Insights from our team…

“As the Chair of IEEE Women in Engineering for UK and Ireland, my aim is to change the face of computer science by challenging stereotypes and promoting careers in computing and engineering to girls and women.”

Faces of campaign, Dr Annabel Latham, Senior Lecturer, Manchester Metropolitan University.

Currently, a Senior Lecturer in Computer Science in the Department of Computing and Mathematics at Manchester Met. Annabel delivers workshops on the Greater Manchester AI Foundry, translating her knowledge and research into practical business insights.

Annabel’s research interests, under the Computational Intelligence lab, include conversational agents, intelligent tutoring systems, big data, text mining, agent intelligence and knowledge engineering. Annabel’s main research focuses on applying Computational Intelligence (CI) techniques to automated tutoring systems in order to improve access to, and support success in, personalised learning.

What does diversity in Computing mean to you? 

“Much of my work focuses on improving the under-representation of women in Computer Science. I am passionate about challenging stereotypes and promoting female Computer Science role models to girls and women, and also to those who influence young people in wider society like teachers, employers, parents and family members. 

Computing is central to all of our lives, both now and more so in the future. It is critical to have a diverse workforce designing and creating computer systems, otherwise our futures are been designed by a small subset of the population. In computing, we always work in teams and diverse teams mean better innovation and solutions that consider wider societal impacts of innovations. 

I am very passionate about diversity in the industry, and I plan to continue working towards my goal to change the face of Computer Science by challenging stereotypes and promoting careers in computing and engineering to young girls and women.”