ACM-W Europe August 2026 Newsletter

 

In this issue:

 

Collaboration with EPO

The Patent Granting Process: An Introduction for Women in Computing

The second post in our blog series with the European Patent Office tackles a question a lot of computing professionals quietly wonder about: can software and algorithms even be patented? Spoiler — yes, when they solve a real technical problem. This installment walks through the full journey from idea to granted patent, including whether you need a patent attorney, how much it costs, and free EPO resources to get started.

 Read the full post

 

 Welcome, New Celebrations Chair 

U-RISE — Dr Anna Szlavi by Fawzia “Fuzzy” Kara-Isitt

We’re delighted to welcome Dr Anna Szlavi as our new Celebrations Chair! ACM-W’s U-RISE series recently profiled her journey — from studying gender studies in Hungary, to watching that field disappear from universities amid political pressure, to rebuilding her path across borders and disciplines through initiatives like EUGAIN, Women STEM UP, and IMPACT in STEM. Anna’s guiding belief is that inclusion isn’t about asking women to adapt to computing — it’s about asking how computing itself can become more inclusive. Her story is a powerful reminder of what she brings to this role: purpose, persistence, and a deep commitment to building communities where people feel they belong.

Read her U-RISE feature

 

Trailblazers in Computing

Monika Henzinger

This month we spotlight Monika Henzinger, the 2026–2027 ACM Athena Lecturer, whose career has shaped how we search, process, and protect vast amounts of information — from her early work on web search algorithms at Google to her current research on dynamic algorithms and differential privacy at ISTA. Her path across academia and industry (Google, EPFL, University of Vienna, ISTA) is a powerful reminder that there’s no single route into a career in computing.

 Read her story

Scholar Spotlights

Annika Huch

In this edition of ACM Scholar Spotlights, we hear from Annika Huch, a PhD student in Theoretical Computer Science at Kiel University, and a 2025 ACM-W womENcourage™ Scholarship recipient. Annika reflects on her first womENcourage Hackathon, a hands-on accessibility co-design workshop that reshaped how she thinks about inclusive tech, and her advice for anyone considering attending next year.

 Read her spotlight

 

Don’t Miss ACM-W Europe’s Biggest Event of the Year 

ACM womENcourage™ 2026 

Register for this year’s ACM Celebration of Women in Computing! womENcourage™  2026 heads to Sophia Antipolis on the French Riviera, hosted by Polytech’Nice Sophia, IUT Nice Côte d’Azur, and Laboratoire I3S at Université Côte d’Azur. Under the theme “Unmute Yourself, Grow Stronger Together,” this year’s programme puts well-being front and centre — bringing students, researchers, and professionals together for keynotes, a hackathon, workshops, tutorials, and poster sessions against the backdrop of the Mediterranean.

September 30 – October 2, 2026 , Nice, France

Register and learn more

 

womENcourage™  2026: Nice, France 

The 13th ACM Celebration of Women in Computing, womENcourage 2026, is heading to the French Riviera in Nice, France from September 30 to October 2. This year’s theme is “Unmute Yourself, Grow Stronger Together”, focusing on well-being and support for women and gender diverse people in computing.

More information : Association for Computing Machinery 

 

Cognitive Bias

Its impact on women’s advancement in tech #7

Meet “Sarah” — the person on every team who ends up running meetings, smoothing over conflicts, and onboarding new hires, none of which is in her job description. This piece unpacks responsibility bias: the well-documented pattern where women are steered toward relational, low-promotability work while men are steered toward the technical assignments that build career capital — and how, over time, organizations mistake the result of that steering for individual preference. Drawing on research spanning task-allocation studies, social role theory, and a 2025 study on how early task assignment shapes career interest, the piece closes with concrete, actionable steps organizations can take: rotating administrative duties, tracking task assignment against promotion outcomes, and separating technical achievement from organizational support work in performance reviews.

 Read the full piece

 

Announcements

ACM Awards and Advanced Grades of Membership Deadlines

Each year, ACM recognises its members’ outstanding achievements through awards covering a spectrum of professional and technological areas and different stages of professional development. To learn more about other awards, we recommend ACM President Cherri M. Pancake’s article, dispelling some common myths about ACM Awards and Honors in the Communications of the ACM, August 2019. One of the myths is that the ACM Awards never honour people working outside North America. Prof. Pancake writes that even though nothing would make ACM committees happier than to recognise the achievements of people from around the globe, there are very few nominations. Source: Dispelling Common Myths About ACM Awards and Honors

 

Students HPC Fellowships, Cutler-Bell Prize
Early Career Hopper Award, ACM and SIG Dissertation Awards (recent graduates), SIG “rising star” awards; also Senior Member
Mid Career ACM Prize in Computing; also Distinguished Member
Late Career Turing Award, Distinguished Service Award; also Fellow
Area-Specific, typically Mid to Late Career Thacker Award, Software System Award, Athena Lecturer, Newell Award, Lawler Award, Eckert-Mauchly Award, Kennedy Award, Bell Prize, Karlstrom Award, Kannellakis Award, Policy Award, SIAM/ACM Prize – plus dozens of awards from individual SIGS

 

For SIG-specific Awards, please visit https://awards.acm.org/sig-awards.

For ACM Advanced Grades of Membership, please visit https://awards.acm.org/advanced-member-grades.

Thank you for joining us in recognising ACM Women’s accomplishments in Europe and ensuring they are nominated for ACM Awards they deserve.  

ACM-W Europe Website https://acmweurope.acm.org

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