Let's Talk AI Jobs With Women in Artificial Intelligence
To celebrate International Women’s Day 2023 we wanted to shine a light on the women who work in the world of AI and find out more about their interesting and varied journeys to becoming leaders in their field.
Highlighting female role models in the tech industry has an important impact on future generations considering their careers. Women are still a minority in the tech sector and the gender pay gap highlights that the issue runs deep to the core of the working world.
We have invited a few of the women who will be participating in the Scottish AI Summit to share a bit more about their various roles.
Research Analyst
The role of research analyst appears across many different industries, but at its heart it most often involves gathering information, processing it, and then presenting it in an easily understandable way. In this job you will likely become an expert in your particular sector or industry, becoming a resource for your organisation which people tap into when they need guidance.
We asked Abigail Munroe, who is a panellist in our session “Scaling Corporate Accountability: Humans and AI together in the fight to #EndSlavery”, about her role as a research analyst:
I’m a Research and Advocacy Analyst at Walk Free- an international human rights group dedicated to eradicating modern slavery in all its forms.
Walk Free approach this challenge by integrating world class research with direct engagement with some of the world’s most influential government, business and religious leaders. We invest our time and resources in a collaborative manner to drive behaviour and legislative change to impact the lives of the estimated 49.6 million people living in modern slavery today.
I’ve always been passionate about calling out injustice. I completed a Masters of Law in International Law and Human Rights to give myself the foundations to work on systems change solutions. Since then, I’ve worked in the fields of violence against women, child trafficking, and modern slavery. I’ve also volunteered supporting people processing asylum claims and survivors of domestic abuse to access justice.
Feeling a real sense of purpose in what I do is what drives me.
Programme Manager
This is another role which is common across different industries. Key skills for programme managers are communication along with the ability to drive and deliver change, often managing many different projects and relationships at once. Planning, designing and evaluating large programmes of work takes a person who is both a leader and a doer.
We asked Katy Guthrie, who is a panellist in our session “Selling AI: The hype, the FOMO and the fear factor”, about her role as a programme manager.
I’m the Programme Manager for the University of Edinburgh’s AI Accelerator, where I scale early stage AI-driven businesses.
About 30 years ago I started out as a fresh-faced undergraduate at the University of Edinburgh, studying Computer Science and AI. I ended up changing course – there were only 4 women in my Computer Science course and I found it a bit intimidating. I didn’t feel like it was for me. After graduating with a completely different degree (in Economics and Geography), I took a graduate job as a trainee programmer. I went on to hold various technical roles in a corporate IT function, e.g. Senior Analyst, Data Architect. I ended up leading the Business Intelligence Design function before deciding that I wanted to do something a bit different so left the corporate world. Fast forward to now.
I’m now based at the Bayes Centre – the University of Edinburgh’s innovation hub for Data Science and AI – where I run the University’s AI Accelerator. I help AI-driven start-ups to develop their businesses. A typical day might involve planning or running some of activities for the cohort companies, e.g. one day last week we had a session on Emerging AI regulation and Unit Economics. At other times of the year I might be knee deep in sifting applications from companies interested in taking part in the programme. It’s a hugely interesting role.
Professor
A professor has a varied role within a university, ranging from teaching to leading research. This can include designing and delivering courses, and professors are usually expected to keep their learning going by publishing academic papers and driving the culture within their field.
We asked Lynne Baillie, who is a panellist in our plenary session “Protecting Minority Ethnic Communities Online (PRIME), AI and Racial Justice”, about her role as a professor. Lynne works at the National Robotarium, who are one of the Scottish AI Summit’s partners and will be exhibiting at the Summit.
I am the Professor of Computer Science & Lead for Human Robot Interaction at the National Robotarium.
My typical day in this role is meetings with research grant partners from industry, third sector and NHS to discuss new research and progress in our current research projects.
With my team I discuss applying for new research funding. I check in with my Research Associates on how the current experiments are going and how their design development is progressing, and finally usually attend some kind of networking event.
Product Manager
A product manager has oversight over the life-cycle and success of a product. In the tech world this will often be software or a service. Often a product manager will seek the thoughts of users of the product and use that to guide how they improve it, make it more efficient or serve its purpose better.
We asked Aurora Jenkins, who is a panellist in our session “AI for Precision Medicine”, about her role as a product manager.
I’m the Product Manager for Healthcare Informatics (HIT) at Canon Medical Systems.
My day typically involves a combination of sales, marketing, and product management activities. I lead new product launches onto the UK market based on the latest industry trends and customer needs analysis. This involves collaborating closely with cross-functional teams such as Sales, Clinical Marketing, and R&D to ensure products are developed and launched on time and within budget.
My journey to this role involved a wide healthcare experience, starting as a Diagnostic Radiographer working for the NHS before moving into healthcare informatics. Over the last 16 years, I have held various roles working with software products from idea inception through development all the way to implementation in clinical practice. My first experience with AI technology was 15 years ago when I was part of a clinical team validating Lung and Colon CAD technology, which is the AI of today.
As my career progressed, I transitioned into commercialising new AI products and solutions that drive forward the adoption of medical imaging AI, such as platforms and Enterprise Imaging. My educational background includes a Bachelor of Science degree in Medical Imaging from Canterbury Christ Church University, a Master of Arts in Management from the University of Westminster, and several short courses in Agile Project Management, Agile Product Owner, Pragmatic Marketing, and ISEB Software Validation. These courses have helped me grow into a product management and overall business management.
The AI world would not turn without the women working within it, and we hope you have enjoyed our highlights of some of the stars of the Scottish AI Summit.
It also hopefully gives you a flavour of the many different of roles in the world of AI and tech and we plan to launch a campaign called #AyeIWorkinAI to highlight that working in AI doesn’t just mean technical jobs. Get in touch if you want to take part!
There are amazing organisations creating a more diverse and inclusive environment within the world of STEM. At the Scottish AI Summit we are looking forward to seeing our community partners, Equate Scotland and dressCode, both of whom do fantastic work to close the gender gap for women studying and working within STEM subjects.
Join us, and join the conversation on AI in Scotland, at the Scottish AI Summit this March 28-29.