Aydan Gasimova

My role within Women in Computing:

Running ‘Research Career’ events for PhDs, maintaining the website

About me:

I am originally from Baku, Azerbaijan, but moved here many many years ago. My undergrad and Masters was spent at UCL, studying electronic engineering. As much as I loved UCL, I felt I needed a change of scene, so went to do my PhD at Imperial to study computing (ok so not a drastic change of scene there…). I’m glad I chose Imperial, not just for the wonderful PhD group and the friends I’ve made, but also the beautiful surroundings on our doorstep. I love what we’ve started at Imperial as part of Women in Computing and I’m so proud to see it grow to incorporate more people who care about making a difference to young women pursuing STEM. In my spare time, I like to keep active cycling and running, but also like to relax by drawing, painting and knitting.

Area(s) of research:

Machine learning for medical imaging. Specifically, I apply image-captioning style frameworks to learn from past radiological exams, such as chest X-rays, and their radiological reports in order to automate the process of report generation.

What I love about Computing:

I love that it’s applied, and that we’re using real hospital data. It makes my research applicable to the real world, and I can directly see its impact.

What being part of Women in Computing means to me:

I wanted to create a strong community in our department that supports and celebrates women because it can be very easy to get lost in your PhD and bypass the people around you. I think it’s important to take advantage of the wonderful network we have right here. Everyone is full of knowledge and experience that can be shared to support and inspire each other.

Who inspires me:

The women in my family! Every one of them are scientists and doctors, it’s truly inspiring.

Something people might not know about me is:

One of my hobbies is to go and draw sculptures at the V&A during my lunch breaks.