Celebrating International Girls in ICT Day 2025
Thursday 24th April 2025 marks the 14th International Girls in ICT Day. This global initiative aims to highlight the importance of empowering all girls and women through information and communication technologies for their educational and socio-economic development.
At Regent College London (RCL), we’re highlighting the fantastic women in our School of Computing and Engineering (SoEC). One of them is Anuradha Sulane, Programme Leader for our Level 4 Software Engineering and Computing courses. Personal challenges, practical experience and a strong belief in the social value of technology shape her journey into tech and academia.
Anuradha took a break from her busy schedule to tell us about her passion for computing and her advice for women hoping to make an impact in this competitive field.
From lecturer to leader
Anuradha joined RCL in July 2022 as a Lecturer. Within five months, she was promoted to Programme Leader. Initially, her role covered both Level 3 and 4 SoEC programmes. However, the School has been growing so quickly that she now focuses on Level 4 students only.
As one of three Programme Leaders, Anuradha has many responsibilities, including overseeing module performance, supporting colleagues and contributing to course development.
With three student intakes a year and up to eight groups per cohort, term starts can be especially demanding.
“We work especially hard during those times,” she says. “But I enjoy meeting new students. In one class, we had a 19-year-old and a 75-year-old – it shows how broad our student base is.”
Finding her flow in code
Growing up in India, Anuradha faced several barriers to learning. She is dyslexic, ambidextrous and has ADHD. School was challenging, particularly regarding reading and writing, and she often found that her learning differences were misunderstood or ignored.
Things began to shift when she studied Computer Science in Grade Five.
“Programming made sense to me in a way other subjects didn’t,” she says. “It has structure, logic and flow – that worked with how I naturally process information.”
The subject quickly became a strength and gave her a renewed sense of confidence.
Tech with heart: Emotion recognition and empathy
Anuradha’s background led her to pursue research in speech emotion recognition – a field that uses audio data to understand human emotion.
After moving to the UK in 2013, she completed an MBA and later an MSc, where she focused on audio emotion recognition.
A personal event shaped this interest further. In 2016, her landlord took his own life. She later learned he had been struggling with debt but had told no one.
“That experience stayed with me,” she says. “It made me wonder whether technology could be used to detect when someone is in distress – even if they’re not saying it outright.”
In 2018, she worked with speech recognition firm Intelligent Voice on a project supported by Innovate UK, the UK Government’s innovation agency. Although the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the project, the experience helped reinforce her focus on human-centred technology.
Navigating the industry
Anuradha is aware of the structural challenges that women often face in ICT roles. Her advice is to stay committed and focused.
“You need a stubborn mindset in this industry,” she says. “There will be barriers, but you will push through.”
She also highlights the importance of mastering core skills.
“A lot of people struggle with statistics and mathematics, which are foundational to computing. If you put the time in early, it pays off later.”
Looking ahead
Despite her workload and responsibilities – including raising a one-year-old – Anuradha stays up to date with developments in the field. She’s especially interested in artificial intelligence, machine learning and immersive technologies like augmented and virtual reality (XR).
For Anuradha, computing is about more than just writing code. It’s about applying technology in meaningful ways and understanding the people behind the systems.
Final thoughts
As we mark International Girls in ICT Day, Anuradha Sulane’s story reminds us that meaningful careers in tech can follow many paths. Her focus on inclusion, adaptability and continuous learning makes her a strong example for those considering a future in this sector.
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