IMFD will be part of ChileWiC 2023, the most important event for women in computing in the country

October, 2023. "Around the world, women are not on equal footing when it comes to driving the creation of new technologies that will define their lives. This is not good for women, nor is it good for the world. Women must take their rightful place at the table, creating the technology of the future."

This was the vision that drove Anita Borg, a US computer scientist and pioneer in the design of operating systems and electronic communication platforms in the 1980s and 1990s, throughout her life. Until her death in 2003, she was a tireless advocate for increasing the participation of women in computing. 

It is precisely because of her key role and influence in the fight for gender equality in STEM that the Chilean Women in Computing Conference (ChileWiC 2023) will pay tribute to Anita Borg at its eleventh edition, to be held in December at the University of Santiago, Chile. 

The event is supported by the Millennium Institute Foundational Research on Data IMFD), and this year one of the main speakers will be IMFD researcher Jocelyn Dunstan Escudero, an academic from the Department of Computer Science and the Institute of Mathematical and Computational Engineering, both at the Catholic University.

"Ahttps://www.uc.cl/nitaBorg's vision has been an inspiration to many women in computing and programming. Early in her career, she realized how few women were in this field and began working actively to reverse that situation: she dreamed that by 2020, women would represent 50% of the computing world. We still have a way to go, but she created networks and initiatives that still exist today and are vital for promoting women's participation in STEM," says Valeria Herskovic, from the Department of Computer Science at the Catholic University and co-chair of ChileWiC.  

For Claudia López, a civil engineer specializing in computer science at the Federico Santa María Technical University and co-chair of ChileWiC, "another factor that makes Anita Borg such a powerful figure is her vision of participation in computing and technology not only as a matter of gender equality, but also as a way for women around the world to achieve a better quality of life. She always maintained that technology will be able to contribute to solving more of our society's problems when more women are thinking about it and building it." 

XI ChileWiC 2023 will take place on Friday, December 1, at the University of Santiago, Chile, in the Ramón Escobar Inostroza Auditorium, located in the Teaching Innovation Rooms Building (Avda. Víctor Jara No. 3524, Estación Central, Estación Central metro station).

As every year, there will be a competition segment for students, as well as presentations and forums with academics, professionals, and innovators in the field. ChileWiC is organized by academics from the Catholic University, the Federico Santa María Technical University, the University of Santiago de Chile, the University of Chile, and the University of Los Andes. They have the support of NIC Chile, the Institute of Complex Engineering Systems (ISCI), the National Center for Artificial Intelligence (Cenia), and the Millennium Institute Foundational Research on Data IMFD).

Registration to participate in the student competition is available at this link. 

Registration to participate in the meeting is available at this link.