Women in HPC will once again attend the Supercomputing conference to discuss diversity and inclusivity topics. Activities will bring together women and male allies from across the international HPC community, provide opportunities to network, showcase the work of inspiring women, and discuss how we can all work towards improving the under-representation of women in supercomputing.
The eleventh international Women in HPC workshop will take place at SC21, St. Louis, USA. Once again Women in HPC, our advocates, allies, supporters, and anyone interested in improving diversity across the HPC community is welcome to join us to discuss the challenges the community faces, and how to improve the opportunities provided to women. Previous Women in HPC workshops at SC have been great successes, with over 100 attendees in the past two workshops, and over 25 submissions from early/mid career women at SC20.
The workshop will provide activities of interest to three particular groups:
– Early and mid career women working in HPC who wish to improve their career opportunities.
– Those responsible for hiring and recruiting staff that are interested in increasing diversity and retention of underrepresented groups in their organisation,
– Diversity allies: those wishing to create a more diverse and inclusive workplace culture, and who want to learn and share tips and methods for bringing about cultural change.
This year, we will have plenary talks and panels discussing how to create a meaningful HPC career and build an effective professional network. Following on from the SC18 workshop discussion on resilience, we will have a panel discussion about strategies to minimize the negative effect of significant life events like starting a family, loss of a close person or depression, on a professional career. We will also discuss the opportunities and methods for an inclusive workplace environment. We will include talks providing instructions and strategies for advocates and allies to improve workplace diversity, and become a part of the solution. Finally, we will provide opportunities for audience participation with breakout sessions to explore the issues raised. We would like to invite people from all aspects of the community to engage in this discussion, irrespective of career stage or workplace type, to fully explore the opportunities for disseminating best practices to the wider community.
Following the positive feedback from our SC20 workshop, we will have a session dedicated to developing skills allowing anyone to thrive and excel in their careers. The day will include presentations from early career women showcasing their HPC work in a lightning talks session, networking, and the opportunities to meet mentors and peers. The personal development session, designed to equip our early and mid career attendees with the skills to excel will include: identifying and managing imposter syndrome, unconscious bias, microaggression, and the guilt of working while being a parent/guardian/caregiver. This session will provide the attendees with tools on becoming a better leader in the workforce, effectively dealing with challenges at work, and managing work-life balance.
We welcome participation from everyone in the HPC community to discuss the most appropriate and beneficial actions that can be taken to address the gender imbalance in HPC and the strategies that could be adopted to achieve these goals. Our career development activities are beneficial to all interested in shaping their career, so everyone is encouraged to participate.