facebook – IEEE Queen Mary Student Branch – www.facebook.com/pages/IEEE-Queen-Mary-Student-Branch/183839141643569

Visit www.ieee.org to get more information on IEEE & IEEE-WiE!

Michelle Ryan: Women Singled Out for Inferior Positions?

Reasons for the glass cliff as given by women vs. men (Ryan, Haslam & Postmes 2007).

Today’s talk by Professor Michelle Ryan of the University of Exeter at the Fogg Lecture Theatre on the glass cliff led to the following conclusions (from her final slide):

  • women’s experiences in the workplace are very different from their male counterparts;
  • equal opportunity is about the nature of leadership positions as well as the numbers; and,
  • it is important to note that the quantity of women given senior positions is low, but also that the quality of those positions is typically low too.
Motivation for Ryan’s glass cliff project: Times article, “Women on Board: Help or Hinderance” (Judge, 2003)

Motivation for her glass cliff project came from a 2003 Times article, ‘Women on Board: Help or Hindrence’ (Judge, 2003) that claimed companies with women in their board rooms tend to underperform, thus women leaders must be wreaking havoc on organisations’ performances.  Subsequent systematic research revealed that women tend to be disproportionately appointed to leadership positions when companies are failing, and that companies that appointed women during financial downturns actually experienced marked increase in share prices.

More on her work can be heard on BBC Radio 4’s woman’s hour archive:

SBCS@QMUL presents an Athena SWAN Seminar by Professor Michelle Ryan

From The Glass Cliff project website (psychology.exeter.ac.uk/research/glasscliff):

“Extending the metaphor of the glass ceiling, the glass cliff describes the phenomenon whereby individuals belonging to particular groups are more likely to be found in leadership positions that are associated with a greater risk of failure and criticism.”

Hear about the glass cliff from Professor Michelle Ryan at the next SBCS Athena SWAN seminar Thursday, 20 Nov, 1pm-2pm at the Fogg Lecture Theatre.

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The School of Biological & Chemical Sciences at QMUL, Athena SWAN Seminar 

Beyond the glass ceiling: The glass cliff and the precariousness of women’s leadership positions 

Professor Michelle Ryan
Professor of Social and Organisational Pyschology, University of Exeter

Thursday 20 November 2014, 1.00pm to 2.00pm
Fogg Lecture Theatre, Fogg Building, Mile End Campus, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS

While women are breaking through the glass ceiling in increasing numbers, there may be additional subtle barriers for them to face. Michelle will present a program of research examining the types of leadership positions that women tend to occupy and the precariousness of these roles. ​

Professor Michelle Ryan, U of Exeter

Michelle Ryan is a Professor of Social and Organisational Psychology at the University of Exeter, UK and a (part-time) Professor of Diversity at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands. At the University of Exeter she is the Dean of Postgraduate Research and Director of the University of Exeter Graduate College. She currently holds a British Academy mid-career fellowship examining the role of identity in determining perception of work-life balance. She is involved in a number of other research projects. With Alex Haslam, she has uncovered the phenomenon of the glass cliff, whereby women (and members of other minority groups) are more likely to be placed in leadership positions that are risky or precarious. Research into the glass cliff has been funded by the ESRC and the European Social Fund. In 2005 it was short-listed for the Times Higher Education Supplement Research Project of the Year and was named by the New York Times as one of the top 100 ideas that shaped 2008.

BBC News: Women Play Increasingly Powerful Roles at UN

Nick Bryant of BBC News New York writes: “Long an all-male enclave, the UN Security Council now has a record number of women. Does that influence how diplomacy gets done at the highest levels?”

“I think we listen well … I notice that the women tend to take more notes.” ~ Samantha Power, US Permanent Representative

“Women have greater and deeper and more profound insights into how to resolve problems.” ~ Joy Ogwu, Nigeria’s Ambassador

“Women tend to discuss more, to want to find solutions … Faced with problems, we say: ‘Well you know we should do something. This is not proper. We should do something.’ There’s this desire to find these solutions. I don’t know whether it’s the mother factor, or what, but there is that aspect that I noticed in the council.” ~ Dina Kawar, Jordan Permanent Representative

Read more at www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30012139 .

NYTimes: Executive Women Finding and Owning Their Own Voice

Richardson-Heron, Napier, Miller, and Ming
—four women interviewed in NYTimes (13 Nov 2014) article
“Executive Women, Finding (and Owning) Their Voice“

In a New York Times article posted on 13 November 2014, Adam Bryant interviews four executive women—Dara Richardson-Heron, M.D., Chief executive of the Y.W.C.A. USA; Sharon Napier, Chief executive, of Partners + Napier (an ad agency); Jody Greenstone Miller, Chief executive of the Business Talent Group; and, Jenny Ming Chief executive of Charlotte Russe.  The four women speak on women and leadership: the importance of taking stands, and of making sure they are heard.

Follow this link to see the article: Executive Women, Finding (and Owning) Their Voice