Profile

About Me: Hi there! I am Begum, originally from Turkey, living in Cork for the last 7 years. I am a great listener.

My Work: I work on designing algorithms to find good solutions to complex problems such as: creating timetables for your classes and exams and making sure you have as much time as possible in between them :)

My Typical Day: I must separate this for before Covid-19/after Covid-19. Before, I used to wake up early, have breakfast, go to gym, go to the office, work hard, spend hours -:)- having coffee and lunch with friends, do some lecturing, come back home, watch Netflix, sleep. I used to party a lot at the weekends and travel a lot to other countries for conferences and workshops throughout the year. After Covid-19: wake up, eat, exercise, work, eat, sleep. Fun, isn't it?

What I'd do with the money: I am organising many talks and events as part of Women in AI. Unfortunately, we have no funding and everything is voluntary work. It would be great to have some money for gifts and swags for the events!

My Interview

• What's the best thing you've done in your career?

  PhD! :)

  What or who inspired you to follow your career?

  My brother and my mother

  What was your favourite subject at school?

  Maths

  What did you want to be after you left school?

  An archaeologist

  Were you ever in trouble at school?

  I had huge problems with obeying the rules :)

  If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?

  Probably a pre-school teacher. I love spending time with kids.

  Who is your favourite singer or band?

  I don't have a specific answer to that but 80s punk-rock songs rock!

  What's your favourite food?

  Anything with chicken :)