MSc graduate wins national computing research prize
MSc Applied Artificial Intelligence graduate Sarah Tucker has jointly won second place in the British Computer Society Women Lovelace Colloquium 2025.
The prestigious annual event, held this year in Glasgow, is a national conference for women and non-binary students in computing. It offers attendees the chance to hear from leading voices in tech and network with potential employers.
Sarah won the award for her research project, Wall Street Through a Neural Lens, which explores how to close gaps in stock market forecasting accuracy using a residual network 2D convolutional neural network (CNN) model.
“The initial idea came from my supervisor, Ali, who has a physics background,” Sarah explains. “He had developed a method of transforming hydrogen data into images and then adapted the same technique for stock market data. LSBU played a huge role in my competition win.”
“Winning meant a lot to me. Dr Safia Barikzai ran workshops on writing abstracts and designing posters, and held regular check-ins to keep us on track. Without that structured guidance and encouragement, I don’t think I would’ve succeeded. It really showed how invested LSBU’s staff are in their students’ success.”
Dr Barikzai, Conference Chair who has herself been nominated for STEM Educator of the Year by SheCanCode, said: “This year, we had 12 female students from both undergraduate and postgraduate courses attend the colloquium as finalists and attendees. It was by far our biggest and best year, with Sarah’s joint second-place finish in the MSc poster competition a real highlight!
“The colloquium really speaks to our ‘No Barriers to Brilliance’ ethos. We fully fund all participating students – covering travel, accommodation, meals, and prize money.”