The Amrapali Zaveri Awards for Data Science

Amrapali Zaveri
Amrapali Zaveri

Amrapali Zaveri (1984-2020) was a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Data Science of Maastricht University. Amrapali’s pioneering research focused on exploring, as she often put it, ‘the optimal combination of humans and machines towards data quality assessment’. 

She believed that we can expand the store of valuable knowledge by learning from artificial intelligence, but that humans are needed ‘in the loop’ to make sure that machine models are fed accurate, reliable, and reproducible data. Her research was destined to have a wide impact on health care research, industry, and developments in machine learning. 

Amrapali was also a strong advocate for diversity in the field of data science, as shown by her initiative to organize the first Women in Data Science-event at Maastricht University in 2020. 

The Amrapali Zaveri Awards

The Amrapali Zaveri Awards aim to recognize scholars for their contributions to the field of data science. In honour of Amrapali Zaveri, two awards have been established:

  1. "The Amrapali Zaveri Award for Future Data Scientist" for a Master Student
  2. "The Amrapali Zaveri Award for Early Career Data Scientist" for a Ph.D. student or Postdoc.

Nominations for the ‘Amrapali Zaveri Award for Data Science’ will be assessed by the awards committee according to the candidate’s contributions to education, mentorship, research, advocacy, and/or community building. Additional consideration will be given to the candidate’s contributions to advancing engagement of underrepresented minorities in data science.

The next call for the Amrapali Zaveri Awards 2024 opens on 24th October 2023

The Amrapali Zaveri Award for Future Data Scientist

Nomination
Do you know a student who inspired you and is an ambassador for data science? Nominate a Master student with the Nomination Form and send the filled application to ids-azawards@maastrichtuniversity.nl. The deadline for the next call will be communicated. 

The Amrapali Zaveri Award for Early Career Data Scientist

Nomination
Do you know an early career researcher who inspired you and is a real ambassador for data science? Nominate a Ph.D. student or postdoctoral researcher with the Nomination Form and send the filled application to ids-azawards@maastrichtuniversity.nl. The deadline for the next call will be communicated. 

Winners 2023

Yaru Zhang won the AZ Award 2023 for Future Data Scientist. Yaru is a Master student at DACS and she stood out by her research, curiosity and dedication for data science.

David Barnett won the AZ Award 2023 for Early Career Data Scientist. David is a PhD student at MaCSBio and his academic achievements as well as his community building and outreach make him a true ambassador of data science!

Thank you to all the nominators for submitting your candidates! Nominees, we wish you all the best in your future endeavors. Please continue your important work and efforts!

View the Award Presentation

Winners 2022

Paulius Skaisgiris won the AZ Award 2022 for Future Data Scientist. Paulius is a DKE student who stood out because of his research, community building and drive for data science.

Fariba Tohidinezhad won the AZ Award 2022 for Early Career Data Scientist. Fariba is a PhD student at Maastro and her academic achievements, community building, mentoring and social activities make her a true ambassador of data science!

Thank you to all the nominators for submitting your candidates! Nominees, we wish you all the best in your future endeavors. Please continue your important work and efforts!

Award presentation at the WiDS Maastricht 2022 event. 

Coordination

The Amrapali Zaveri Awards for Data Science are coordinated by Martina Summer-Kutmon, Birgit Wouters and Visara Urovi, with support from LAW and MaCSBio. The prize is partially funded by Aspasia-NWO (Grant 91716421).