Women in Data, AI & Tech Careers Panel Q & A

*Note this is an in-person event only and places are limited so register in advance.*

The gender gap in technology-related careers starts at school and carries on throughout every stage of girls’ and women’s lives.

Despite the growing demand for data scientists, the field is still male-dominated with women making up just 26% of the data science workforce and in the UK, just 16% of the technology workforce.

Join us at Imperial’s Data Science Institute for an insightful panel discussion and Q & A session featuring successful women in data science, AI, and tech.

Speakers:

Shouojie Fu, Research Assistant in Data Curation and Data Science, Data Science Institue and Department of Surgery & Cancer at Imperial College London

Shuojie is a Research Assistant at the Department of Surgery and Cancer in Imperial College. She works closely with the Data Science Institute on a project about data curation related to breast cancer. Following her completion of a master’s degree at the University of Edinburgh, Shuojie began her career at JP Morgan as a Graduate Software Engineer. She later took on the role of a Machine Learning Engineer specialising in Automatic Speech Recognition at a startup in Cambridge. Shuojie has a linguistic background from her undergraduate studies.

Hana Makhlouf, Software Engineer, Bank of America

Hana is a software engineer at Bank of America, specialising in developing strategic risk and PnL (Profit and Loss) technology solutions. Graduating with a First-Class MEng degree in Electronic and Computer Engineering, Hana’s passion for sharing knowledge and helping others led her to start @Hanas_guide on Instagram, a platform where she shares career and educational content online. 

Beyond her professional role, she is dedicated to narrowing the gender gap in STEM fields and advocating for women in those fields, offering mentorship and support to foster their growth and success. Outside the office, Hana enjoys running and making coffee, including exploring different brewing methods and cafe-hopping in London. In every aspect of her life, Hana strives to uphold values of kindness, empowerment, and positive impact.

Dr Giulia Ferrari, Research Fellow, Data Science Institute at The London School of Economics and Political Science

Dr Giulia Ferrari is an Assistant Professorial Research Fellow the Centre for Women, Peace and Security. She is a co-Investigator on the methodological innovations research programme of the UKRI GCRF Gender, Justice and Security Hub. She is the Principal Investigator on  the economic evaluation of a cash transfer plus life skills training in Pakistan (funder: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation)l and of the  National Plan for the prevention of child marriage in Bangladesh (funder: UNICEF and UNFPA). She is also collaborating with UNFPA to determine the global costs of prevention violence against women and girls.

Giulia is a health economist with 18 years’ research experience in violence, international development, measurement and health, including in fragile and conflict settings. She has worked on sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Western Europe. Some of her publications are below. A full list can be found on Scopus, Google Scholar, or the LSE Research Online platform.