IIIT B - Inclusion and Accessible Technologies

Inclusion and Accessible Technologies

IIITB Alumni Council proudly presents IIITB Alumni Connect. It is a monthly event where members of the IIITB alumni community can engage, learn, and share together. Our Alumni now is 3000+ strong spread throughout the world and there is a lot that we can learn from the collective experience, knowledge, and wisdom. So if you would like to contribute, get in touch with the IIITB Alumni Council through email.

This time we have a panel discussion among our very own alumni Vidhya and Supriya along with Amol as the moderator where they will be discussing inclusion and the road to accessible technologies on 31st January 2021, 4 PM IST.

Guest Profiles

Supriya Dey, She is a co-founder and Managing Trustee of Vision Empower. After completing a BTech in Computer Science and Technology from Bengal Engineering College (IIEST), Shibpur, Supriya pursued a career in software development in the IT industry spanning more than two decades in various geographies with firms such as Wipro Technologies, Lucent Technologies, and Alcatel Lucent. Her role as the Chief Manager for the Center for Software and IT Management at IIM Bangalore instilled in her desire to learn about and inquire into the dynamics of social and technological changes and inspired her to return to academics after a break of 26 years. She graduated from IIITB with a Masters by Research in IT & Society in 2017. After meeting Vidhya at IIITB, she was inspired to work with children with visual impairment at a school in 2015, and eventually joined Vidhya to start Vision Empower at the IIITB Innovation Center. 

Vidhya Y,A walking powerhouse of grit and determination, Vidhya leaves no room for impediments in sight to even remotely create impediments in life and earn laurels. She is the co-founder of Vision Empower - a not for profit enterprise incubated at IIITB Innovation Center which focuses on bringing education in science and mathematics to students with visual impairment.

As a student of the Masters in Digital Society program at IIIT Bangalore, Vidhya graduated as the gold medal winner from her batch in 2017. The achievements roll on into numerous awards and scholarships for academic excellence. She makes the headlines several times. Her work was recently featured on Forbes India and Deccan herald change-makers 20 in 20. Vidhya also was a Research Fellow at Microsoft Research India for 2 years. She has given a TEDx talk at our very own campus in 2018. She has received best paper award for one of her Papers submitted at the prestigious CSCW conference  and an honorable Mention award for another Paper submitted at the prestigious CHI conference, both of which are published by ACM. As a student of the Masters in Digital Society program at IIITB, Vidhya graduated as the gold medalist from her batch in 2017. She has received numerous awards such as “Tie Aspire Young Achievers Awards ”, “Namma Bengaluru awards” and many more. She holds the distinction of being the first blind student to undertake math at higher secondary school in Karnataka, following it up by being the first one to pursue Computer Science as a major in undergraduate studies at her University. Vidhya is sure to inspire everyone and give them an insight into a whole new world!