POLAR explorer Ann Daniels, the first woman to reach the North and South Poles as part of an all-female team – with teammate Caroline Hamilton – has been named as one of the keynote speakers at DataFest21, the country’s biggest data and artificial intelligence (AI) festival.
She will be joined by Robin Winsor, a digital advancement champion and inventor of the world’s first direct digital X-ray imaging device; and Dr Katherine Trebeck, founder of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance and an advocate for economic system change.
They will headline three week-long events on different themes at DataFest21, which starts today and runs to November.
This week’s theme, Our Future, features a free Data Talks event led by Winsor, who will be discussing the role of AI in modern teaching models and what intelligent machines will mean for students and teachers in the 21st century.
Events in September and October will explore themes including Our Planet, covering environment and climate change with Daniels; and Our People, reviewing social elements such as health and wellbeing with Trebeck. They will be joined by renowned mathematician, presenter and author Professor Hannah Fry, and emergency physician and expert in space medicine Dr Kevin Fong at Data Summit, a two-day conference planned to take place in-person in November.
This will bring together industry professionals to discuss inspirational and innovative examples of using data for good.
DataFest, now in its fifth year, is exploring the theme Our Data, underlining how important data is to the growth of the economy, social progress and knowledge base, whilst encouraging debate on ethics and greater understanding of data ownership.
The festival is now the UK’s biggest of its type and a key calendar event for professionals working in data and AI across the UK and beyond – 2019’s event attracted more than 4000 visitors.
Other speakers taking part in this month’s events on Data Tech and Data Talent include Ellen Friedman, principal technologist at Hewlett Packard Enterprise; Albert King, chief data officer in the Scottish Government; food and social enterprise entrepreneur Priya Lakhani; and Matt Higgs, lecturer in business analytics at the University of Bristol and a co-investigator on the UK Research and Innovation-funded Observatory for Monitoring Data-Driven Approaches to Covid-19.
Data Lab CEO Gillian Docherty said: “Each year, DataFest proves itself to be the premier data and artificial intelligence event in the industry calendar, attracting a raft of excellent speakers – and this year is no different.
“Being able to welcome names like Robin Winsor, Dr Katherine Trebeck and Ann Daniels, who can each share invaluable insights across three very important themes, is a real highlight after a turbulent year for everyone.
“It’s fantastic to be able to bring the data and AI community together once more, and with Data Summit taking place in-person later this year, I’m looking forward to networking and hearing from the dynamic Hannah Fry and Dr Kevin Fong who, through their varied and successful careers, can bring incredible insight into the innovations and applications of data science and AI for the betterment of society.”
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