Meet an ACS Member: Mardé Helbig
Highlights
- In this week’s Meet a Member, hear from Mardé Helbig, Committee Member, ACS Queensland Branch Executive Committee. Mardé’s love of maths and languages led to a career in tech research and teaching, and her move to Australia in 2019 saw her joining ACS to expand her professional networks.
1. Tell us about your tech career journey highlights to date?
I have a love for mathematics and languages and ended up studying Computer Science, without really knowing too much about it but thinking that I can combine these two interests. There are many highlights, but some of them that stand out for me are:
- Working in a CAVE environment in Germany to implement my Master research in interactive storytelling and virtual environments, where I walked from my accommodation through a forest to get to the research institute.
- Working on a project to improve access to information for people with disabilities, where people with various disabilities were part of our project team. Meeting these people and working with them was an amazing experience.
- Discovering my passion for teaching and supervising younger researchers which led to me switching to academia. Seeing a student experiencing their a-ha moment when they suddenly understand concepts they struggled with and the graduation of the research students I supervise, is amazing.
- Winning a national award for my research on dynamic multi-objective optimisation.
2. Why did you get involved at ACS and what are you hoping to achieve on ACS Qld Branch Exec?
I got involved in the ACS to build my professional network in Queensland. I moved to Australia the end of November in 2019 (just before Covid hit) and this made it very difficult to rebuild my professional network. However, after being involved in the process to obtain accreditation for our School’s ICT degrees and attending an ACS event, I realised the integral role ACS plays in the ICT landscape and that it provides an amazing opportunity to meet new people and to build your professional network. As a member of the ACS Qld Branch Exec I hope to create opportunities for academics and industry to speak more to one another and to learn from one another, since we can achieve more and have greater impact by working together.
3. What professional advice would you provide your younger self?
Do not be worried if you feel like you do not fit in. ICT is such a wide field that you will find something that you are passionate about and that you love working on!
4. What is the ACS member benefit you enjoy the most and why?
The events, especially the Tech summit, since I get to know more about the newest trends in industry and I get to meet wonderful people!
5. What is your favourite piece of tech or gadget?
I love my iPad! It makes my life so much easier to scribble on documents and making my own notes – I still prefer handwritten notes where I can make drawings and add colour!
6. How can members contact you?
They can reach out to me on LinkedIn or have a chat at an event at Brisbane or Gold Coast.