BCS SIGiST is celebrating IWD with an insightful event on Thought Leadership in Software Testing. Featuring four inspiring speakers.
Speaker
Suman Bala, Quality Engineering Manager
Leighton Andy Shaw, QA Test Analyst MBCS
Jonathon Wright, Chief AI Officer
Jo TBC
Agenda
6:00pm - Host introduction to event and introduction to who is Laveena
6:10pm - Speaker 1 - Suman Bala with Q&A
6:40pm - Speaker 2- Andy Shaw
7:10pm - Speaker 3 - Jo
7:40pm - Speaker 4 - Jonathan Wright
Synopsis
On International Women’s Day, BCS SIGiST has brought together an inspiring lineup of speakers to celebrate and discuss the theme of Thought Leadership in Software Testing.
This event will highlight the critical role of women in shaping the future of quality engineering, emphasizing innovation, influence, and leadership in the industry.
Of course we are keeping this as diverse and inclusive as well.
Thought leadership is not just about expertise, it’s about driving change, challenging norms, and inspiring the next generation. As the testing landscape evolves with AI, automation, and data-driven strategies, the voices and contributions of women in technology are more important than ever.
This event will serve as a powerful platform for sharing experiences, insights, and strategies that push the boundaries of testing and quality engineering.
It will reinforce the importance of diversity, mentorship, and continuous learning, ensuring that women in tech continue to lead, innovate, and thrive.
Sponsors: BCS NeurodiverseIT SG
About the speaker
Suman Bala
Suman Bala is an award-winning Quality Advocate with a passion for improvement in quality processes and is a believer in Test Automation.
She feels proud of how people’s perspective has changed regarding testing throughout her career. Her mission is to develop teams to transform their thinking, approach, and capability, resulting in a happier and more efficient workforce.
She is striving to instill the idea that quality is everyone’s responsibility as opposed to merely laying it at the feet of QA.
She is a mentor and coach at work and within the wider testing community. She is always looking for new ideas and loves exploring things. She has been fortunate to have some great experiences in the testing community, delivering workshops and speaking at internal-nation testing conferences.
She is the lead trainer of “Software Testing Bootcamp” sponsored by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority. She is co-author for Testing Stories and How can I test this? ebooks on LeanPub.
You can talk to her about quality, building inclusive teams, and cooking.
Andy Shaw
Andy Shaw developed a career in the Tech Industry, focusing on a career in Software Testing following a redundancy in 2013.
Since his involvement with BCS activities over 11 years ago, he has helped encourage & inspire female STEAM progression, been an ally to different groups, as well as researching and delivering talks around mental health.
Outside of work, Andy creates an online magazine called 'The Tester' aiming to encourage people from all walks of life to develop careers in testing and the Tech Industry, delivers talks on different subjects including neurodiversity, testing, career development, and mental health, and is an assistant martial arts instructor.
Jonathon Wright
Jonathon Wright is a strategic thought leader and distinguished chief technology officer.
He specializes in emerging technologies, innovation, and automation, and has more than 25 years of international commercial experience within global organizations. Jonathon combines his extensive practical experience and leadership with insights into real-world adoption of Artificial Intelligence (Agentic & Generative AI).
In his spare time, he is a member of Harvard Business Council, A.I. Alliance for the European Commission, review committee for the ISO-IEC 29119 part 8 “Model-Based Testing” and part 11 for the “Artificial Intelligence Testing” as a fellow for BCS the Charted Institute for IT(BCS SIGiST). Jonathon also hosts the CTO lead (based in Canada) and the author of several award-winning books (2010 – 2022) the latest with Rex Black on ‘Artificial Intelligence building trustworthy systems.
Our events are for adults aged 16 years and over.
BCS is a membership organisation. If you enjoy this event, please consider joining BCS. You’ll be very welcome. You’ll receive access to many exclusive career development tools, an introduction to a thriving professional community and also help us Make IT Good For Society. Join BCS today
For overseas delegates who wish to attend the event, please note that BCS does not issue invitation letters.
This event is brought to you by: Software Testing specialist group Supported by NeurodiverseIT specialist group
