Christmas Recommendations

In this special live-recorded episode of The Machine, Rob O’Connor hosts a panel discussion following a viewing of the CodeGirl documentary at SETU Waterford. The event brought together a group of secondary school students to explore pathways into computing and to hear real-life stories from women working and studying in the field. Rob is joined by Dr Indrakshi Dey (Walton Institute), Ava Neary (Applied Computing student and cybersecurity intern), and Amanda Freeman-Gater (Assistant Head of the Computing & Mathematics Department at SETU). Together they reflect on themes raised in the film — teamwork, creativity, and breaking gender stereotypes — while also sharing their own journeys into technology, including the challenges of maths anxiety, imposter syndrome, and changing career paths. Whether you’re considering a future in computing or supporting someone who is, this episode offers honest, insightful, and encouraging perspectives on what it means to build a career in tech. Useful links: Computing Courses at SETU: https://www.setu.ie/computing Walton Institute: https://www.waltoninstitute.ie CodeGirl documentary: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5086438/ Dr. Indrakshi Dey: https://waltoninstitute.ie/about/staff/dr-indrakshi-dey Amanda Freeman-Gater: https://www.setu.ie/staff/amanda-freeman-gater Rob O’Connor: https://www.setu.ie/staff/robert-oconnor

Are you interested in studying computing but feel a bit daunted by entering a field that can seem overwhelming? As professional computer science educators, we are often asked questions by prospective students about what’s actually involved in studying computing, the types of roles one can expect after graduating, the skills a student needs, and more. For this episode, we tried to distil some of those common questions into a podcast. If you’re someone who thinks computing is only for math wizards and “hardcore” programmers, this is the podcast for you! (Spoiler alert: The answer is NO!)

Coming out of our latest Computing Week on campus in SETU, Rob spoke with two members of the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau – Detective Sergeant Eoin O’Connell and Detective Noel O’Gorman. They spoke about the work of the Bureau, how cybercrime threats have evolved over the past few years and what individual and organisations can do to help protect themselves. TRIGGER WARNING: the podcast includes discussion of offences around online sexual abuse and child pornography. The conversation is not graphic but listeners may want to exercise discretion.

Autonomous Systems are the jumping off point for this podcast episode with Indrakshi Dey of the Walton Institute at SETU. We talk about how computer science research is progressing in this area, encompassing the world of AI and forming links with partners across all disciplines. This leads on to a chat about how we (humans) tend to anthropomorphise Artificial Intelligence systems. We also discuss Indrakshi’s career to date and how being a woman of colour has given her unique insight across the sector.

To help celebrate International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, Rob spoke with Spanish computer scientist Nuria Oliver about her work to date, such as using big data systems to help unbanked people access credit in developing nations or combating bias in AI systems. Nuria recounted how she first became interested in computing and turned that interest into a career. They also discussed the gender imbalance in computing today and Nuria offered some thought-provoking suggestions as to how these issues might be addressed. Nuria is also a fellow with Association of Computing Machinery, so thanks to the ACM for setting up the interview.