Celebrating UCL Computer Science Student EDI Award Winners 2024

UCL Computer Science has recognised 16 students for their outstanding efforts in promoting Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) during the 2023-2024 academic year.  

The students were celebrated for their diverse contributions, including founding NGOs, leading mentoring programmes, and tackling biases in AI.  

Launched in 2022, the Student EDI Awards highlight individuals and groups who have taken action to champion diversity and inclusion in a variety of settings, demonstrating a strong commitment to advancing inclusive practices. 

BSc student awards 

Suhas Hariharan – Leadership in outreach events 

Suhas demonstrated exemplary leadership by organising hackathons and outreach visits to Richard Cloudesley School for children with assisted needs, inspiring others through his dedication to EDI. 

Filip Trhlik and Michal Bravansky – Founding an NGO to combat disinformation 

Filip and Michal were recognised for founding Verifee, an NGO that combats disinformation in Central Europe using AI to evaluate news credibility. Their work has garnered support from Google and Microsoft, contributing to societal awareness of fake news. 

"I co-lead Verifee, a non-profit organisation dedicated to protecting people in Eastern Europe from disinformation, supported by Google, Microsoft, and O2 Czech Republic," said Michal Bravansky. "I am honoured to receive this award." 

MEng student awards 

Sree Sanakkayala – Leading a mentoring programme for underrepresented students 

Sree led the Engineering Coalition Mentoring Programme, which supports underrepresented students through peer, industrial, and academic mentoring, empowering 46 mentees and 9 peer mentors. 

"Championing EDI never felt like a task—it always seemed like a responsibility," said Sree about his award. 

Carmen Meinson – Combating bias in AI systems 

Carmen developed an innovative solution to combat gender and racial biases in AI as part of her final year project, supervised by Professor Federica Sarro. 

Tosin Fadahunsi and Jay Choy – Tackling bias in AI Generative Models 

Tosin and Jay addressed demographic biases in text-to-image models, successfully reducing gender and skin tone imbalances in images of STEM professionals. 

Tosin said: "We are honoured to receive this recognition for our work on addressing demographic biases in generative models. We hope to expand our work to contribute to creating more fair and representative AI systems."  

Dinesh Anantharaja and Keyur Narotomo – Developing assistive gaming technology for disabled children 

Dinesh and Keyur developed new capabilities for Android that enable children with cerebral palsy to play games using Smartbox's Grid 3 technology. Their innovation will soon be published by Google. 

MSc student awards 

Osman Hussien Fadl Ali – Raising humanitarian aid for Sudan 

Osman was recognised for his efforts in raising over £37,000 to provide humanitarian aid to civilians affected by the war in Sudan. 

"Thank you to everyone who donated and supported us on our mission to provide humanitarian aid to civilians in Sudan," said Osman. "The UN estimates that over 20 million Sudanese people will struggle to find food this year, so please keep raising awareness." 

Bex Manlove – Advocating for inclusivity in MSc programmes 

Bex helped create an inclusive learning environment within the Disability, Design and Innovation MSc by advocating for students' voices, organising events, and producing awareness materials such as "Pronouns" posters for CS spaces. 

Fatima Hussain – Developing accessible technology for Intel 

Fatima developed cutting-edge technology for Intel that allows individuals with disabilities to control devices using Morse code based on subtle movements, helping to increase accessibility. 

PhD student awards 

Chimdi Igwe – Leadership in race equality initiatives 

Chimdi chaired the Black History Month panel in 2023 and co-led a successful cybersecurity workshop during Rae Harbird Day, engaging students and schoolchildren alike. 

Chimdi said: "It’s wonderful to see the department so committed to fostering an inclusive learning and working space. I’m very grateful for this award and all the support from the EDI team."  

Oscar Key – Promoting LGBTQ+ visibility and awareness 

Oscar was instrumental in leading the department’s LGBTQ+ working group, promoting awareness and community-building through social activities and educational initiatives. 

"Over the past year, the LGBTQ+ working group has been making progress on issues like increasing visibility and educating about pronoun usage in teaching settings. I’ve had a great time working on these initiatives with the team," said Oscar. 

Kyle Beadle – Engaging students with cybersecurity workshops 

Kyle led an engaging and hands-on cybersecurity workshop during Rae Harbird Day, demonstrating the importance of information security through practical activities like lock-picking. 

Sophie Martin and Beatrice Taylor – Addressing bias in AI for neuroimaging 

Sophie and Beatrice co-authored a paper on bias in AI for neuroimaging research, presented at the prestigious Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention (MICCAI) 2023 conference. Their work highlights the need for fairness and accuracy in AI models used in healthcare. 

"Receiving this award is a lovely recognition from the department of the importance of this work," said Beatrice. 

"I feel incredibly proud to be part of the Computer Science Race Equality working group and honoured to have received an award for my contributions over the past three years," added Sophie. 

The department would like to thank all the EDI Award winners for their exceptional contributions and looks forward to continued efforts to promote equality, diversity, and inclusion in the future.