April 14, 2021

Women and Diversity in Digital Intelligence

On March 8, in honour of International Women’s Day, IVADO held the first virtual panel “Women and Diversity in digital intelligence” in collaboration with our intersectoral student committee. No less than 72 participants joined us in celebrating the achievements of the incredible women in our digital intelligence community  and  engaged in enriching discussions with our 4 panelists regarding the importance of diversity and equal representation in the many faces of digital intelligence.

Moderated by Mariloue Daudier, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Advisor at IVADO, the panel of experts included:

  • Rima Bouchakri, data scientist at the Research Center of the Center Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM)
  • Chloé Freslon, founder of URelles, an equity, diversity and inclusion consultancy
  • Sasha Luccioni, postdoctoral researcher working on AI initiatives for humanity at the University of Montreal and Mila
  • Kathy Malas, Assistant to the President and CEO and responsible for innovation and AI at the Center Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM)

This meeting enabled discussions to be initiated on:

  • The experience of women in digital intelligence
  • Unconscious biases in society and algorithmic biases, as well as their impacts on women
  • The importance of the presence of women in digital intelligence

The panel has been recorded: it can be found on our Youtube channel at the following link.

“The more a company lacks diversity, the more it is at risk of having a case of sexual or psychological harassment” – Chloé Freslon

“The more diversity we have, the more it can build something [..] complex, more representative of reality” – Sasha Luccioni

“There is nothing better than having people around the table to design innovations that meet their needs” – Kathy Malas

”[A solution would be] to ask the question while coding: does my algorithm think [of] different communities, […] is it representative, does it convey stereotypes?” – Rima Bouchakri

If you liked this initiative, don’t hesitate to check out our upcoming events!

Chloé et Joëlle – Comité Intersectoriel Étudiant d’IVADO