Our Team

Each year, passionate women and gender minorities shape the OxWoCS committee and dedicate extra time to run our society and events. Take a moment to learn about our talented committee and their work!

 Current Committee (2023-2024)

Kelsey Doerksen
President

I am a 3rd year DPhil student in the Autonomous Intelligent Machines and Systems CDT, research affiliate with the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab and Research Fellow with the European Space Agency and UNICEF. My research interests are utilizing Earth Observation technology and AI for climate and humanitarian applications. As OxWoCS President this year I am looking forward to growing and connecting with the incredible OxWoCS community!

Irene Zhang
Secretary

I’m a second-year DPhil student in the engineering science department. My research is about how to develop useful and efficient Large Language Models. I'm so excited to be a part of this wonderful community, and I can't wait to meet everyone at our events throughout the year!

Ruby Wood
Treasurer

I am a final year DPhil in Health Data Science, specifically using deep learning for biomedical imaging. I have been involved with OxW*CS for three years now, and think it is the best society in Oxford!

Emily Jin
Industry Officer

I'm a DPhil student in Computer Science focusing on graph machine learning for drug discovery. As Industry Officer, I collaborate with our OxWoCS sponsors to plan fun networking dinners and industry panels. Having worked full-time as a software engineer prior to starting my DPhil, I'm excited to help bridge the gap between academia and industry for all of our members!

Chenny Deng

Events VP

Hi there! I'm a second-year DPhil student in CS and the Events VP of OxWoCS. I'm passionate about organizing inspiring events to empower wom*n in tech. My own CS journey lights my dedication to celebrating female triumphs and nurturing our supportive community. Let’s build a vibrant, inclusive future together!

Boluwatife Adebowale


Events Officer

I am a second-year undergraduate studying Computer Science at St Anne's College. At Oxford, I am also a University Ambassador and very passionate about outreach, especially encouraging more women to apply to the Computer Science degrees here! I am particularly interested in getting more undergraduate students involved in OxWoCS events. Let us know if you have any particular events you would like to see us organise!

Yihe Gao

Events Officer

Hi! I'm a second year undergrad studying maths and CS at Jesus. I am super happy to join OxWoCS events team and help to organise exciting events this year!

Bonny Nichol
Web & Media Officer

Hello! I'm a MSc student in Software Engineering. I also currently work in Construction for automation tools development and working with construction building data & design system processes. If you look around Oxford, the company I work for has built many of our favourite university buildings :) I am looking forward to being a Web & Media Officer to help wom*n in CS at Oxford stay connected to OxWoCS events!

Mehrsa Jafarpour
Web & Media Officer

I have gained world class insight into medical computational sciences and innovational research by being involved in cutting-edge science at UCL, QMUL, Imperial College, NUS and Oxford University. Through academic excellence and interdisciplinary projects, I have learnt vital transferable skills, which I look forward to bringing to our society. Here at Oxford, I am actively advocating for students through college and society activities.

Hunar Batra
Web & Media Officer

I’m a first-year DPhil Computer Science student working on multimodal learning and interpretability of Large Vision Language Models (LVLMs). I’m a research consultant at Anthropic and a Visiting Researcher at NYU Alignment Research Group working on CoT transparency for LLMs.

Nele Quast
Seminar Series vp

I’m a DPhil student in machine learning for structural immunoinformatics. I’m interested in Deep Learning and Systems Biology, and in creating open-source software that makes scientific innovation accessible. As seminar series coordinator I organise our distinguished speaker series, so if you have any speakers in mind just reach out!

Shufang Zhu
Seminar Series officer

I am a Senior Research Associate working with Prof. Giuseppe De Giacomo. My research concerns interdisciplinary knowledge across artificial intelligence (AI) and formal methods (FM), focusing on automated reasoning, planning, and synthesis. I received my Ph.D. degree in 2020 from East China Normal University (ECNU), under the supervision of Prof. Geguang Pu and Prof. Moshe Y. Vardi (Rice University).

Quinn Luo
Outreach VP

Hi! I am a Quantum physics Dphil student.

Hoda Kalabizadeh
Outreach Officer

I'm a second-year DPhil student in Computer Science, my research focuses on the development and application of deep learning methods to brain imaging. Previously, I have worked as a software developer in industry and studied in the fields of Biomedical Engineering and Health Data Science. I am a keen advocate of supporting the future generation of women in STEM from the early stages of their careers. As an OxWoCS outreach officer, I am excited to help young women reach their full potential in STEM!

Aamina Rizvi
Undergraduate Rep

Hi! I’m Mina, a second year at John’s studying Maths and CS. I’m super passionate about increasing diversity in tech and putting on great events to get more of the Oxford community involved in OxWoCS :)

Grace Sodunke
Undergraduate Rep

Hi! I am a second year undergrad studying Maths and Computer Science. I am very excited to join the committee this year and organise society events! If you’re an undergrad, I definitely encourage you to take advantage of the fantastic opportunities on offer. And feel free to get in touch!

Madeleine Wyburd
Oxbridge Conference VP

I'm a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Computer Science, where I focus on developing computation tools to perform medical image analysis. My research primarily looks at quantifying fetal brain development from ultrasound scans. I have been on the OxWoCS committee for three years now, mainly helping with our outreach events. This year I'm really excited to be the Oxbridge Conference VP and looking forward to our upcoming event.

Allison Clement
Oxbridge Conference Coordinator

I am reading for a DPhil in computer science with a focus on medical imaging predictions. As a conference coordinator, I am excited to learn more and collaborate with woman in all fields of computer science!

Xiaxia Wang
Oxbridge Conference Coordinator

Hi, I'm Xiaxia, currently a second-year DPhil student of Computer Science department, working in the Data and Knowledge group. This year I am one of the Oxbridge Conference Coordinators in OxWoCS. Nice to meet you all.

Ping Lu
OxWoCS Support Role

I am a Postdoc Researcher at the Department of Engineering Science. My current research focuses on AI in Healthcare and I have a background in machine learning. I am willing to make computer science and related fields at Oxford more exciting for women and minorities. I am a person who is motivated by exploring unfamiliar areas of research; my curiosity inspires women to be confident and bold in taking on new challenges.

Elle Michelle Yang

OxWoCS Support Role

Hello! I'm a Computer Science PhD student working on what I call "Social NLP". It's the intersection of natural language processing x network science x computational social science. Feel free to reach out to me for anything! I love going down random rabbit holes and meeting new people :)

Millie Zhou


OxWoCS Support Role

I am a MSc student in medical statistics and interested in utilising computational science to elucidate the genetic basis of neurodegeneration and cancer. As an advocate for women in computer science, I look forward to promoting the visibility of OxWoCS and connecting with other women in tech.

Yana Lishkova

OxWoCS Support Role

Bio coming soon!

Senior Member
Senior Member

Bio coming soon!

Previous Committee (2022-2023)

Nele Quast
President

I’m a DPhil student in machine learning for biomedical science. I’m interested in Deep Learning and Systems Biology, and in creating open-source software that makes scientific innovation accessible. As OxWoCS President this year I’m looking to reconnect Womxn in computer science now that Oxford Uni life is back in full swing. If you would like to collaborate with us or sponsor us do reach out!

Ruby Wood
Vice President

I am doing a DPhil in Health Data Science, specifically using deep learning for biomedical imaging. Since discovering programming in my undergraduate degree I have championed getting more women into computer science, and I am thrilled to continue that journey this year with OxWoCS and the inspiring members of this community.

Kelsey Doerksen
Treasurer

I'm a 2nd year DPhil student in Autonomous Intelligent Machines and Systems, and a Visiting Researcher at the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab. My research interests are utilizing AI for space applications. As OxWoCS Treasurer this year I am looking forward to enabling the amazing events and opportunities for our OxWoCS members and Oxford community!

Linde Hesse
VP, Events

I am a final year PhD student in medical imaging, studying fetal brain development from ultrasound. Last year I was OxWoCS's President and I am really excited to see how our society will grow this year! I will continue my role in the committee as VP events, and hope to organise many events throughout the year to bring womxn in CS closer together (do send me a message if you have any ideas or suggestions!).

Mehrsa Jafarpour

VP, Outreach

I have gained world class insight into medical computational sciences and innovational research by being involved in cutting-edge science groups at UCL, QMUL, Imperial College, NUS and Oxford University. Through academic excellence and interdisciplinary projects, I have learnt vital transferable skills, which I look forward to bringing to our society. Here at Oxford, I am actively advocating for students through college and society activities. I will be teaching and expanding our programs as your vice president of outreach.

Millie Zhou


IT & Marketing Officer

I am a MSc student in medical statistics and interested in utilising computational science to elucidate the genetic basis of neurodegeneration and cancer. As an advocate for women in computer science, I look forward to promoting the visibility of OxWoCS and connecting with other women in tech.

Kitty Fung

Events Officer

I am a fourth-year undergraduate student doing Engineering Science at Magdalen College. I am interested in data science and deep learning. I have been an advocate for women in technology since high school and I wish to bridge the gender gap in the STEM area. Do let us know if you have any speakers that you want to hear from or any particular events you have in mind!

Elle Michelle Yang
Industry Officer

Hey, I'm a DPhil in Computer Science! I'm working on computational social science and am currently looking at economic production networks. I joined Oxford in the midst of the pandemic, so I'm looking forward to meet everyone in person :) Feel free to reach out to me for anything!

Hoda Kalabizadeh

Outreach Officer

I'm a first year DPhil student in Computer Science. I am passionate about the development and application of machine learning methods to neuroimaging. I have previously worked as a software developer in industry, and recently completed an MPhil in Health Data Science. I look forward to joining the OxWCS commitee to support and encourage members of the community through outreach events!

Bonny Nichol

Outreach Officer

Hello! I'm a MSc student in Software Engineering. I am trained as an Architect (for buildings) with experience in building information modelling and design technology. I have a passion for Data Science, Machine Learning, and tool automation. In addition to my architecture background, I have a strong interest in neuroscience and brain diseases/disorders and looking for ways to incorporate my interests into my future research. I believe outreach is very important for younger women to encourage a future generation of women in computer science. By introducing young women to different CS career paths, we are helping to create a much needed, more diverse tech industry and research environment.

Ping Lu

SEMINAR SERIES OFFICER

I am a Postdoc Researcher at the Department of Engineering Science. My current research focuses on AI in Healthcare and I have a background in machine learning. I am willing to make computer science and related fields at Oxford more exciting to women and minorities. I am responsible for inviting female world leaders to give us talks and inspire us.

Towera Moyo

Seminar Series Officer

I am a third-year DPhil student in Computer Science. I am passionate about using AI and programming for social good. My work focuses on leveraging AI to tackle human trafficking activity. Since my undergraduate days, I have always been passionate about working with initiatives that empower and support women in CS and other STEM fields. I am happy that as a committee member, I will continue to do this and support women in CS and related fields with their journeys at Oxford University.

Ariadne Si Suo

Integrated Masters Rep

I’m a fourth year integrated master student doing Mathematics and Computer Science at St John’s College. I’m interested in programming language theory, especially as a tool to build the foundation of probabilistic programming. As an integrated master rep, I’m hoping to help organize some specific PhD/Industry events for MSc and integrated master students.

Yi Yin

Website & Conference coordinator

I’m a postdoctoral researcher focusing on medical imaging and deep learning applications in healthcare, e.g. women’s health and cancer diagnosis. I’m excited to join the OxWoCS committee and look forward to encouraging more women to get into Computer Science and other STEM fields.

Whitney Deng

Community/Education Officer

I am a Visiting Student and researcher in Computer Science and Philosophy interested in humane technology. I’ve been a staunch woman in STEM since a very young age and consider it an absolute honour and pleasure to help foster a strong support network for fellow STEMinists at Oxford. I look forward to hearing your ideas and meeting you at OxWoCS events!

Marta Kwiatkowska
Senior Member

Marta Kwiatkowska is Professor of Computing Systems and a Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford. Her research interests centre around modelling and analysis methods for complex systems, such as those arising in computer networks, electronic devices and biological organisms.

Previous Committee (2021-2022)

Linde Hesse
President

I am in the third year of my DPhil at the department of Engineering and am working on the analysis of fetal brain ultrasound using deep learning. I joined OxWoCS last year as seminar organisor, and am really excited to be continue as President this year. I will be overseeing all activities of the committee and hope we will be able to have in person events again soon. Do get in touch with me if you have any question about our society or would be interested in joining!

Elle Michelle Yang
Vice President

Hey, I'm a second-year DPhil in Computer Science! I'm working on computational social science and am currently looking at economic production networks. I joined Oxford in the midst of the pandemic, so I'm looking forward to meet everyone in person as your Vice President :) I'll be organizing termly OxWoCS meetings and sending out the newsletters. Feel free to reach out to me for anything!

Maddy Wyburd
Outreach Officer

I am a final year DPhil student in the department of Engineering, with a background in Physics. My research uses artificial intelligence to study fetal brain folding from routine ultrasound scans, with the aim of identifying early biomarkers in diseased groups. I am one of the new outreach officers for OxWoCS and really excited to help get girls into our field!

Lisa Schut
Outreach Coordinator

I'm a second-year PhD student in Bayesian Deep Learning. Generally, I'm interested in understanding and designing more robust, theoretically grounded machine learning algorithms. More recently, I've become interested in ML applied to healthcare. I'll be joining the outreach team this year and am looking forward to helping more women get into our field!

Karen Wendt
Seminar Series Coordinator

I'm a third year DPhil student in Engineering Science and my work is focussed on developing a new non-invasive brain stimulation device. This is my first year on the OxWoCS committee and I will be organising the seminar series together with Jimmy.

Yuge (Jimmy) Shi
Seminar series coordinator

Ellie Bruce
Social Event Officer

I’m a second-year undergraduate studying Experimental Psychology, and I’m hoping to go into Human Computer Interaction in the future, and am super interested in all things artificial intelligence- particularly how it can be used to improve mental health! I’m in charge of organising socials this year, so if you have any ideas of activities you’d like us to run, please just let me know.

Nele Quast
Industry Officer

I’m a first year DPhil student in computational biomedical science. I’m interested in Deep Learning and Systems Biology, and in creating open-source software that makes scientific innovation accessible. I’ve also worked on Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning systems in the context of Human-Computer Interaction and Theory of Mind. As one of the OxWoCS industry officers I handle society sponsorship and liaise with companies. If you would like to work with us do reach out!

Sara Burapachaisri
Industry Officer

I’m a MSc student in Advanced Computer Science interested in building safe and efficient AI systems for good decision-making, mainly motivated by societal applications in education, well-being, and robotics. I advocate for women in STEM, and as part of the industry team at OxWoCs, I look forward to working with companies that share the mission to empower and support women!

Catherine Tong
Treasurer

Klaudia Krawiecka
Conference Coordinator

Kelsey Doerksen
Conference Coordinator

I am in my first year DPhil in the Autonomous Intelligent Machines and Systems CDT progam, and my research involves utilizing Machine Learning and Earth Observation data to quantify the impacts of climate change. I also work part-time as a satellite operator at Planet! I will be one of the organizers for the OxWoCS annual conference, and I'm looking forward to working with the OxWoCS team and meeting other women in computer science!

Beatrice Marchegiani
Marketing Officer

Eleonora Giunchiglia
Alumni Relations Officer

Hunar Batra
IT Officer

I’m an MSc in Advanced Computer Science student and my research revolves around NLP and its application in genomics, human-model interaction, visual-linguistic learning and building human-like models by propelling the frontiers of machine understanding and interpretable models. As the IT Officer of OxWoCS, I’ll be maintaining the website and keeping it up to date with the latest happenings. Stay tuned! :)

Nasma Dasser
industry officer

I am in the first year of my DPhil at the Department of Computer Science as part of the Health Data Science CDT program and I am interested in reinforcement learning, human locomotion and ML applied in healthcare. I joined OxWoCS as one of the industry officers together with Sara and and Nele. I am excited to organise talks and events to increase the outreach to women interested in careers in tech and machine learning! Feel free to reach out :)

Marta Kwiatkowska
Senior Member

Marta Kwiatkowska is Professor of Computing Systems and a Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford. Her research interests centre around modelling and analysis methods for complex systems, such as those arising in computer networks, electronic devices and biological organisms.

 

Committee 2020-2021

Catherine Tong
President

I am in the final year of my DPhil study in 'Machine Learning on Behavioural Data'. This is my third year in OxWoCS, having previously organized seminar series and industry events. As President, I oversee the workings of the society - I work with the committee to plan and organize events, liaise with the department and external sponsors, and represent the society in general.

Ipshita Chatterjee
Outreach Officer

I am a MSc Computer Science student focusing on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning and exploring their applications for social good, especially sustainability and tackling the climate challenge. This is my first year with OxWoCS and I would be working alongside other outreach officers to promote diversity in technology.

Georgie Lang
Outreach Officer

I am a third year studying Computer Science and Philosophy. I'll be helping to organise lots of outreach events through out the year to help get more women into computer science. This is my first year with the OxWoCS committee and I'm really looking forard to working alongside the other outreach officers and committee members.

Lonie Sebagh
Outreach & Conference Coordinator

I am a doctoral candidate in Cyber Security and this is my second year working with OxWoCS. This year, I will be organising the annual Women in Computer Science conference alongside the Cambridge Women in Computer Science committee as well as Outreach events to get girls interested in Computer Science through coding workshops.

Eleonora Giunchiglia
Seminar Series Coordinator

I am a third year DPhil student in Machine Learning and AI, and this is my second year on the amazing OxWoCS committee! This year, together with Linde, I will be responsible for organising our annual seminar series: "Distinguished Speakers: Oxford Women in Computer Science".

Linde Hesse
Seminar Series Coordinator

I am a second year DPhil student working on machine learning for biomedical image analysis in the Department of Engineering. This is my first year on the OxWoCS committee and I am very excited to join! This year, I will be organising the seminar series together with Eleonora.

Maria Kiourlappou
Social Event Officer

I am a third year DPhil student in the Interdisciplinary Bioscience DTP. I am working with machine learning on biological datasets. This is my first year with the OxWoCS and I am looking forward to organising a lot of fun and interesting events for you all.

Yuge (Jimmy) Shi
Industry Event Officer

I am a third year PhD student in the Department of Engineering Science, and this is my second year as the sponsorship officer on the OxWoCS committee. Like many others in our society, I am passionate in empowering women and promoting gender diversity in STEM fields, and in OxWoCS we work with sponsors who share this vision to organise events that promote and help women in our field.

Clara Eleonore Pavillet
Industry Event Officer

I am a third year DPhil student at the intersection of Medical Sciences and Computer Science, studying Computational Biology and Bioinformatics. Along with Yuge, Nataliya and Harveen, as Industry Officers we are the link between OxWoCS and our generous sponsors.

Nataliya Tkachenko
Sponsorship Officer

I am a research associate in AI for Sustainable Finance at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment and the Alan Turing Institute. I hold a PhD in Data Science ("Using semantic drift on social media for event detection, segmentation and differentiation"), and joined University of Oxford in December 2019. This is my first year with OxWoCS, and so far I am very impressed with the very warm welcome! I am looking forward to engaging with the sponsors and contributing to the overall work of the Committee.

Anca Balaoi
Undergraduate Representative

I am a third year undergraduate studying Maths & Computer Science and this is my first year on the OxWoCS committee! Together with Jasmine, I will be in charge of the OxWoCS Freshers' Fair stall and will organise all sorts of socials for undergraduates.

Jasmine Rienecker
Undergraduate Representative

I am in my fourth year studying Maths and Computer Science, and this is my second year with OxWoCS. Along with Anca my role is to organise a range of socials and fun events for undergraduates. Feel free to get in touch if you have an questions or ideas!

Beatrice Marchegiani
Secretary

I am a second year undergraduate reading Computer Science and Philosophy. As secretary I'll be in charge of managing memberships and the general organisation of the club. This includes sending weekly newsletters, so expect to hear from me a lot. I am very excited to be part of the OxWoCS committee, and look forward getting to know as many new members as possible. If you have any questions feel free to get in touch!

Klaudia Krawiecka
IT Officer

I am a third-year DPhil student at the Centre for Doctoral Training in Cyber Security. Previously, I held the posts of President, Communication Officer, and Outreach Officer of OxWoCS. This year, I am an IT Officer responsible for managing our website and keeping content up-to-date!

Marta Kwiatkowska
Senior Member

Marta Kwiatkowska is Professor of Computing Systems and a Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford. Her research interests centre around modelling and analysis methods for complex systems, such as those arising in computer networks, electronic devices and biological organisms.