Ada Festival Scotland

The Ada Festival Scotland brings together partners involved in addressing the issue of gender balance in Computing Science education in Scotland. The University of Glasgow’s Dr Matthew Barr leads on the initiative, alongside Festival co-founders Dr Ella Taylor-Smith (Edinburgh Napier University) and Toni Scullion (dressCode) and Anna Doyle (BIMA, CYF) and a voluntary advisory board, drawn from across the sector.

At a time when digital, data and technology play a more important role in our lives than ever before, and when there are more opportunities in the computing science field than ever before, young women are more likely to miss out on those opportunities than they were two decades ago. Now in its third year, Ada Festival Scotland is working to address that gender imbalance. The Festival (named after Ada Lovelace, not just the first female computer programmer but arguably the first computer programmer full stop) runs 12 to 28 October, with a huge programme of in-person and online events, competitions, activities and resources aimed at entertaining, informing and inspiring a new generation of Scots women to discover computing.

The Scottish Government Digital Directorate and the Scottish Digital Academy are delighted to support the festival by providing interactive workshops, where you’ll hear about our Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) roles and the important work we do on behalf of the people of Scotland.  You’ll have a chance to speak with some of our DDaT specialists on the day and to take part in a discussion about assumptions, expectations and opportunities for women in tech.

There are two one hour sessions available:

• 14:00 Monday 17 October 2022
• 14:00 Tuesday 25 October 2022

Register for these sessions through the Scottish Digital Academy, once you have registered you’ll receive joining instructions.  Hope to see you there!

You can read more about our support for Ada Scotland here: Scottish Government Digital, Data & Technology (DDaT) workshop – Gender balance in Computing Science (ada.scot)