IEEE WIE UK & Ireland Event | AI and Gender Equality: an Open Challenge at IEEE MetroXRAINE 2024
The 2024 IEEE International Conference on Metrology for eXtended Reality, Artificial Intelligence and Neural Engineering – IEEE MetroXRAINE 2024 – is an international event mainly aimed at creating a synergy between experts in eXtended Reality, Brain-Computer Interface, and Artificial Intelligence, with special attention to the measurement.
IEEE Women in Engineering Italy and UK & Ireland Affinity Groups present a panel for 2024 IEEE MetroXRAINE entitled AI and Gender Equality: an Open Challenge.
The panel aims to explore the dual facets of AI’s impact on gender equality, focusing on its potential to bridge and inadvertently widen the gender gap.
The first topic delves into how AI technologies can be harnessed to promote gender equality, from enhancing access to education and career opportunities to improving healthcare outcomes for women and LGBTQIA+ people. By leveraging data-driven insights, AI can help dismantle barriers and create more inclusive environments.
The second topic addresses the critical issue of gender bias in AI algorithms. The panel will examine how biases in training data and algorithm design can perpetuate stereotypes and inequalities, and discuss strategies to mitigate these biases.
Join us for an engaging discussion with experts from diverse fields as we navigate the challenges and opportunities AI presents in the quest for gender equality.
Panelists
Letizia Tanca is Full Professor of Computer Engineering (area Data Management) at the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering (DEIB) of Politecnico di Milano, where she has held various positions, among which Head of the Bachelor-and-Master Degree Committee and Head of the Computer Science area of DEIB. She teaches Databases and, Technologies for Information Systems. She has been involved, as PI or co-PI in several research projects. Letizia is author of about 200 publications on databases, data semantics, data integration, context-aware data management, and ethical data analysis and Machine Learning (see https://dblp.org/pid/t/t/tiziaTanca.html and in particular https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3362121). Her research papers were cited over 7400 times and her h-index is 37 (Google Scholar).
In recent years, she was Associate Editor of several conferences and journals (e.g. PVLDB 2014, 2023 and 2025) and recently Program Co-Chair of the EDBT Conference. She has organised and chaired the PIE workshops (Processing Information Ethically) 2019, 2020 and 2021 on ethical treatment of information https://pie.dia.uniroma3.it/
Julie Wall is a Professor of AI and Advanced Computing at the University of West London. She is a member of the British Standards Institution (BSI) and serves as an expert in the field of AI. Her research focuses on designing intelligent systems to process and model temporal data, with a particular emphasis on speech and language applications.
Luigi Lavorgna, born January 24, 1970 in Naples, Italy, is a neurologist currently working at the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”. He obtained a PhD in Neuroscience and is qualified as an Associate Professor in Health Professions Sciences and Applied Medical Technologies. He also chairs the Study Group on “Digital Neurology and Artificial Intelligence” of the Italian Society of Neurology. Dr. Lavorgna’s scientific productivity is as follows: 139 published articles, an H index of 31 and 2890 citations. His previous roles include Vice President of Campania Digitale, Project Coordinator for technological innovation at the Campania Region and multiple academic positions including Adjunct Professor at various universities.
In the field of research he has contributed to projects on non-conventional magnetic resonance imaging techniques and multiple sclerosis. He currently directs several digital health projects and is a member of several scientific committees, including the Italian Consensus on Telerehabilitation and the European Reference Network for rare neurological diseases. Dr. Lavorgna has been honored with numerous awards for his innovative work, including the National Observatory on Women’s Health Award and the Novartis International Award for Best Digital Project. He also runs NeuroDigit, a spin-off focused on medical technology research and development.
Dr Carol Marsh OBE is the Engineering Director at Celestia UK, a Visiting Professor at Edinburgh Napier University (ENU), a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Deacon of the Hammermen of Edinburgh, a Trustee and Vice-President of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), Vice-President of the Royal Scottish Society of Arts (RSSA), Treasurer of Engineering Scotland and a member of several boards.
Carol graduated with an HND in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from ENU in 1985 and was awarded a degree of Doctor of Engineering in System Level Integration from the Universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt and Strathclyde in 2011, so she is an alumnus of 5 Scottish Universities.
She has worked in the field of electronics for 40 years, specialising in programmable logic. Carol has published 11 papers including 3 journal papers, been featured in newspapers and magazines and presented many times including at the Edinburgh Science Festival.
A winner of many technology, and diversity awards she was Strathclyde University’s Alumni of the Year in 2022, received an Honorary Doctorate from ENU in 2023, was inducted into the Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame in 2023 and was awarded an OBE in 2020 for services to Diversity and Inclusion in Electronic Engineering. Carol is a Chartered Engineer, Fellow of the IET, IES, RSSA, and the Women’s Engineering Society (WES), Past President of WES, a Burgess of the City of Edinburgh, a STEM Ambassador, a Fellow Advisor and a Professional Registration Advisor and Interviewer.
