The 2nd WiDS Villach Conference brought the renowned Women in Data Science format of the US elite university Stanford to Austria and thus created a supra-regional stage for a topic that is currently occupying high-tech companies worldwide and is currently in greater demand than ever on the labour market. Verena Venek, Data Scientist & Project Manager at Salzburg Research, was one of the invited speakers.

The demand for expertise in the field of data science is increasing enormously everywhere, but at the same time the proportion of female representatives in this field is stagnating. The WiDS Villach conferences give data scientists a stage and a platform and show the many opportunities that are available to those interested in this field. Verena Venek spoke at the event on the topic of movement analytics for an active lifestyle:

Technical Vision Talk: “Sports & Health: Human motion analytics for an active lifestyle“

It is no secret that physical activity benefits our health and well-being. Yet, according to the WHO, people do not exercise enough. Miniaturized sensor technologies and their seamless integration into our daily lives offer new ways to motivate and engage people in sports.

Before such a system becomes operational though, many questions have to be answered:

Which sensor configuration is suitable for exercise monitoring? How to support people at home to stick to their activity routines? How to give feedback on exercise performance during training at home? What makes a good ski day? How to increase self-awareness and the digital sports experience at the same time?

The Human Motion Analytics team at Salzburg Research is investigating these and many more questions together with their partners from industry and research using current Data Science methods. Practical examples from interdisciplinary research projects illustrate the challenges, the potential and outlook for Data Science in Human Motion Analytics.

The invitation to the second edition of the conference was accepted by almost 90 participants on site and more than 150 people from all over the world in the live stream.