Workshop “GENDER BIAS IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND HEALTH”: Building a Future for Equality
The networking activity discussed is a workshop focused on “Gender Bias in Artificial Intelligence and Health.” It aimed to build a future for equality in the field. Co-empren facilitated the event, and several organizations participated. The main objective of the event was to build a network in between organizations that aim to promote women’s talent in the health field and tackle the gender biases and differences. To achieve a good understanding of the structures present, each organisation explained who they are, what their main aim is, the actions they are taking to obtain results, and the needs of their group. The conclusions were the following:
| Organization | Function | Needs |
|---|---|---|
| Co-Empren | Promoting STEM studies for women | New ideas to promote girls studying computer science and collaboration to promote the profession of computer science for girls |
| Col·legi Oficial d’Enginyeria en Informàtica de Catalunya | Promoting STEM studies for women; promoting scientific news from Catalan institutions | Resources, teams, collaboration, and talent to promote scientific news from Catalan institutions for dissemination, budget, quality time to promote and build new projects, and work meetings to join efforts |
| Women in Bioinformatics and Data Science Latin America | Collaborating in research in bioinformatics and data science; organizing conferences and workshops; data collection and analysis | Help with building and completing their database about women in bioinformatics and data science, speakers and teachers for their ongoing formation space, collaboration with other communities, and sponsors for their events |
| WiMLDS Paris | Supporting women in machine learning and data science | Resources, time, and collaboration |
| Bioinfo4Women | Mentoring students; research on sex/gender biases in biomedicine; expertise in dissemination activities and outreach | Mentors for students, AI experts interested in sex/gender biases, programmers and data scientists interested in sex/gender biases in biomedicine, and consortium partners for international projects |
| Inserm | International collaborations; expertise in Oncology | Resources, teams, collaboration, and talent in Oncology expertise |
| Women in AI Catalonia | Collaboration among Catalan universities working on AI; sharing knowledge on AI research | More women in Postdoctoral programs in AI, more grants for Master courses, students doing PhD on AI, participation in international conferences, and more grants for young researchers |
| Wikiwomen UPF | Teaching how to detect and correct the gender gap; knowledge about important women | More women and girls editing Wikipedia |
| Women in Aerospace Europe | Collaborations for events; promoting women’s access to c-suit positions in the aerospace industry; grants and awards | Reaching more people (social media re-posts) and resources to increase impact and cover more |
| H3ABionet | Providing training and learning opportunities in bioinformatics | Resources, teams, collaboration, and talent |
In general, the organizations all bring in expertise, talent, collaboration, and activities related to the promotion of gender equality in their respective fields. They also share similar needs, including more resources, collaboration, and talent. The report emphasizes the need for more women in postdoctoral programs, more grants for master courses and PhDs, and more participation in international conferences. The different organizations can also help each other in terms of collaborating on research projects and providing speakers and experts for events.
