Datafest unveils three keynote speakers

Datafest 19, the two-week data innovation festival held in Scotland, has announced three keynote speakers for its Datasummit and Datatech events.

Sue Black, professor of computer science at Durham University, has been confirmed as a keynote speaker for Datasummit, a two-day international conference taking place in Edinburgh from 21 March.

Black is a digital skills expert and social entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience in technology and digital skills teaching.

Meanwhile Datatech 19, a technical day event new to next year’s festival, has announced Debbie Bard and Mine Çetinkaya-rundel as keynote speakers.

Bard is an expert in machine learning at scale and dataintensive computing for experimental science, while Çetinkaya-rundel is associate professor at North Carolina’s Duke University and a data scientist and professional educator at software firm Rstudio.

Gillian Docherty, chief executive for festival organiser The Data Lab, said: “With only 100 days to go, excitement is beginning to build ahead of what promises to be a fantastic fortnight of exciting events across the country.

“We’re thrilled to announce speakers of the calibre of Sue, Debbie and Mine for Datasummit and Datatech. We look forward to announcing more exciting contributors and speakers in the coming weeks and months.”

Around 3,000 participants attended 45 events across Scotland during this year’s Datafest 18 festival. 0 Professor Sue Black is a confirmed keynote speaker