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Check out the highlights below and help us share them with the wider Informatics community!
In this issue:
Register now: ECSS 2024, Doctoral Symposium and Poster Session
Join us on 28-30 October in Malta to connect with peers and exchange on timely and critical aspects of your daily responsibilities while discussing new and ongoing European projects and collaborative initiatives. The European Informatics Leaders Summit - ECSS 2024 is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a program and venue not to be missed!
Explore the full ECSS 2024 program. Keynote speakers include Dorothea Wagner, from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Mark Harman, from Meta Platforms Inc. and University College London, as well as former IE Presidents Carlo Ghezzi, Lynda Hardman and Enrico Nardelli, reflecting on the past and future of Informatics and its societal impact in Europe. Speakers and abstracts of all ECSS 2024 sessions can be found here.
New this year is the Doctoral Symposium (DS) at the Early Career Researchers Workshop. Papers accepted will be considered for publication in the post-proceedings. Submit by 21 July, full submission guidelines can be found here.
The poster session welcomes poster submissions from all levels of informatics researchers, offering enriched knowledge exchange and networking opportunities for everyone. Submit your poster now as space is limited!
Community Highlights is another opportunity to bring forward your institution's interests and gain visibility at the European level. Follow these guidelines to showcase your institution.
Register by 15 Sep to enjoy the ECSS 2024 early bird offer, which includes an excursion in Mdina, supported by VisitMalta Incentives & Meetings. For preferential hotel rates (first-come, first-served), visit this webpage. See you in Malta!
EC’s Head of Digital Education unit praised IE’s efforts at Board meeting
We had the pleasure of Georgi Dimitrov, Head of Digital Education Unit at the European Commission (EC), joining IE in the June Board meeting, where the activities of the IE’s Education Research Working Group (WG) were discussed.
While continuing the promotion of the Informatics Reference Framework for School implementation and the preparation of several European funded projects, the WG has this year organized an international Summer School on Informatics Education Research, together with IBM Research. During the upcoming months, the focus will be on Academic-industry collaboration in Informatics higher education, starting with a Workshop during ECSS, on 29 October in Malta. Georgi Dimitrov expressed appreciation for the work of our WG, emphasizing the relevance of this new topic on the WG’s agenda. Dimitrov encouraged Informatics Europe to continue to provide feedback to the EC and specifically requested a position paper to share our community’s view on the current Digital Education Action Plan. Informatics Europe in general and the Education Research WG in particular will continue advocating for informatics education at the EC level.
IE joins EC’s Expert Group for the development of guidelines on high-quality Informatics
In June, Enrico Nardelli, former IE President and core member of the Informatics for All initiative, was accepted as IE's representative in the EC’s Expert Group for developing guidelines on high-quality informatics. The expert group is a direct result of the Council Recommendation released in November 2023, aimed at improving the provision of digital skills and competencies in education and training, to which IE and the Informatics4All coalition have been major contributors.
The Expert Group supports the Commission in implementing current Union legislation, programmes and policies, as well as in preparing legislative proposals, policy initiatives and other pertinent tasks. We congratulate Enrico on this exciting new role and appreciate his ongoing contribution to amplify the IE community’s voice at the European level.
IE collaboration with the statistical office of the European Union
Recognized as a key stakeholder in Informatics Higher Education European statistics and on behalf of the European Commission (EC), Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW), Informatics Europe was in late June invited to participate in an interview programme evaluating Eurostat/European statistics in the context of the "Single Market Programme (SMP) Mid-term Evaluation Supporting Study". The evaluation report will be published next year.
On behalf of Eurostat, we are pleased to announce the Web Intelligence Competition within the European Statistics Awards Program. The competition aims at stimulating innovation in the area of Web Intelligence for European statistics and focuses on the development of approaches that learn how to assign a class label to job advertisement from a given job ads dataset. For more information, please refer to the European Statistics Awards website or email Eurostat.
Upcoming deadlines and activities
Explore our Open Activities webpage to learn how you can engage and benefit from our activities. Here are a couple of noteworthy highlights for you:
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Summer School on Informatics Education Research: to learn cutting-edge research methods, practical skills and connect with like-minded Informatics Education researchers. Co-organized with IBM Research, the school includes a behind-the-scenes look at their Quantum Computing Lab and Nanotechnology Center. Limited spots available - apply by 10 July with a motivation letter and CV. Late applications are accepted based on availability.
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Join CV Repository for enhanced success and visibility: beneficial for both employers and job/internship seekers. Watch our intro video, register now, and you might win a 100 EUR reward in our July lucky draw. We congratulate students from The University of Edinburgh (UK) and Institut Polytechnique de Paris (France) for winning the lucky draw in May and June. We wish all CV Repository applicants success in connecting with dream employers through our CV Repository!
New IE members
We are pleased to welcome the following new members:
They joined a growing IE membership of nearly 200 informatics institutions, national associations, companies and research centers from over 30 countries. Check out our current members list.
Event by IE members
IE member news
New advanced AI solutions will stop intruders accessing and leaking your data - Umeå University
Both private and public sectors rely on and exchange data. However, what occurs if systems are hacked and personal or sensitive information is leaked? At Umeå University, a novel security approach to data-driven decision-making is underway. "We will make it really difficult for attackers to identify people, buildings or areas for further dissemination," says Professor Vicenç Torra, a world-leading researcher in AI, data privacy, appropriate reasoning and decision-making, at the Department of Computer Science, Umeå University. The research project "Privacy for Complex Data" runs until summer 2025 and is funded by the Swedish Research Council. Read the full story here.
Cybersecurity, robotics and programming available to everyone - Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
The Scientific Culture and Innovation Unit (UCC+I), in collaboration with professors from the Higher Technical School of Computer Engineering (ETSII), the Fuenlabrada Engineering School (EIF) and the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, has offered various workshops on cybersecurity, robotics and programming with the aim of providing attendees with the necessary tools to protect their privacy on the Internet or learn to program electronic devices. These include primary education students and people with intellectual disabilities.
"In the theoretical presentation, emphasis was placed on the significance of safeguarding data transferred to companies or shared on social networks," elaborates Luciana Camila Fidilio Allende, professor at ETSII. "The importance of creating strong and unique passwords across various platforms, implementing two-factor authentication for added security, and utilizing tools for secure password storage were all discussed." Read more here.
MUSA Awards the MusicTraces Project - Politecnico di Milano
During the third General Meeting of MUSA - MULTILAYERED URBAN SUSTAINABILITY ACTION, an innovation ecosystem funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research within the framework of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, the project ‘MusicTraces: A Collaborative Music and Paint Activity for Autistic People’ received the Best Project Award in the ‘Social Infrastructure’ category.
The project, led by a research team composed of Valentin Bauer, Tommaso Padovano, Mattia Gianotti, Giacomo Caslini and Franca Garzotto from the i3lab laboratory of the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, developed collaborative activities for people with autism and other forms of cognitive disability, combining music therapy and art therapy in a multi-sensory smart space called 'Magic Room'. Read the full story here.
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Would you like to share the latest updates about your institute with fellow IE members and professionals in informatics and related fields? Simply email the relevant news in brief to our Communication Specialist Kit Wan Chui to get featured in our Bulletin, LinkedIn and X.
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