Ensuring a representative big data research
Autthor
Beatrice Huber
NRP 75 “Big Data”
The cross-cutting activity “Women in Big Data” was launched to bring together women working on big data research in academia and industry.
NRP 75 led the cross-cutting activity “Women in Big Data” to strengthen the community of female scientists active in big data research in Switzerland, given that only 22% of graduates in technical subjects are female – one of the lowest rates across all OECD countries. This situation reinforces the lack of specialists, fosters research topics that are not representative of society, and frames the issues in a biased way. For female experts, this causes them to lack inspiration, encouragement and support, as well as making harassment and discrimination more likely.
“Women in Big Data” focussed on both technical and social sciences. It launched various actions to promote careers, such as helping build networks, addressing obstacles to technical excellence, and fostering interdisciplinary exchanges about problems of gender in big data.