大象传媒

On the eve of International Women's Day, Science Caf茅 is shining a light on some inspiring women who are聽working in聽-or have聽worked in -聽computers and IT. There's a good angle here in Wales. Next month, the UK鈥檚 leading computing conference dedicated to female聽IT students聽 celebrates its 10th anniversary at Aberystwyth University.

The BCSWomen Lovelace Colloquium is the brainchild of Dr Hannah Dee, a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Computer Science at Aberystwyth University. She felt the need for a female-led conference for IT undergraduates, having found聽herself the only woman addressing 80 men at a previous conference.聽

The聽colloquium is named聽after the mathematician Ada, Countess of Lovelace, who is聽largely acknowledged as the world鈥檚 first computer programmer. And yet聽her name聽is relatively unknown聽to most people these days. Aberystwyth lecturer Amanda Clare聽tells her remarkable story and explains that聽Ada was so far ahead of her time, we聽were only catching up more than a century later.聽聽聽

This year鈥檚 conference keynote address will be given by Dr Sue Black OBE, founder of BCSWomen and founder and CEO of TechMums, a social enterprise that provides technical training for mothers in deprived areas. An inspiration in her own right, she talks about the campaign she launched to restore Bletchley Park, the wartime secret code breaking centre. Thousands or women worked there, saving聽lives through their maths and technology skills, each one a hidden hero.聽聽