Elona Shatri

I am in the third year of my PhD research as part of the 4-year AI and Music Program (AIM), which is part of the Centre for Digital Music at QMUL. My research is focused on using deep learning to improve Optical Music Recognition (OMR). OMR is the field of computationally reading sheet music. In other words, retrieving a machine-readable file (MusicXML, MEI) from an image of a music score. OMR is an intersection between fields like Music Information Retrieval, Computer Vision, Digital Musicology, Digital Libraries and Music Composing Practices. We want to detect and recognise musical symbols and their relationships from an image and then encode that information in formats that allow editing, conversion, playing demos and more. I am under the supervision of Dr George Fazekas and work closely with my industry partner Steinberg.

EECS was not a destination for me, it has rather been the only path I have ever known since primary school. My father used to fix electrical equipment at home. I was always interested and competing with him on who can better and faster fix a short-circuit, a TV remote, build simple antennas and similar. That fitted well with my favourite subjects in school like mathematics, physics and informatics. I often wondered where I would be if I did not have such influences early on in life.

I often find myself trying to compete with men to show them what I can do. I am unconsciously trying to fight the stigma that women cannot be as good in a male-dominated field. While I did not get any opportunity because of my gender throughout my career, I was often stereotyped based on my gender. I was lucky to have a supportive circle of family and friends who never questioned my decisions or abilities. They were always there applauding every decision and step I took.

I think women should not consider a field only to show that they can do it. We must all keep in mind that we can excel as much as men in any field and there is not a single field we cannot make it. Women should feel free to choose a field they want, without having to prove a single thing to men and society.

Although women should be free to choose fields they like, there is a gap in promoting male-dominated fields to women. We often miss having a real-life woman as a role model. We need to work and bring such role models to every single woman. When I look back on my education, I realise that my interests were mainly shaped by women. My mathematics and physics teachers in primary school were both women and those quickly became my favourite subjects. My high school mathematics professor, Nimete Vrenezi, is still a constant role model. She amplified my confidence that my gender does not stand in the way of being good at something. During my undergraduate degree at the University of Prishtina, I had the opportunity of being taught by some brilliant women who still teach there and do not get so much recognition. I want to particularly thank Vjosa Shatri, Mimoza Ibrani, Myzafere Limani and Rreze Halilaj. During my master's degree at NTHU in Taiwan, I had a women supervisor Dr Yi-Shin Chen whose presence never made us doubt our choice of field. Regrettably, I did not find such a role model at Queen Mary just yet. However, I have many excellent women PhD colleagues who I am sure will be the next role models to younger generations.

The advantages of being a PhD researcher very much outweigh the disadvantages. Researching is more than a full-time job, but with the perks of using this time to explore something that deeply interests you. You are free and motivated to explore new solutions, which is not always true for industry jobs. I enjoy being surrounded by people who constantly challenge me and I enjoy interesting research discussions we end up having at every social event.

I enjoy watercolour painting, reading history, philosophy, and novels. I also enjoy running long distances, last year ran three half-marathons and am planning to do some this year as well. I also started doing bouldering lately and playing volleyball.