Newcastle’s National Innovation Centres celebrate International Women’s Day

In the run-up to International Women’s Day, we hear from the UK National Innovation Centre for Data (NICD) and National Innovation Centre for Ageing (NICA), which are inviting people to celebrate the event in Newcastle city centre, at a series of interactive events and masterclasses.

The free events will be held at The Catalyst on March 8 and will centre around this year’s International Women’s Day theme, ‘embracing equity’.

Starting with an interactive networking and coffee morning from 10am to 12pm, hosted by NICA, VOICE and Oxford Innovation Space, guests will have the opportunity to explore informative stations and take part in a travelling exhibition called ‘Every Line Tells a Story’, designed to celebrate ageing.

This station will give people the chance to share their stories and join NICA in “re-imagining the changing texture of ageing skin” by creating a tactile wall of plaster skin textures, capturing all ages.

The coffee morning will also give people the opportunity to learn more about what NICA does, including its work around challenging the myths of menopause and addressing the barriers of staying physically active as we age.

In the afternoon, the UK National Innovation Centre for Data (NICD) has organised three 90-minute data science masterclasses with experts in the field, who will provide attendees with hands-on, practical skills and knowledge.

Data scientists, Louise Braithwaite MSc, Dr Hollie Johnson and Dr Antonia Kontaratou, will each lead a masterclass, covering everything from data visualisation and natural language processing, to the basics of what data science means in practice and how businesses of all sizes can make use of it.

Dr Hollie Johnson, senior data scientist at the National Innovation Centre for Data, commented: “At NICD, we recognise the immense value of collaborating with data scientists from diverse backgrounds.

“This International Women’s Day, we are so excited to welcome participants to our masterclasses and celebrate some of the exceptional work being done by women across our team. We hope that by sharing our work, we can inspire more women to pursue careers in data and bring their unique perspectives to the field.”

Both innovation centres are based within The Catalyst, which is managed by Oxford Innovation Space, and are hosted and funded by Newcastle University in partnership with the UK Government.

By Matthew Neville – Senior Correspondent, Bdaily

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