DEI Track

It’s our pleasure to bring together CODS 2025 DEI Mentorship Tables - guided, small-group networking sessions, connecting participants with experienced mentors across academia, industry, and startups to exchange candid, practical advice or just here some experiences.

Designed to create an inclusive, zero-barrier environment, these round-tables welcome students, early-career professionals, returning practitioners, and allies to short semi-formal discussions.

Suggested discussion topics include ripe research topics in AI/ ML, Datascience, and AI for sciences; navigating research careers and publication pipelines; choosing between academia–industry; working with inclusive teams and labs; responsible AI and data governance; and communicating your work to diverse audiences. Discussions will also cover first-generation journeys, women and non-binary perspectives, disability and neurodiversity, mental well-being in high-performance settings, and culturally responsive collaboration in global teams.

Participants are encouraged to share real-world challenges and share experiences to seek peer thoughts and feedback.

Mentorship Tables will run across predefined time slots during the conference on all days; attendees will be matched based on their interests expressed in the form.

Quiet seating and priority spots will be available for those requesting accessibility accommodations, and we will uphold the conference Code of Conduct to ensure respectful, confidential dialogue at every table.

Join us to learn, share, and co-create practical pathways that translate DEI commitments into everyday practice across the CODS community.

For those interested in participation - please fill in your details here, by December 5, 2025 - https://forms.gle/xwFvDPoLZxiW6pBb9.

Feel free to contact the track chairs [kalapriya at gmail dot com, rajesh.sharma at plaksha dot edu dot in] for any queries. We request you use [CODS 2025 DEI] in your email subjectline when you reach out.

Participants must register for the conference to attend the mentorship tables; submitting an expression of interest does not grant free registration.