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Increasing Opportunities for Women in Data Science

We are excited to share that the 2025 WiDS Global Datathon, a collaboration with Women in Data Science (WiDS), the Child Mind Institute, Ann S. Bowers Women’s Brain Health Initiative, Cornell University, and UC Santa Barbara, is now live on Kaggle! The competition is part of the Unraveling the Mysteries of the Female Brain Initiative, which includes the University Challenge that we launched in September 2024.
How the Competition Advances Women in Science
According to the American Association of University Women (AAUW), just 34 percent of professionals in STEM are women. And fields such as computer science and engineering have even smaller percentages. The AAUW cites several strategies for closing the gender gap in STEM, including giving women the skills and confidence to succeed and building more inclusive academic and workplace cultures.
The WiDS initiative aims to do both by providing women with hands-on experiences addressing real-world problems (such as advancing women’s brain health research through AI), inspiring women worldwide to hone their data science skills, and creating a supportive environment for women to connect with others in their community who share their interests. The WiDS Datathon is open to individuals or teams of up to four members, with at least half of each team consisting of individuals who identify as women. The datathon launched on January 7, 2025, and will be accepting submissions through April 30, 2025. Winners will be announced in May. Get all competition details and submit entries on the WiDS Datathon 2025 competition Kaggle page.
How the Competition Advances Understanding of the Female Brain
As explained on the Kaggle page for the competition, neuropsychiatric disorders that occur in development — like anxiety, depression, autism, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) — often differ in how and to what extent they affect males and females. ADHD occurs in about 11 percent of adolescents, with around 14 percent of boys and 8 percent of girls receiving a diagnosis. There is some evidence that girls with ADHD can often go undiagnosed, as they tend to have more inattentive symptoms, which are harder to detect. Girls with undiagnosed ADHD will continue suffering with symptoms that burden their mental health and capacity to function. In this competition, participants will develop machine learning models to predict ADHD diagnoses from brain functional connectivity, while considering sex differences.
Child Mind Institute Contributions
For both this and the University Challenge, the Child Mind Institute provided data from the openly available Healthy Brain Network dataset, handled data organization and processing, and provided support in question formulation, data interpretation, and model development. Additionally, Child Mind Institute teams developed and shared comprehensive informational and educational materials, which are now freely available with other excellent resources, as part of the competition Tutorials & Resources:
- WiDS Datathon 2025: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Female Brain
- Introduction to the Healthy Brain Network (HBN)
- Functional Connectivity Matrices Processed Through RBC
- P-factor and Bifactor Analysis
- 10 Points about ADHD
- Relevant Readings and Research Papers

Infographic by Arianna Zuanazzi, PhD – Project Collaboration Specialist
We are incredibly grateful to our amazing partners: Women in Data Science (WiDS), Ann S. Bowers Women’s Brain Health Initiative, Cornell University, UC Santa Barbara, and Kaggle!
Congratulations to everyone involved and a special thanks to the Child Mind Institute Data Information and Sharing of Knowledge (DISK) team, the Child Mind Institute Data Analytics Innovation and Rigor (DAIR) team, the Configurable Pipeline for the Analysis of Connectomes (C-PAC) team, the Healthy Brain Network (HBN) team, the Mobile Brain/Body Imagine (MoBI) team, and the Next Generation Digital Therapeutics (NGDT) teams for their contributions to the preparation of the datathon. We are excited to see how the competition unfolds!
About Women in Data Science (WiDS)
WiDS empowers women to reach their full potential in the field of data science. We elevate and celebrate the outstanding work of women on a global scale, fostering respect, collaboration, connection, and visibility. The WiDS community creates access to programs, content, and resources that inspire, educate and support, so that vibrant voices and ideas can be shared with the world.
About the Ann S. Bowers Women’s Brain Health Institute (WBHI)
The Ann S. Bowers WBHI advances the study of women’s brain health through deeply collaborative science. By integrating research activities across campuses and bringing together world-class expertise in neuroimaging, computer science/AI and healthcare, the University of California and Cornell University/Weill Cornell Medicine lead these efforts in partnership with institutions around the world. The AI Core of the Bowers WBHI is dedicated to developing and deploying cutting-edge machine learning and AI techniques tailored to the specificities of women’s brain health data.
About Cornell University
Cornell is a private, Ivy League university and the land-grant university for New York state. Cornell’s mission is to discover, preserve and disseminate knowledge, to educate the next generation of global citizens, and to promote a culture of broad inquiry throughout and beyond the Cornell community. Cornell also aims, through public service, to enhance the lives and livelihoods of students, the people of New York and others around the world.
About the University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara is a leading research institution that also provides a comprehensive liberal arts learning experience. Teaching and research go hand-in-hand at UC Santa Barbara. Our students are full participants in an educational journey of discovery that stimulates independent thought, critical reasoning, and creativity. Our academic community of faculty, students, and staff is characterized by a culture of interdisciplinary collaboration that is responsive to the needs of our multicultural and global society.
About the Child Mind Institute
We are the leading independent nonprofit in children’s mental health providing gold-standard, evidence-based care, delivering educational resources to millions of families each year, training educators in underserved communities, and developing open science initiatives and tomorrow’s breakthrough treatments.
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