Abstract
This work presents a longitudinal study of diversity among the Affective
Computing research community members. We explore several dimensions of
diversity, including gender, geography, institutional types of
affiliations and selected combinations of dimensions. We cover the last
10 years of the IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing (TAFFC) journal
and the International Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent
Interaction (ACII), the primary sources of publications in Affective
Computing. Our findings reveal notable correlations between different
types of diversity, such as gender and institutional type, geography and
topics, as well as topics and first author’s gender. We also present an
analysis of diversity among the members of the Association for the
Advancement of Affective Computing (AAAC). Finally, we analyse diversity
initiatives that have been undertaken in other AI-related research
communities to foster diversity, and conclude on a set of initiatives
that could be applied to the Affective Computing field to increase
diversity in its different facets. The data collected in this work will
be publicly available, ensuring strict personal data protection and
governance rules.