Two Lancaster University academics have given a joint talk at the World’s largest women in technology gathering – the Grace Hopper Celebration.

Dr Bran Knowles, Lecturer in Data Science, and Vicki Hanson, Visiting Professor at Lancaster University and CEO of the ACM, presented a talk at the event, held this year in Florida, on their paper ‘The Wisdom of Older Technology (Non)Users’, which looked at the reasons why some older people reject technologies. Their talk, entitled ‘Social Impact: Serving the needs of a diverse population’, was about how and why older adults’ needs should be considered within the design of digital technologies as an ethical imperative.

The event celebrates the research and work of women in computing and this year was attended by more than 26,000 women.

Dr Knowles said: “Doing the talk was a wonderful experience – it’s a very supportive conference in which the whole idea is to support other women in computing. I really haven’t experienced a conference like it.”

The Grace Hopper Celebration is organised by anitab.org and more information can be found by visiting https://ghc.anitab.org/