Talk:Anne-Marie Imafidon

Semi-protected edit request on 8 December 2021

 Not done for now: please establish a consensus for this alteration before using the {{edit semi-protected}} template. Please establish a consensus for this large overhaul. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 18:10, 8 December 2021 (UTC)

Overview

Anne-Marie Osawemwenze Ore-Ofe Imafidon, born in 1990, is a pioneer and prodigy within the STEM space. At age 11, she was the youngest girl to pass an A-level computing exam and at age 20, she received her Masters in Mathematics and Computing from Oxford University. After beginning her career in the banking technology space, Imafidon founded Stemettes in 2013, a social enterprise designed to inspire young women and young binary people to enter the STEM world [1]. Imafidon has had a lasting impact on the STEM space with Stemettes and other initiatives and is widely recognized for her services to young women in STEM.

Early Life and Education

Imafidon was born in Barking, London in 1990 to parents Chris Imafidon and Ann Imafidon. It was clear that she had a propensity for computations and mathematics; at age 9, she began learning HTML and web-building on her Dad’s computer. [2] Imafidon was a child prodigy and attained the world record for youngest girl to pass A-level computing at 11 years old. [3] Imafidon began her collegiate career at age 13, where she studied mathematics at John Hopkins University. At age 17, she entered into a Master’s program at Oxford University, where she obtained a Master's in Mathematics and Computer Science in 2010. [1]

Professional Career

Imafidon began her professional career in the banking technology sector, working briefly for Goldman Sachs, Hewlett Packard, and Deutsche Bank. After attending the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women In Computing in 2012, she reflected on her university experience where she was just one of three women in a class of 70 studying STEM. [4] Imafidon then founded Stemettes in 2013 to inspire young women and young binary people to enter the STEM world. [1] Stemettes utilizes a three-pronged approach to programs to facilitate female entrance into STEM. This includes running events to introduce girls to stem, intersectional programs with longer interventions like mentoring to keep girls engaged, and inspirational content to support women in this space. [4] One of the most significant programs pioneered by Imafidon is the Outbox Incubator, the world's first tech incubator for teenagers that provides seed funding, intensive mentoring, and support to girls who have innovative business and technology ideas. [3] She is also behind the Stemillions app that provides STEM activities and resources that help create after-school programs and enhance traditional curriculums. [5] Stemettes has grown significantly since its launch, having supported 115 entrepreneurs through the Outbox Program [6], 3,000 users through the Stemillions app [7], and reaching almost 50,000 students (salesforce) through the totality of its programming. These initiatives have been successful, with 95% of participants having seen an increased interest in STEM [4] after attending an event or program. While Stemettes is Imafidon’s primary focus, she congruently participates in various initiatives and projects to further encourage female participation in STEM. Imafidon hosts the Evening Standards Women Tech Charge podcast, a series of inspiring conversations with female inventors and entrepreneurs. [8] Additionally, she has published “How to be a Maths-Whizz, an activity and craft book to inspire young children to improve their math skills. [8] Imafidon is also a prominent keynote speaker, having been featured in the 2019 Royal Institute Christmas Lectures and speaking for some of the world's biggest digital companies including Facebook, ASOS, Google, SXSW, and Founders Forum. [8] In each of her extensive roles, Imafidon is persisting towards the vision of a more diverse and inclusive STEM space.

Recognition

Imafidon is an accomplished figure within traditional academia and holds Honorary Doctorates from the Open University, Glasgow Caledonian University, University of Kent, and the University of Bristol. She also holds an honorary fellowship at Keble College, Oxford, and is a Visiting Professor at the University of Sunderland. Imafidon’s work with Stemettes and other avenues has garnered her recognition for her impact in diversifying the STEM field, as listed below:

• Awarded the British Computer Society (BCS) Young IT professional of the year, 2013.
• Red magazine, Women of the Year award, 2014.
• Prime Minister's Points of Light Award, 2014.
• Everyman Awards, Rising Star of the Year [3]
• Appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2017 New Year Honors, "for services to young women within STEM careers".
• Included in the annual Powerlist in 2020 and 2021, of the 100 most influential people in the UK of African/African Caribbean descent.
• Suffrage Science award (2020) in Math and Computing
• Voted Most Influential Women in Tech in the UK by Computer Weekly [8]
• Elected as an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (2021)

References

[1] Our people: Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon MBE. Our people - Research England. (2021, April). Retrieved December 8, 2021, from https://re.ukri.org/about-us/our-people/.

[2] Hamilton, I. A. (2018, October 4). Meet the coding prodigy who has Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on her side in the fight to boost women in Tech. Business Insider. Retrieved December 8, 2021, from https://www.businessinsider.com/anne-marie-imafidon-coding-prodigy-fighting-for-women-in-tech-2018-10?r=US&IR=T.

[3] Salesforce. (2016, October 10). Stemettes helps more girls realise their potential and their career dreams with apps and analytics. Salesforce.org. Retrieved December 8, 2021, from https://www.salesforce.org/stories/stemettes-npsp/.

[4] Girls do stem too... Stemettes ®. (2021, December 2). Retrieved December 8, 2021, from https://stemettes.org/.

[5] Stemillions. (n.d.). Retrieved December 8, 2021, from https://stemillions.mn.co/.

[6] Forbes Magazine. (2021). Anne-Marie Imafidon. Forbes. Retrieved December 8, 2021, from https://www.forbes.com/profile/anne-marie-imafidon/?sh=3766473679e8.

[7] Inspirational woman: Dr. Anne-Marie Imafidon MBE: Founder, stemettes - wearetechwomen - supporting women in Technology. WeAreTechWomen. (2021, May 7). Retrieved December 8, 2021, from https://wearetechwomen.com/inspirational-woman-dr-anne-marie-imafidon-mbe-founder-stemettes/.

[8] Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon MBE: Keynote speaker: Biography. Anne-Marie Imafidon MBE. (2021, December 6). Retrieved December 8, 2021, from https://aimafidon.com/about/. Megangilbert77 (talk) 17:58, 8 December 2021 (UTC)

Degree

Does Imafidon have an undergraduate degree? Her masters degree from Oxford (MSc) is a one-year supervised course with a dissertation. The University's information about the MSc in Mathematics and Computer Science says an entry requirement is normally "a first-class undergraduate degree with honours in a subject with significant mathematical content" [1]https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/courses/msc-mathematics-and-foundations-computer-science. Thomas Peardew (talk) 08:34, 31 December 2022 (UTC)

I came to this article out of interest having listened to the subject on an interesting radio programme (BBC, The Life Scientific, presently ref 1 at article) this morning. I must say, it's a bit odd and could be improved quite a bit. The subject is a notable young black (and God knows there are too few black people the subject of Wikipedia articles) woman (ditto) who has received many plaudits, including a number of honorary doctorates. She is currently president of the British Science Association. And yet the article, and strangely even this Talk page, reads like a CV produced by an interested party rather than a mature WP:BLP. Some of the content makes little sense, much is unreferenced and some of the references (e.g. websites) look like they've all come from the same primary source material. Like you, @Thomas Peardew, I find the degree thing peculiar. That section of the article at present seems almost carefully written to evade mention of an undergraduate degree. On the radio programme this morning, the masters degree referred to was described as a 'four year combined degree', and I must say I'm not aware of any of those at Oxford. It occurs to me that the subject may have attended a foundation year followed by an undergraduate degree which has now been converted into an MA (rather than an MSc?). If that's the case, it's perfectly straightforwards and should be described as such here. I'm not sure the foundation year existed 10 years ago, which according to the subject's timeline is when she might have gone to university, though. I also see that the subject is listed at Keble College as matriculating in 2006, when she would have been, according to the date of birth at the article, when she was newly 16. This would have required Oxford to have offered her a place when she was little over 15. I wonder if the date of birth at the article (which is unreferenced) might be wrong? She is listed at Companies house as being a year older; that might make the matriculation date more in keeping with the time line? I also find the 'child prodigy' thing odd. I can see how a WP:BLP subject (e.g. Mozart) could be described as such following lots of references in non-deprecated sources, but here the references extend from a website which mentions a couple of GCSEs taken early (without evidence or results). If she did particulate at 16 or even newly 17, that might provide evidence but there would need to be a relevant and non-deprecated secondary source I think. All in all, there is a risk, I think, that the present nature of this article on an apparently successful young trailblazer has the form of a not-entirely-frank brand building exercise. I do not suggest that the subject, who would presumably know all the details discussed here, has any involvement in such an exercise. I do wonder, though, if the great lump of text earlier at this talk page is a crude construction by someone who has put an original article together but not quite known how Wikipedia works. I think I may make the odd improvement; removing the child prodigy stuff, tidying up some the language and finding some references might be a start. I'll leave this comment here to see if anyone else has a view then, if appropriate, make a few edits. All the best, Emmentalist (talk) 10:37, 13 June 2023 (UTC)

I found the relevant Oxford degree! It's called an MMathsCompsci. Undergraduates enter as normal and either leave at 3 years with a BA or 4 with an MMathsCompSci. I won't put in the external link here but it's easily Googled once you know what you're looking for. (Sort of) mystery solved! Hurrah! Emmentalist (talk) 15:56, 20 March 2024 (UTC)

Editing to improve article and remove WP:promotion

See my comments in reply above to Thomas Peardew (talk. I've concluded that the weakesses of this article - e.g. unreferenced material, weak material with little scope to verify, some apparent errors of fact - extend mainly from early WP:promotion. The subject is notable and is not done justice by the present state of the article. I will edit in sections. Very happy to discuss.Emmentalist (talk) 09:56, 15 June 2023 (UTC)

I've removed promotional stuff, some of which was unverifiable and possibly nonsensical. I've also removed one or two references to media appearances as the article isn't a storehouse of all a person's media activity (this hedges into WP:promotion). I've emphasised the subjects status as a social entrepreneur since she is not known primarily as a computer scientist (e.g. reports of papers? appointments?). I have also removed one or two references to actives which were not sourced other than by pointing to websites which contained little or no useful information on the subject. I've also tried to minimise the use of sources which extend from the subject's own website. It is quite clear that some organisations to which the subject is linked have used material from the subject's website verbatim and that the material is ultimately unverified. I have deleted most such material.

I have left at least one weak link up as I suspect the information is true (parent's origins) while the source itself is not credible (it is a website which contains material which is literally nonsensical). I also need to fix the reference numbering as they appear in the main body (they are correct at the Reference List). I am unsure how to do this and am researching. If another editor knows how to do this before I do it then please crack on.

The article as it stands is far from perfect; not least there are come odd gaps - e.g. first degree? Did the subject really enter Oxford at 16 (and therefore received an offer at 15? In which case, is there evidence of this? I do not doubt that it is true, but simply note that the detail are missing and this reduces the quality of the article. I will return to the edit later today. Again, happy to discuss. All the best, Emmentalist (talk) 10:53, 15 June 2023 (UTC)

Incidentally, I deleted the Forbes citation on the basis that it takes the form of a webpage and it is not clear what exactly it is. Forbes and other publishers routinely put out advertising sections which take this form. If the citation is to be used, then since Forbes magazine itself is not a deprecated source there must be evidence provided here of which Forbes publication is cited. Emmentalist (talk) 10:58, 15 June 2023 (UTC)

Quite close to having fully edited, and I hope improved, this article. Couple of minor points to address (e.g. no citation for honorary doctorates) and still trying to fix references mismatch between main body and reflist below. I have removed the D.O.B. and reference of the subject's birth location and origin. This might seem odd, but I have a quandary around the sources; v happy to discuss. The language at the subject's own website is repeated verbatim in other sources previously used here. The original website can in theory be used (carefully) here but it self-promotes and is not, in my view, reliable. For example, the birth date given is different from the birth date given at companies house and since the latter is a legal document that raises an important red flag. This means that the repetition of the same words and phrases at other websites (credible ones, like the Institute for the Future of Work) is not usable here as the circularity of the material means they fail WP:RS. In other words, bodies the subject is a member of have simply accepted a pen picture biog from the subject and published verbatim. That means that much of the biographical material previously in this article is not usable. Moreover, while it is clear from non-deprecated reportage in Nigeria that the subject's father is Nigerian, the actual article which links the subject to her father is from a deprecated source (The Daily Mail) and not in the non-deprecated Nigerian sources. In those non-deprecated sources, the subject's father is essentially exposed as an unreliable source. There is no evidence in any non-deprecated source (i.e. anything other than his own wild statements at various genetic websites such as LinkedIn) that he is an ophthalmologist as previously described, and indeed it does not seem to be true in any verifiable sense that he is a professor or anything else as previously described. It is best, therefore, that family is left out altogether for now. The Daily Mail article does include names and pictures of brother and sisters, but again it is a deprecated source and indeed the article also contains things which are obviously unchecked and quite possibly untrue (which is why it is a deprecated source). If any editors have reliable and non-deprecated sources, I would very much appreciate them putting that material here as it does seem a shame that some of the biographical detail seems likely but is not available here.Emmentalist (talk) 16:24, 16 June 2023 (UTC)

Edits to early life and recognition sections

I noticed that an unsigned-in editor added a new honorary degree and read the whole thing again since my edits of around a year ago. I have taken out some of the detail about the subject's parents as I simply can't find any acceptable reference, while there are quite a few references at non-deprecated sources which suggest that Chris Imafidon, Anne Marie's father, has often invented titles and qualifications for himself. The safest thing here therefore is to make reference to the father (the Daily Mail is a deprecated source but I feel that there article referred to there justifies assuming that Chris is her father, although little/nothing else) but keep the detail light. I've also been stuck, on this pass, how there really is very little in the way of non-deprecated sources right across the article. The Times article is a good source, although like a number of websites cited it replicates almost precisely what is on the subjects own website. Looking across the sources, the point made by Thomas Peardew about the subject's degree/s still seems of interest. I have left the information about the subject's degree although I am still not fully confident on that point; Some of the websites cited in the article give conflicting information. There is something odd about the lack of a first degree, and in the Al-Khalili interview cited the subject herself describes her MSc as a four year combined honours and masters degree (there is no such degree). The 'Dr' in the references seems to extend from the subject's 9 honorary doctorates. I do not suggest that there is anything untoward about the subject's qualifications, simply that it would be much better if this area were cleared up. I also think the 'quotations' section would be better removed as it looks somewhat WP:Promotion. Anyway, I'd appreciate other thoughts before making any alterations. Emmentalist (talk) 13:38, 16 March 2024 (UTC)

Poscript re: above. The relevant Oxford degree is the MMathsCompSci. It is an integrated degree where students can choose a BA after 3 years or the masters after 4. I'm pretty chuffed to have found this, actually, as it's been bugging me and others. I don't think it's material, really, to the main article so won't edit it, but since I've discussed it here I thought I'd close that query off. All the best, Emmentalist (talk) 15:58, 20 March 2024 (UTC)