Exploring bias in data sets: Is my car insurance racist?

This free workshop on our Preston Campus explores how bias can be found in data even in cases where we believe we are treating others with equity. Moving beyond the usual ethical discussions of data protection, we examine how perspectives from subjects such as history, politics and sociology can spread new light on how human prejudices creep into seemingly neutral data sets and ask what we can do to mitigate these unexpected biases and ensure fair treatment of others. 

While the majority of conversations to do with ethics in data focus on GDPR, this session will look beyond issues of data protection and examine the ethics of collection and reuse.

We will look at questions of how knowledge is organised and categorised and how understanding these processes can help us to make more informed and ethical choices when using data sets. By examining bias in data collection and data sets, we will uncover how certain uses of data can affect marginalised groups.

Using a historical approach, we will explore how bias and discrimination in the past can be carried forward to the present and analyse how a more informed approach can make us more sensitive users of data.

Participants will develop deeper understandings about ethical use of datasets and gain practical insights for implementing better use of datasets in your business/ organisation. 

The workshop will also include some networking time and refreshments. It is free to attend.

Please register using this link: https://forms.office.com/e/YDvcdrEvLG or for further details please contact Lewis McGrath on ljmcgrath1@uclan.ac.uk.

The workshops is part of the Lancashire Cyber Ecosystem Support Programme that is being supported through the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.