General
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Introduction
This is a repository of a diverse range of contributors and innovators in computing, with a particular focus on practitioners of non-western heritage who may be less well known. This is an open, publicly available resource. The learning outcomes are listed below.
You can follow the links below to start reading about the featured figures. Entries are categorised and tagged following the ACM Computing Classification System (2025).
Quick links
Applied Computing
Artificial intelligence
Computer Systems
Hardware
Human Computer Interaction
Mathematics of computing
Networks
Social and professional
Software and its Engineering
Theory of Computation
Map
Figure 1: Interactive map showing approximate origins of figures in this repository. (Google Maps, 2025)
View on Google Maps ↗ | View on Google Earth ↗Contacts and links
Please contact us with any queries or comments, or to suggest any figures you would like to see included.
Email: diversity-repository@open.ac.uk
Link to this material at: https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/diverse-computing-pioneers
Material acknowledgements
For third party images and material used.
ABNewswire (2025) Ali Owaid Jasim champions digital ethics for Iraq’s tech future, 4 June. Available at: https://business.ricentral.com/ricentral/article/abnewswire-2025-6-4-business-email-database-ali-owaid-jasim-champions-digital-ethics-for-iraqs-tech-future (Accessed: 12 July 2025)
American University in Cairo (no date) Moustafa Amin Youssef – Faculty Profile, Department of Computer Science and Engineering. Available at: https://www.aucegypt.edu/fac/moustafa-youssef (Accessed: 11 July 2025)
Bhatkar, V. P. (no date) Vijay P. Bhatkar – Personal Website. Available at: https://www.vijaybhatkar.org/ (Accessed: 11 July 2025)
CIAA 2016, Yonsei University (2016) ibarra-photo.jpg. Available at: https://toc.yonsei.ac.kr/ciaa2016/images/ibarra-photo.jpg (Accessed: 10 August 2025)
Demaidi, M., N. (no date) Profile picture. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monademaidi/overlay/photo/ (Accessed: 3 August 2025)
EJS Center (2023) Farida Bedwei – Official Portrait. Available at: https://ejscenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/800x800-farida.png (Accessed: 6 July 2025)
Google Maps (2025) Diversity in computing, Available from: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1rV91u5BoOgKzJV49pVG3zsvJyUb7NCE&ll=23.436471444885502%2C72.04463720000001&z=2 (Accessed 21 February 2025)
Harvard Business School (no date) Fernanda B. Viégas. Available at: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=1195264 (Accessed: 19 August 2025)
Hindu College Old Students Association (2022) Alumni Spotlight: Nandini Harinath, Scientist, Mission Systems Lead ISRO. Available at: https://hinducollegeosa.org/f/alumni-spotlight-nandini-harinath-scientist-mission-systems-lead-isro-13622?source=view (Accessed: 23 September 2025)
Imaginingtheinternet (2013) File:Kanchana Kanchanasut - 2013.jpg. Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kanchana_Kanchanasut_-_2013.jpg (Accessed 06 May 2025)
LilyOfTheWest (2018) Ricardo Baeza-Yates portrait. Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ricardo_Baeza-Yates_portrait.jpg (Accessed: 31 July 2025)
LinkedIn (no date) Profile: María Isabel Mejía Jaramillo. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariaisabelmejia (Accessed: 1 July 2025)
Mbanisi, K. (2024) Kenechukwu Mbanisi. Available at: https://kenembanisi.com/ (Accessed 09 February 2025)
McNeill, L. (2020) The computer pioneer who built modern China. BBC Future. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200219-xia-peisu-the-computer-pioneer-who-built-modern-china (Accessed: 7 May 2025).
Pgallert (2019) File: Anicia Peters in 2018.jpg. Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anicia_Peters_in_2018.jpg (Accessed: 20 July 2025)
Samoylen (1960) File: Kateryna Lohvynivna Yushchenko.jpg. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kateryna_Lohvynivna_Yushchenko.jpg (Accessed: 2 August 2025)
TechCrunch (2021) File:Timnit Gebru crop.jpg. Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Timnit_Gebru_crop.jpg (Accessed: 31 January 2025)
Tecnológico de Monterrey (2025) Carlos A. Coello Coello – Distinguished Visiting Professor in Computer Science and Computational Intelligence. Available at: https://tec.mx/en/our-faculty/eic/carlos-coello?srsltid=AfmBOorKuYlr86kMrl9jO-tn4TXkiszoUlQ1NZ54b5AQqenqZQ-rWRVa (Accessed: 11 July 2025).
Vecteezy / AI Generative Pro (2024) An illustration depicting a colorful mosaic that forms a world map, with each tile representing different faces and cultural symbols, emphasizing global unity and diversity. AI Generative Pro Photo. Available at: https://www.vecteezy.com/photo/33229462-an-illustration-depicting-a-colorful-mosaic-that-forms-a-world-map-with-each-tile-representing-different-faces-and-cultural-symbols-emphasizing-global-unity-and-diversity-ai-generative (Accessed: 28 February 2025)
Wikimedia Commons (no date) 500px-Dov_Frohman.jpg. Available at: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Dov_Frohman.jpg/500px-Dov_Frohman.jpg (Accessed: 13 July 2025)
Wikimedia Commons (2024) File:Srinivasa Ramanujan-Add. MS a94 version2 (cropped).jpg. Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Srinivasa_Ramanujan-Add._MS_a94_version2_(cropped).jpg (Accessed 18 January 2025)
Wikipedia (2023) File:Photograph of Narinder Singh Kapany, the father of fibre optics.jpg. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Photograph_of_Narinder_Singh_Kapany,_the_father_of_fibre_optics.jpg (Accessed: 06 February 2025)
World Economic Forum (2025) Abdigani Diriye. Available at: https://www.weforum.org/people/abdigani-diriye/ (Accessed: 11 July 2025)
Zagalsky, A. (2021) Cecilia Berdichevsky, mi tía abuela, la primera programadora de Clementina. Available at: https://tn.com.ar/tecno/novedades/2021/12/07/cecilia-berdichevsky-mi-tia-abuela-la-primera-programadora-de-clementina/ (Accessed: 13 July 2025)
日本学士院 (2022) File:Junichi Nishizawa.jpg. Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Junichi_Nishizawa.jpg (Accessed 09 February 2025)
General references and further reading
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) (2025) ACM Computing Classification System. Available at: https://dl.acm.org/ccs (Accessed 19 February 2025)
Bari, R. (no date) Muslim Women Mathematicians. Available at: https://muslimwomenmathematicians.org/ (Accessed 09 September 2025)
Carnegie Corporation of New York (2024) Great Immigrants. Available at: https://www.carnegie.org/awards/award/great-immigrants/ (Accessed 02 February 2025)
Computer History Museum (CHM) (2025) Remarkable People. Available at: https://computerhistory.org/blog/category/remarkable-people/ (Accessed 19 January 2025)
QMUL Faculty of Science and Engineering (2025) Schools' EDI Resources. Available at: https://www.seresearch.qmul.ac.uk/pce/ediresources/ (Accessed 27 January 2025)
Gladstone, J. R. and Cimpian, A. (2021) 'Which role models are effective for which students? A systematic review and four recommendations for maximizing the effectiveness of role models in STEM', IJ STEM Ed 8 (59). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-021-00315-x (Accessed 05 June 2025)
Nájera, J. and Vida, M. (2022) The forgotten story of the women who changed the history of computing in Latin America. Available at: https://globalvoices.org/2022/07/13/the-forgotten-story-of-the-women-who-changed-the-history-of-computing-in-latin-america/ (Accessed 04 February 2025)
Nakamura, L. (2014) Indigenous Circuits. Available at: https://computerhistory.org/blog/indigenous-circuits/ (Accessed 04 February 2025)
Brent Cunningham, Kate Feliciello, Amaninder Singh, Andrew Smith, Zoe Tompkins from The Open University, Atm S. Alam from Queen Mary University of London and Lee Clift from Strathclyde University.
Special thanks to our student interns: Angel Casado Hidalgo, Matiss Ippolito and Elizabeth Simpson.
Funding from the CPHC special project grant and the Open University.
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