A celebration of STEM: Ada Lovelace Day 2026
Description
Ada Lovelace Day is an international celebration held annually on the second Tuesday of October to honour the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).
The College of Systems and Society will be coming together as a community of students, academics and professional staff to celebrate all fields and disciplines in the college, and acknowledge the importance of pioneers across our fields.
Pop in throughout the day to:
write postcards,
make badges,
create poetry magnets and bookmarks
learn about Ada Lovelace and the history of computing and;
chat to our student groups.
Register for the special events below as there are limited spots available.
Special events
- 10:30 am - 11:30 am
Welcome and panel
Hear from Professor Aaron Quigley, College Dean for the Welcome, followed by a panel. Panel members include: • Professor Lilia Ferrario, Director MSI • Associate Professor Maia Gould, School of Cybernetics • Associate Professor Zena Assaad, School of Engineering • Associate Professor Will Grant, Centre for the Public Awareness of Science • Dr Edwina Fingleton-Smith, Fenner School of Environment and Society • Sandy Ma (TBC), PhD student, ANU School of Computing Join the conversation on the impact of Ada's work in their fields, the current challenges for women in their discipline, the future of women in STEM and why days like Ada Lovelace Day are so important.
- 11:30 am - 12:00 pm
Refreshments
- 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Loom-weaving interactive session with Sandy Ma
Woven Code Join a hands-on weaving session and discover the textile histories that built the first computers. Facilitated by artist and educator Sandy Ma (School of Computing), you will be able to take home your own weaving project encoded with a secret binary message. Bio: Sandy Ma is a multidisciplinary artist, human-computer interaction (HCI) researcher, and educator working on unceded Ngunnawal/Ngambri Country. They are currently a PhD Candidate at the ANU School of Computing undertaking a project on how soft materiality and craft practice have the potential to critique and redefine human-computer interactions. In her creative practice, she combines textiles, sound, and electronics to share moments of curious joy. Their work aims to articulate embodied knowledge and playful resistance by querying the role of technology in our lives and how to create joyful interactions with emerging technologies.
- 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Ada Lovelace board game with Thomas Biedermann
Thomas Biedermann is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Cybernetics, at the Australian National University (ANU). He integrates his background in systems engineering and interests in organisational design to research and deploy methods to create safe, sustainable, and responsible systems. His approaches draw on cybernetics, visual arts, and gameful methods, to support diverse participants in imagining and acting towards hopeful futures. His current research program develops and evaluates Gameful Experiences for Hopeful Futures.
- 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
LLMs Unplugged - Ada Lovelace themed with Ben Swift and Cole Cooney
Tickets for good, not greed Humanitix dedicates 100% of profits from booking fees to charity
