Women in Data Science: AI for the real world
A man’s perspective
Author: Ger Janssen, Department head AI, Data Science & Digital Twin (a.i.) & Principal Scientist at Philips
Before registering for the Women in Data Science event on March 27th in Eindhoven, I naively checked with some female colleagues whether I, as a male, was allowed to join. Given that we strive to be inclusive and encourage growth and development at Philips, where I work, and our purpose of improving people’s lives guides all we do, I probably didn’t need to ask! Looking back at the event, I don’t regret for a second that I attended: great keynotes and panel discussion and a very inclusive and warm atmosphere. Let me share some of the highlights.
The first keynote from Tina Manoharan of Philips, “Human AI: a symbiotic relationship for the real world,” set the scene very energetically, which is characteristic of Tina. The main takeaway: Human + AI = team — a powerful message to keep in mind for everyone active in the field of AI now or in the future. Another theme she touched upon, which connected to other speakers at the event, was the importance of addressing bias and taking care of explainability in AI solutions.
Professor Anna Vilanova from Eindhoven University of Technology built further on the insights from Tina Manoharan in her talk “Visuals for big/high dimensional data and explainability of AI algorithms,” making clear that visual analytics help in preventing assumptions on the data you are working on. From my perspective, she explained the essence of the topic when she delivered the quote of the day: “Statistics may be the same, but you have to look at the data to discover the dinosaur.” I will never forget that one!
Petra Heck from Fontys delivered the next eye-opener with her talk about “A Quality Model for Trustworthy AI Systems: Data, Code and Models,” which she explained eloquently using the example of flowers and making it very clear that even flowers have privacy issues. Insightful!
Sofie Haesaert from Eindhoven University of Technology delivered the second keynote of the event on “Data-driven verification and control for future mobility.” She explained the importance of verification for safe future mobility since testing may reveal faults. However, equally important is that verification proves the absence of faults. Sofie’s presentation also gave the star hosts of the day, Roos Rooijakkers and Sanne van den Bogaart from Pipple, a chance to show their improvisation talents when Sofie had voice issues for a few minutes. It was also a great example of inclusiveness and taking care of each other with the almost continuous supply of honey tea to keep Sofie’s voice alive 😊.
After presentations from Zuzana Leova from IBM and Rianne van Mil from PostNL, the day’s program ended with a lively panel discussion on topics like bias and bringing together responsible and innovative AI. Finally, the event concluded with networking and drinks. It was a great day with a lot of insights and fun. I will definitely join again next year.
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