Embracing Diversity and Inclusion – Making Tech the best place to work

Computer Weekly and Mortimer Spinks’ annual event dedicated to diversity in technology takes place on 25th September 2019, sponsored by Wellcome Trust. Featuring the 50 most influential women in UK technology awards, the event is the largest free diversity conference in London.

Learn from interactive workshops and inspiring keynote speakers in the afternoon, or join us in the evening to hear the announcement of the most influential women in Tech, whilst networking with other Tech professionals.

This year, we will be discussing:

Embracing diversity and inclusion – making tech the best place to work.

How to make technology reflect the diversity of the world it aims to serve

This event is designed to help you develop a more diverse technology workforce. The event will be sponsored by and held at Wellcome Trust, Bloomsbury.

We will also announce who has been voted as the most influential woman in UK technology for this year. Who will succeed last year’s winner, Amali de Alwis, CEO of Code First: Girls?

You can choose which part of the day you would like to attend:

Part 1 (1pm - 5.30pm) - Take part in workshops, hear from a panel and keynote speakers, networking.

Part 2 (5.30pm - 8pm) - Announcement of the Influential Women in Tech - Top 50, Rising Stars and Winner and drinks reception.

Part 1 & 2 (1pm - 8pm) - Attend the entire event.

Attending this event will allow you to:
• Understand the positive changes taking place and learn how to be proactive in developing a diverse workforce
• Hear from our speakers and join in with the Q&A session
• Network with your peers
• Take part in workshops examining 'what works' for developing diverse technology teams

---

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:

Debbie Forster, CEO of Tech Talent Charter

Debbie Forster is a portfolio consultant and is co-founder and CEO for the Tech Talent Charter, an industry collective which aims to deliver greater gender diversity in the UK tech workforce. She will be talking about “Taking the D&I discussion to the next level”. Debbie will share practical ways how you can take your company’s work in diversity space to the next level, and how to move the conversation from diversity for (and by) a few to inclusion for and by all.

Geoff Thompson, Founder and Executive Chair of the Youth Charter

Geoff is Founder and Executive Chair of the Youth Charter, a UK-based international charity and UN NGO that uses the ethics of sport and artistic excellence to tackle the problems of educational non-attainment, health inequality, anti-social behaviour and crime in some of the UK's most troubled communities. He has over 30 years of public, private and third sector experience on equality, diversity, inclusion and widening participation.

Suki Fuller, Founder and Analytical Storyteller at Miribure

Suki Fuller, an Analytical Storyteller, is globally recognized by Forbes as a Strategic advisor for her work with startups. She is Founder of Miribure; a Strategic & Competitive Intelligence company focused on the integration of intelligence with lean/agile principles for companies; Co-Founder & CEO of Salaam Ventures. She will be sharing how to challenge the status quo and embrace variety. Listen and acknowledge our limitations. Connect and manage all relationships. However first, mindset.

Dawn Duhaney, Product Manager (Data Labs) at Wellcome Trust

Dawn has worked in the Tech sector with the UK government, consultancies and international organisations for the past five years. She will be talking about the practical steps organisations and allies can take to hire and keep diverse talent. She’ll also be highlighting the diverse communities and teams that are making a difference in the tech sector and how we all can learn from their work.

---

WORKSHOPS:

Giving Career Returners and Retrainers the WISE advantage (Computer Weekly / WISE)

The nature of work and the skills we need across the UK are transforming at tremendous speed. Society will thrive through the contributions women make to Technology. Join us in this interactive workshop to think in more depth about career returners and how re-skilling can help both individuals and organisations tap into talent to meet this challenge.

How do we change the story and mindset to ensure that we all benefit?

Hosts: Ruth Blanco, Communications Director WISE and Clair Collins, Senior Products and Services Manager, WISE

Autistic talent in your team, what do you do next? (Auticon / Mortimer Spinks workshop)

Auticon is an IT consultancy that exclusively hires adults on the autism spectrum and provides advisory services to support companies develop their tailored approach towards autistic inclusion. In this interactive workshop, we myth bust autism stereotypes, uncover the advantages of autism in your teams, and find simple solutions to the challenges faced by autistic candidates, employees and managers, during the talent attraction, disclosure, recruitment and retention stages of employment.

Hosts: Kirsty Wilson, Lead Job Coach and Clementina GalliZugaro, Head of Recruitment from Auticon

Is technology that accessible?

How can technology be more accessibility-oriented and how can the industry develop technology to include those who it would normally put at a disadvantage? Technology is often designed for people who take for granted being able-bodied, so have can we include accessibility in design rather than have it as a bolt-on after the product is manufactured, or the software is compiled? This workshop looks into how to include those who have issues such as colour blindness and hearing difficulties from in technology design, making sure people are not excluded or disadvantaged.

Host: Martin Hart, Cyber Security Lead Consultant at Wellcome Trust

---

PANEL DISCUSSIONS:

Computer Weekly panel - How can we build inclusion for everyone?

Businesses have started to do what they can to grow a diverse workforce, but when doing so often use an approach that struggles to focus on more than one or two aspects of diversity, excluding others unintentionally as a result. How can firms develop an inclusive culture to build a truly diverse workplace that caters to everyone, and avoid going down the road to becoming only “diverse-ish”?

#YouEqualTech panel - Inclusive cultures: Making mental wellbeing a priority in Tech

In this unique #YouEqualTech panel discussion, we’ll be talking about how inclusion in the workplace can improve staff mental wellbeing. We’ll share how employers can support the mental wellbeing of their staff by investing in the best tech to create a supportive environment, in which staff can flourish. We’ll be promoting mental health as a conversation for everyone, everywhere - especially in the tech industry and the workplace in general. Our speakers will touch on:

• Creating an inclusive culture in which every staff member feels comfortable, accepted and encouraged to thrive in their career.

• Employer recognition of employee needs for mental health support - and potential benefits of providing this using technology.

• How technology can impact our mental health, happiness and productivity in the workplace and life in general - the risks and the benefits.

• Successful navigation of the mental health tech market, given the range of apps and platforms increasingly available.

View the video from last year's event here.

Spaces for this event are limited please apply to register today!

Please note: This event is for Tech professionals only and we reserve the right to decline bookings for attendees who do not meet this criteria. Thank you.

Cyber Security Lead Consultant