It is a fact that females are a minority in the HPC sector. However, PPI4HPC is a good example where female roles have been key for performing the first joint HPC public procurement in Europe.
This four-year European project, PPI4HPC, counted a total of 21 HPC experts, and half of them were women who have been developing essential tasks in the first joint HPC public procurement in Europe. All 10 PPI4HPC women have been involved in key tasks of the project such as project management coordination, project finance, legal procurement and communication/dissemination of the project. In addition, it is important to highlight that women were committed to the legal lead procurement of the complete PPI4HPC procurement process as well as to the lead of all the local procurements by the partners in the different countries.
Here a few quotes highlighting their key involvement in PPI4HPC:
Anne Nahm, PPI4HPC Project Coordination, Forschungszentrum Juelich
“Effective Project management and collaboration among all partners is the key to successful completion of any project, and I am proud to have been part of PPI4HPC, contributing to its big success.”
Valentina Armuzza, PPI4HPC Project Coordination - Forschungszentrum Juelich
“Project management played a key role in developing the structure of the PPI4HPC project. However, it would not have been possible without the contribution of all the different stakeholders. I am proud to have been part of such a great project.”
Paola Alberigo, PPI4HPC WP leader - CINECA
“I am very proud to have been involved in the PPI4HPC project. During the project’s lifetime, I was the leader of the local procurements work package. The coordination of the local procedures was an important task to successfully complete the PPI4HPC European tender involving four different national lots. The final goal was accomplished, and everyone was enriched with new skills and a deeper knowledge of large European tender. It was a very challenging experience, and I enjoyed collaborating with qualified colleagues from all over Europe.”
Martina Börger, Project Procurement at Forschungszentrum Juelich
“It has been a great honour for me to be a part of the PPI4HPC preparation process as the representative for the FZJ procurement team. My tasks were to accompany and prepare the tender procedure and documents for the local procurement in close cooperation with our technical and legal experts. This project gave me the chance to experience a cross border collaboration with very skilled and open-minded people.”
Raquel Martinez, Project Finance - Barcelona Supercomputing Center
"Finance management is at the heart of any project. It is one area that can help drive it forward. In PPI4HPC, we achieved this idea, and all parts played together. I'm proud of the work done in collaboration with other European HPC centres."
