Category: News
We are taking a break for the Christmas period and will start back up in February with a talk at Bristol University – March we will hopefully have a slightly different speaker GGD #64 Digital Forensics with Jaimi Anderson
Simpleweb are kindly hosting us this month with a talk from Jaimi Anderson, one of our Girlgeekdinners organisors talking on digital forensics.
Jaimi Anderson comes from Brisbane Australia where she has had a brilliantly technical study background. With a batchelors degree in Animation as an early university entrant with Griffith University. She followed this on moving to Queensland University of technology for a Masters degree in Information Technology specialising in security and Games design as well as gaining management training. Adding a final year to study Computer (Digital) Forensics and running a project on Mobile App permissions.
Currently she is studying for a further Masters with Macquarie University in policing, intelligence and counter terrorism, whilst using her large level of knowledge as a project manager in the NHS. She is currently waiting for her
NCA (Security) Clearance so she can further her security and digital forensics knowledge to use in the UK. She describes herself as a magical unicorn !
Talk
Jaimi would like to introduce us to the world of digital forensics and what it entails and why it excites her. With her we will be doing some fun things (she assures us it is fun!!) with network sniffing and steganography so we can all get involved and hopefully bitten with the forensics bug!
When
Thursday 23rd November 6.30/7 – 9pm
Doors open at 18:30 talks start around 7pm
Where
The food and hosting is kindly sponsored by Simpleweb
Unit G, Union Dockside Building map Near spike island, there is a carpark nearby
Sign Up
As always, we welcome men to our group, but to keep our audience predominantly female, we ask that all men are accompanied by a woman (just add a +1 on the meetup) here Girlgeekdinners Meetup https://www.meetup.com/Bristol-Girl-Geek-Dinners/.
We’re coming back ….
Bear with us, we have exciting news as we have some new Bath based organisors keen to set up and run the group. Anybody wishing to sponsor, host an event or help out in any way please contact us on [email protected].
GDD #63 Bristol Women in Robotics
Introduction by Dr Catherine Hobbs – Head of the Department of Engineering, Design and Mathematics at UWE
Catherine is Head of Department for Engineering Design and Mathematics within the Faculty of Environment and Technology at UWE. A mathematician by training she has spent over 20 years in the university environment at a range of different universities in the UK and overseas (Nottingham, Oxford Brookes, Auckland, Bristol and now UWE). This has included teaching, research and consultancy and, more recently, management.
Dr Antonia Tzemanaki is a Lecturer in Mechatronics at the University of the West of England and the Bristol Robotics Laboratory, working on developing and testing novel instruments and intuitive human-robot interaction systems for wearable robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery. She holds a MEng degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, an MSc in Robotics from the University of the West of England, Bristol, UK and a PhD in Medical Robotics from the University of the West of England and the Bristol Robotics Laboratory. She is also organising the local Women In Robotics group (twitter: @WirBristol), a support network for women that are working or are interested in robotics. As part of the worldwide network of women in robotics, it is aimed at promoting networking as well as the visibility of women and their work in robotics.
Talk overview:
In her talk, Antonia will discuss some of her research, where she has collaborated with surgeons on developing the ‘μAngelo’ surgical system aiming at tele-operation and natural manipulation of tissues for improving dexterity and ergonomics in surgical procedures. She has extended this work in ‘SMARTsurg’ (SMart wearAble Robotic Teleoperated surgery), an H2020 funded EU project, which aims to develop an advanced system for robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery, in the areas of urology, cardiology and orthopaedic surgery, that reduces the surgeon’s cognitive load related to the system’s operation, shortens training time and delivers accuracy, reduced procedure time and safety.
Gloria Araiza is a Biomedical Engineer from Mexico, with a Masters in Robotics from the University of Bristol. She just started the fourth year of her PhD in the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Future Autonomous and Robotic Systems, FARSCOPE, in the Bristol Robotics Lab.
Talk overview:
Tactile sensations result from the activation of cutaneous mechanoreceptors, which transform the mechanical stimuli on the skin into electrical signals. Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is a method that has been used in neuroscience to study the production of tactile sensations in extremities.
Controlling nerve selectivity in mechanisms based on TENS could increase the amount of information that systems could supply for medical, teleoperation, industrial and gaming applications, i.e. providing haptic feedback.
This work involves the development of a TENS system and its comparison with a mechanical stimulation system, in a simulated environment and evaluating the performance of the hardware implementation. The main objective is to study the dependency on the TENS design, particularly on the electrode layout and excitation patterns (electrical input) related to selective nerve stimulation and different tactile sensations.
Katie Winkle is an interdisciplinary PhD student at the Bristol Robotics Lab investigating the use of social robots for improving engagement in rehabilitative therapies. She previously studied Mechanical Engineering and worked in automotive engineering at Jaguar Land Rover.
Talk overview:
Kate will talk about how she got into robotics, reflect on the switch from automotive engineering and explain the concept of socially assistive robotics.
Pavlina Theodosiou is a 3rd year PhD student working on an interdisciplinary European funded project called Evobliss. Her background is on Biological Sciences and the focus of her PhD is the interaction between living systems such as Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) and robotics, for optimising the performance of the MFCs.
Talk overview:
In her talk, Pavlina will present the work achieved to this day as part of her PhD project towards the adaptability and stability of the MFC systems using the Evobliss developed robot called EvoBot. She will present the improvements observed through this interaction as well as an overview of the capabilities of such systems.
Marta Palau Franco
Marta Palau Franco is an electronics engineer, oceanographer and currently project manager of the ERL Emergency Robots competition. The European Robotics League (ERL) is funded by the European Commission Horizon 2020 and led by SPARC Robotics. She is based in the Bristol Robotics Laboratory and was previously project manager of the EU-FP7 project euRathlon , which was led by the University of the West of England, Bristol. ERL Emergency Robots and its predecessor euRathlon are an outdoor robotics competition in which teams of land, underwater and flying robots are invited to work collaboratively in realistic, demanding mock emergency-response scenarios, inspired by the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Talk overview:
Marta will talk about her experience in robotics competitions, from her years as member of the robotics team of her University to her current work as project manager of ERL Emergency Robots competition.
Dr Sabine Hauert
Sabine Hauert is Assistant Professor in Robotics at the University of Bristol in the UK. Her research focusses in designing swarms that work in large numbers (>1000), and at small scales (<1 cm). Profoundly cross-disciplinary, Sabine works between Engineering Mathematics, the Bristol Robotics Laboratory, and Life Sciences. Before joining the University of Bristol, Sabine engineered swarms of nanoparticles for cancer treatment at MIT, and deployed swarms of flying robots at EPFL.
Sabine is also President and Co-founder of Robohub.org, a non-profit dedicated to connecting the robotics community to the world.
Abstract:
Swarm engineering allows us to design self-organised robotic systems that work in large numbers (>1000), and at small scales (<1 cm). Swarm strategies are either inspired from nature (ant colonies, fish shoals, and bird flocks) or are automatically discovered using machine learning and crowdsourcing. Demonstrated applications include the deployment of swarms of flying robots to create outdoor communication networks, or the design of nanosystems for biomedical applications. Current work focusses on the design of cooperative nanoparticles for cancer applications in simulation and under the microscope on tissue-on-a-chip devices, as well as the design of strategies for our 1000 coin-sized robots at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory.
When
Thursday 26th October 6.30/7 – 9pm
Doors open at 18:30, the reception of the Bristol Robotics Lab will be unmanned after 18:50, hence it will be difficult to access (we will leave a number you can call though). Start of talks around 18:50.
Where
The food and hosting is kindly sponsored by the Bristol Women in Robotics based at
Bristol Robotics Laboratory, BRL Seminar Room
Please enter the Frenchay Campus through the North Entrance and follow the red signs. The Frenchay Campus is easily accessible from Junction 1 of the M32. The M32 joins the M4 at Junction 19. For Satellite Navigation purposes use BS34 8QZ.
Regarding parking:
If you enter via the North Entrance you might encounter a 1st barrier, where (if it is closed) you can buzz and say that you are going to BRL for the event. Driving straight through the roundabout, you will encounter a 2nd barrier which, I was promised, will be up to let you through. In a few meters you will see BRL on your right, in front of which you can park for free.
We are aware that some women will be looking for lifts so please post in the messages any offers of lifts. I (Serrie) can give up to 4 people lifts from Bristol Templemeads or en route so please let me know if you need one. Else make your way up there and we can give lifts back – if you don’t get a response mail me on [email protected] for a more direct response, i’ll be heading up at about 6pm.
Sign Up
As always, we welcome men to our group, but to keep our audience predominantly female, we ask that all men are accompanied by a woman (just add a +1 on the meetup) here Girlgeekdinners Meetup https://www.meetup.com/Bristol-Girl-Geek-Dinners/.
GGD ~ #62 Ultrahaptics
Ultrahaptics invite you to spend the evening geeking out about haptics, our sense of touch. Ultrahaptics has created an amazing technology which enables you to feel virtual objects and controls in thin-air. No gloves or wearables, the sensation is projected onto your hand using modulated ultrasound.
During the talk, you will learn why the sense of touch is important to our everyday experience of our environment and why, when we try VR, we notice how very lacking this crucial sense is. The talk will explain how Ultrahaptics control ultrasound within an acoustic field so that you can feel and interact with it. Finally, you’ll have the chance to try Ultrahaptics unique technology for yourself!
The talk will be led by Ultrahaptics employees Heather Macdonald Tait
and Vicky Messer.
Heather has worked in technology for over 15 years, originally from the world of semiconductors, she now spends her time talking about haptics and how simulated haptics play a crucial part in human machine interfaces. With a first-class electronics degree from York University, Vicky has over two decades of experience in the tech industry, from Nokia to Nvidia, she now manages Technical Marketing for Ultrahaptics.
When
Thursday 21st September 6.30/7 – 9pm
Where
The food and hosting is kindly sponsored by Ultrahaptics based at
The West Wing, Glass Wharf, Bristol BS2 0EL, Temple Meads
Sign Up
As always, we welcome men to our group, but to keep our audience predominantly female, we ask that all men are accompanied by a woman (just add a +1 on the meetup) here Girlgeekdinners Meetup https://www.meetup.com/Bristol-Girl-Geek-Dinners/.
GGD #61 “Cycling fast and loose”
We are pleased to announce a talk from Kate Ross-Smith this month from OVO. On the green topic its all about cycling and sounds like it will be truly engaging.
We also have Monika Radycliffe from setsquared along to tell you a bit about OSCA the startup accelerator, which they are encouraging women to also apply and get involved with http://www.setsquared.co.uk/news/201701/setsquared-supporting-oracle-startup-cloud-accelerator-launching-bristol
Kate is an engineer who is most proud of her ability to be geeky about absolutely anything (even cool things). She’s given talks on subjects such as how she hand-built her own surf board from components sourced within 50 miles, to how to program machine learning algorithms to help you choose a chocolate bar. Being passionate about Bristol and the city’s love of cycling, for this talk she’s going to share some tips and tricks from her knowledge and experience as a qualified bike mechanic. Taking a brief but deep dive into bike design and fit, she hopes to give you some tips to make any ride that little bit easier, faster, and more comfortable!
After the presentation and any questions we will open the floor up for a discussion, if anyone feels like they would like to bring along any ppt’s or links that they want to share for discussion then please bring it along on a USB or mail the team with info and we can share this during the discussion period. Don’t forget – you don’t have to work in the industry or be a geek, this is a group for anyone with an interest in the subject!
Please sign up on our meetup page here MEETUP
Do come along for pre-presentation mingling as we will be there from 6.30pm. As always, we welcome men to our group, but to keep our audience predominantly female, we ask that all men are accompanied by a woman (just add a +1 on the meetup).
When
Wednesday 14th June 6.30/7 – 9pm
Where
The food and hosting is kindly sponsored by OVO Energy based at
10 Temple Back (2nd floor)
Bristol
BS1 6FL
Directions to OVO Energy
GGD #60 “Detecting misleading data visualisations”, Tamara Chehayeb Makarem
Bio:
Tamara is a User Experience Designer. She works in London at Scott Logic, a UK-based consultancy, on projects ranging from trading applications, to data analytics platforms, financial management tools, and Intranets.
She has also worked in Beirut, and New York designing desktop and mobile web and native applications for clients in e-commerce, healthcare and retail. You can follow her blog posts on Medium and on her company blog and connect with her on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Data visualisation helps to breathe life into raw data. At its best it can uncover hidden truths and publicize them to a wider audience. However, the misuse of data visualisation, whether intended or not, can mislead users and hide information from them. Also, choosing the wrong type of visualisation for your chosen data can undermine your message and the power of the data you have collected. In her presentation “Detecting misleading data visualisations”, Tamara Chehayeb Makarem identifies examples of where data has been presented in a form that is, whether intentionally or not, misleading. She talks about how to detect such visualisations and how to avoid making these errors in our own work.
Where
This is kindly being hosted by Scott Logic 25 King Street, Bristol, BS1 4PB
Bristol
When
6.30 for 7 – 9pm Wednesday, May 17, 2017
Sign Up
As always, we welcome men to our group, but to keep our audience predominantly female, we ask that all men are accompanied by a woman (just add a +1 on the meetup) here Girlgeekdinners Meetup https://www.meetup.com/Bristol-Girl-Geek-Dinners/.
GGD #59 An introduction to Womens Tech hub ~ Bristol
Great news!! – Bristol girlgeekdinners has just had an invitation to be sponsored by Bloomberg at the ACCU event at the Marriot on Wednesday 26th April. Due to the short timescale to get a speaker we have decided to do a formal presentation from the Womens Tech hub ~ Bristol.
We’ve been expanding quickly and believe this will be a great opportunity to explain who we all are to the Womens tech group, what we have been doing, what we have in the planning and what our long term goals are.
We would also appreciate your input and ideas as we’ve set it up to support the women tech groups as well as the individual members within them.
We hope to see you there – please bring along any male colleagues to this one that may be interested in support etc as womens tech hub is about also speaking to the tech industry to improve diversity.
Find thebasic event details on the girlgeekdinners meetup (women only) https://www.meetup.com/Bristol-Girl-Geek-Dinners/events/239139245/ or the womens tech hub meetup (gender neutral) https://www.meetup.com/Womens-Tech-Hub-Bristol/events/239139328/
We will update the event with full details once we have set it up – for womens tech hub details http://wthub.org email us if you have any questions or suggestions on [email protected]
Next meeting and also Womens Tech Hub Diversity? event announced
Hi All
We are taking an easter break next month but have pencilled in a date with scottlogic for the month after. They are being Uber supportive about getting women back into tech and are really great sponsors. We will find some suitable candidates for speaking – the last two were brilliant and it was a really fun event so we are sure this one will be too.
We will let you know more when we get the details
Many thanks for all your continued support for the groups
Constance and Serrie
to sign up (you need to join but its free) https://www.meetup.com/Bristol-Girl-Geek-Dinners/events/238541479/
and …..
Womens Tech Hub ~ Bristol have announced a Diversity event on 24th June at the watershed in Bristol – see the holding page here …
GGD#58 GGD Introduction to Salesforce for Developers with women who code by Edith Valencia Martinez
Our March joint Girl Geek Dinner with ‘women who code’ is hosted by Desklodge
Wednesday March 8th
We have been a bit remiss and mislaid our march sponsor – therefore as Rebeb has agreed to restart the ‘women who code’ group, which is great news, we have decided to join forces. We know its not a lot of notice but feel its a great opportunity to support them. We are aware that many of you are not coders but theres no test so come along and try out your skills if not, salesforce is a great and popular tool, you can always just watch and ask questions in the second part!
Join up on women who code if you are a member – if not then please join up here and we will coordinate the numbers.
Heres the info:
Have you ever wondered what Salesforce is about?
Are you curious about developing in the cloud?
Then join us in this session and you will have the opportunity to learn about Salesforce platform.
The session will be divided in two parts.
In the first part we will review the basic concepts of Salesforce and we will find out how to create a fully functional application from scratch.
In the second part you will create your own organisation and you will have the opportunity to develop in the cloud.
Note: Please bring a computer, so that you can create your organisation and practice.
About the speaker:
Edith Valencia Martinez is an applications developer at Desynit, Bristol. She has more than ten years of technical expertise in software development, software architectures and agile methodologies. She holds a Master’s degree in Software Engineering from the University of York.
After several years of developing in Java, Edith has recently started developing in the Salesforce platform.
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