Alces Flight and Women in HPC’s “Move the Needle” project is now six months in, and we’re excited to share what we’ve learned about equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility (EDIA) in HPC.
The Journey So Far
Launched in December 2023, Move the Needle set out to track the EDIA goals of a dedicated group of individuals over twelve months. Halfway through, we’ve already seen positive progress and gained some unexpected benefits.
Our initiative has expanded beyond our core concept of the Accountability Team (or A-Team) to include insights from community experts actively advancing EDIA. We’ve also been able to present at public sessions, and through this gained contributions from a diverse range of students and technical professionals. These opportunities have helped us to enrich our project with broader perspectives, and we want to thank our community for being so ready to assist us with our aims.
Key Takeaways
While we’re only halfway through, we’ve noticed three factors that are contributing to the success of this project so far:
- Be Clear with Your Mission: Having a main mission statement and setting goals and milestones to meet that statement will allow you to follow through on your aims.
- Create Responsibility and Accountability: Make sure you establish regular checkpoints (ex. reports, meetings, presentations) and build up support (personal, professional, or both) to help you stay on track.
- Embrace Failure: Discussing mistakes openly contributes to new opportunities and growth, even if that means a change of plan.
Join Us
The Move the Needle project runs until December 2024 and we are pleased to announce we have more events planned for open contribution! UK-based participants can join us at the open Sustainable Reality HPC/AI event at Bletchley Park on September 25th (free admission, limited seats) and at the CIUK 2024 Conference in Manchester on December 6th (tickets and details coming soon). Come along to listen, engage, and network with other professionals looking to move the needle forward in HPC.
Download our six-month progress report here, or visit our project web pages for a detailed overview.