Computer Vision News - November 2018

29 Computer Vision News Clara Fernández Women in Science I don’t know. Sometimes you are really focused on the people closest to you. Suddenly, you look, and there are more people! They all circle around. Yes! For example, I was also in IROS in Madrid two weeks ago. I was with a second author. In the poster section, it’s very comfortable when there are two people. Some more people can come and ask about your work. So next conference, you will already be a veteran, and you will not fear presenting. Well, it depends: because at ECCV you have the main conference. You have to speak in single track in front of a lot of people. Thousands! Yeah, at IROS, I was presenting at the main conference, but IROS was not in single track. It’s fewer people. It’s not everybody. With single track, it’s everybody. [ laughs ] Yes, exactly! I think it’s a challenge. What does it mean to be a scientist? On one hand, doing research on a topic that you are really interested in, to discover new ways of doing things. On the other hand, it’s very important to show your work, to share your goal, and make it available for the others. It’s a way to improve and advance this field. I think that computer vision, and artificial intelligence in general, is growing nowadays. A lot of people are interested in this topic. Society can advance in these kinds of ways. It’s important to share your work. So you have a double goal. One is to do a lot of research and the other is to share it. Exactly! What about if you do all this research, and nothing of it ends up in the real world? I want my research to be useful for something also. So it has to have some application in the real world. Yeah, to be used in the real world or for another person to continue the work. If I gave you the chance to be famous for one thing, what would it be? Research. For me, it would be nice to do good research and have the opportunity to go to other places, to be older and have enough experience to also give good advice to younger people starting in a PhD. What is the most precious teaching that you received from your two supervisors? Both are really important. They not only help me in research, but also I can talk with them about myself if I’m worried about something. They are very close, and this is very important. In the future, if I’m the supervisor of a PhD, I would love to have this balance. They always tell me that the most important thing is to be happy. And you are happy? Yeah! For example, they put pressure on me when I must finish something, but when it increases, they know how to calm me. They keep this balance. Jessica Sieren told me once : “ If you don’t have a crisis during your PhD, it means that you are doing it wrong. ” [ laughs ] I agree! If you don’t have a crisis during your PhD, you are not doing a PhD! What do you love, Clara? Research, travel and Italian food!