ECCB2020 networking - Bioinfo4Women

Connect Session: Women in Computational Biology

The networking session performed by Bioinfo4Women at ECCB2020 was a virtual event that aimed to promote the role of women in computational biology. The session was supported by Grifols and took place on September 7th, 2020. The session was an opportunity for participants to share knowledge, experiences, and opinions related to different initiatives and actions that aim to enhance the role of women in this scientific field. The session was also an opportunity for participants to discuss different challenges, actions, obstacles, and barriers related to their work processes. The session started with an introduction welcoming the participants to the event. The format of the session was a 10-minute presentation per each association, explaining their objectives, actions, and future perspectives. Then, there was time for discussion between participants and panelists. Finally, there was half an hour for questions, doubts, or general opinions of the participants. The session had five speakers:

Speaker

Description

Londa Schiebinger

John L. Hinds Professor of History of Science at Stanford University
Director of EU/US Gendered Innovations in Science, Health & Medicine, Engineering, and Environment.

Lucia Peixoto

Assistant Professor at Washington State University, USA
Co-Chair of The Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Committee, which is an International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) Outreach Committee.

Maria José Rementeria

Group Leader of Social Link Analytics group at Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Life Science Department Barcelona Supercomputing Center
Lead of Bioinfo4women Programme BSC.

Ana Julia Velez

Postdoctoral Researcher at Universidad Nacional de Quilmes – CONICET, Argentina
Co-organizer of the First Latin American Congress of Women in Bioinformatics and Data Science.

Lucy Jimenez

MSc in Computational Chemistry and part of the COBO Research Group in Computational Bio-Organic Chemistry at the Universidad de Los Andes, Colombia
Co-organizer of the First Latin American Congress of Women in Bioinformatics and Data Science.

During the Q&A session, the participants discussed various topics related to gender equality, challenges, actions, obstacles, and barriers related to their work processes. They also talked about the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on women in science and how it affects or changes the point of view of their associations. The participants discussed the negative or main obstacles/barriers in their work process and questioned the need for action. They also talked about the impact of gender stereotypes in the workplace and how to define and recognize merit in academia in a gender-neutral way. Additionally, they discussed whether the aims of academia are compatible with the aim of equal opportunities for all and what measures are successfully applied in different institutions to support gender equality.

Overall, the networking session performed by Bioinfo4Women at ECCB2020 was a successful event that brought together women in computational biology from around the world. The session provided an excellent opportunity for participants to share their knowledge, experiences, and opinions related to different initiatives and actions that aim to enhance the role of women in this scientific field.

Connect Session: Women in Computational Biology

Pin It on Pinterest

Speaker	Description
Londa Schiebinger	John L. Hinds Professor of History of Science at Stanford University Director of EU/US Gendered Innovations in Science, Health & Medicine, Engineering, and Environment.
Lucia Peixoto	Assistant Professor at Washington State University, USA Co-Chair of The Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Committee, which is an International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) Outreach Committee.
Maria José Rementeria	Group Leader of Social Link Analytics group at Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Life Science Department Barcelona Supercomputing Center Lead of Bioinfo4women Programme BSC.
Ana Julia Velez	Postdoctoral Researcher at Universidad Nacional de Quilmes – CONICET, Argentina Co-organizer of the First Latin American Congress of Women in Bioinformatics and Data Science.
Lucy Jimenez	MSc in Computational Chemistry and part of the COBO Research Group in Computational Bio-Organic Chemistry at the Universidad de Los Andes, Colombia Co-organizer of the First Latin American Congress of Women in Bioinformatics and Data Science.