Global AI and Data Science

Introduction to WiDS UAE 2021 on March 8 & March 20

A team of WiDS (Women in Data Science) Ambassadors and friends in the UAE are delivered WiDS regional events in March 2021. Many joined us to hear from established and emerging data scientists at a variety of institutions such as universities (faculty and students), at corporations in industry, at startups etc. Experts working in related domains  participated in panels, lightning talks, tech talks and more.

• March 8 - 4pm-6pm UAE (4am-6am Pacific) : see materials
  March 20 - 10am-3:30pm (11pm March 19-4:30am March 20 Pacific) :  see materials -   see recordings (temporary location)
  
• Both event recordings will be posted here : https://video.ibm.com/channel/A2NL37BMs3G -
  
• You can find the speakers' materials (slides etc) 

These events were free to attend.  It was fun to meet everyone on March 8 or March 20 or both! There were about 160 people registered for each event with numbers of attendees at any point in time ranged from 20-40 as people joined and left. An overarching theme through the events was finding opportunity in crisis.

Please scroll down to find out more about the agenda and the WiDS Ambassadors for the event. As discussed, it is helpful for students, & people seeking positions, & anyone who wants to understand a topic more deeply, or show that they are interested in developing their career, or in helping others -  to write / blog etc. The following are examples of items to write about related to WiDS events - e.g., as linkedin posts or articles (the recordings can help you do that):

• overall impressions of the event - what you learned - what were the technical themes
• group together lightning talks that are related and summarize and compare them
• top tech themes that emerged from lightning talks
• each lightning talk was structured differently - compare the styles of lightning talks - and compile some lightning talk tips
• if you hosted the lightning talks - summarize tips for future hosts of lightning talks
• compile a list of career recommendations you picked up during the sessions
• summarize the ideas that were discussed around mentors and the various kinds of mentoring / advising
• there was discussion around professional digital persona - highlight what you learned
• recap one of three panels - including the impromptu discussion that followed
• the panels were each conduced very differently - the panel chairs had different styles - consider styles of running panels
• write about the opportunities that were discussed that have come out of the current crisis (e.g., easier for people to work from home, prevalence  & breakthroughs in on-line learning ...)
• summarize the polls/quizzes that were conducted - and highlight unexpected results

WiDS UAE 2021 is an independent event that is organized by WiDS Ambassadors listed below as part of the annual WiDS Worldwide conference organized by Stanford University and an estimated 150+ locations worldwide, which features outstanding women doing outstanding work in the field of data science. All genders are invited to attend all WiDS Worldwide conference events.

Note : the link to this page is http://bit.ly/wids-uae-2021

WiDS UAE Ambassadors and Friends

The WiDS UAE 2021 ambassadors, leaders, and friends include:

• Sana Afouaiz - WomenPreneur
  
• Maha AlRais  - IBM
• Sukanya Bakshi - A.P. Moller - Maersk
• Chada BenMahcene - Baker Hughes
• Ibrahim Ibrahim - Morphosis
• Wissam Kadi - SAP
• Mounir Kehal - HCT
• Eva-Marie Muller-Stuler  - IBM
• Alaa Shaheen - Heriot Watt University Dubai (and leader in ArabWIC)
• Manar Abu Talib - University of Sharjah  (and leader in ArabWIC)
• Hind Zantout - Heriot Watt University Dubai

Agenda for WiDS UAE on March 8 and March 20, 2021

You can see the agenda below.  We hope that you will join us.