ACM-W Europe Visiting ACM-W Asia Pacific Celebrations
In this blog, ACM-W Europe Chair Dorota Filipczuk shares her experience of visiting ACM-W Asia Pacific celebrations, offering insight into how communities around the world are working to create spaces for connection, learning, and growth in computing.
Last month, I had the chance to represent ACM‑W Europe at two events in the ACM‑W Asia Pacific region, with the goal of learning from their initiatives and exploring new ways to support our ACM‑W Europe community. In this post, I’m excited to share my experience and key learnings.
Scholars’ Cohort 2026: ACM Celebration of Women in Computing Asia Pacific (APCWiC)
The Scholars’ Cohort, which is the flagship Celebration of the ACM-W Asia Pacific community, took place at Monash University, Malaysia in Bandar Sunway near Kuala Lumpur on the 11th and 12th of February 2026. It was organised by Lay‑Ki Soon, who also serves as the Communication Chair of ACM‑W Asia Pacific, together with the ACM‑W MUM Student Chapter.
The opening ceremony began with a symbolic ribbon‑cutting, followed by welcome speeches by Anthony Guo (Head of School), Bimlesh Wadwa (ACM-W Asia Pacific Chair) and Rukiye Altin (ACM-W Global Chair). In the keynote talk, Judy Bowen from the University of Waikato in New Zealand, told us about her experience and challenges in working on human‑centred computing for medical devices and the Internet of Things devices used in forestry. The programme also included a panel discussion on ethical and responsible AI, and a workshop on deep learning for high-performance computing.
Since the event was aimed at inspiring women pursuing postgraduate research in computing, more than half of the sessions were specifically designed to support PhD students. I particularly enjoyed workshops by John See from Heriott-Watt University, Malaysia on how to publish a technical research paper and by Rukiye Altin on how to prepare a research proposal. In the second keynote, Chun Yong Chong from Huawei told us about his experience moving from doing research in academia to doing research in the industry, and the differences between the two career paths (which sounded very familiar!). Other sessions covered topics such as CV writing, interview preparation, writing research grant applications and well-being strategies for computing PhD students.
There was also a poster session, where students had a chance to present their research and network, and a conference dinner with a photo booth. I met lots of amazing scholars and had lots of interesting discussions.
ACM-W Asia-Pacific Celebration of Women in Computing: WiCoDE26
WiCoDE26, the ACM-W Asia-Pacific Celebration of Women in Computing (Dubai Buddy Edition 2026), was hosted on the 16th and 17th of February 2026, at BITS Pilani, Dubai Campus by the ACM-W Dubai Professional Chapter. The organising committee was led by Elakkiya Rajasekar, Chair of the ACM-W Dubai Professional Chapter, with Angel Arul Jothi, Chair of the ACM Dubai Professional Chapter, as co-lead.
The two-day programme brought together global ACM-W leadership, faculty members, industry professionals, ACM student chapters, and 96 registered participants from institutions across the UAE. The opening ceremony began with a ceremonial lamp‑lighting and an invocation song. Together with members of the ACM-W Global and ACM-W Asia Pacific committees, I had a chance to participate in two panel discussions: one on career trajectories and another one on volunteering with ACM-W.
In addition to meeting staff and students from BITS Pilani Dubai Campus, I had a chance to meet staff and students from University of Birmingham Dubai, MAHE Dubai, and Amity University Dubai. Seeing how the ACM‑W Dubai Professional Chapter brings people together was remarkable, and the celebration itself showcased the collective efforts of ACM chapters, faculty advisors, student volunteers and institutional leadership. I encourage you to read more about the event in Elakkiya’s blog post here.
Organise a Celebration with Us and Join the Chapter Buddy Programme
The idea of a Scholars’ Cohort as an ACM Celebration of Women in Computing within ACM‑W Asia Pacific builds on the earlier example of the CRA‑W Grad Cohort for Women workshop in North America. ACM‑W Europe also hosted a similar event in October 2028 in Barcelona, Spain, and we would love to host more such initiatives across our region. We always welcome volunteers who are enthusiastic about organising future events with us. You can find more information about Celebrations here.
WiCoDE26 was an ACM Celebration gathering representatives from several ACM chapters and universities in the same city, but if there are no other chapters in your city, a similar event could be organised in collaboration with other chapters in your country or wider region. By pairing chapters across different countries and cultures, the ACM-W Chapter Buddy Programme creates space for shared learning, collaborative events, and peer support. To express your interest in participating in this programme in the ACM-W Europe region, please email: acm-w-europe-volunteers@acm.org.