Prashasthi Gowdar, Lead Data Scientist at Aberdeen technology company COMET, is a finalist in two categories at the Women in Tech Excellence Awards 2026.
Prash has been shortlisted for:
- Emerging Tech Champion of the Year, Tech & Consulting
- Problem Solver of the Year, Tech & Consulting
The Women in Tech Excellence Awards recognise women working in technical IT roles across the UK. They are run by Computing, part of The Channel Company. This year's competition drew a record number of entries, and organisers extended the shortlist to 46 categories to reflect the standard of applications.
Prash leads COMET's AI product suite. Her work supported the creation of the multi-agent AI system inside COMET’s AI & data analytics solution, COMET Signals, a disciplined reasoning platform that turns years of QHSE data into intelligence that users can question, explore, act on and trust, all inside their own environment. She also built a tool that lets non-technical staff check whether a client's incident data is reliable enough to support AI analysis, without a data scientist needing to be involved at every step. Together, these changes have cut manual data preparation and audit work by around 70%.
Originally from Bangalore, India, Prash moved to Aberdeen to study for a Master’s degree in Artificial Intelligence at the University of Aberdeen. She stayed in the city after graduating and joined COMET in 2023.
Speaking on her nomination, Prash said: "It means a lot to be shortlisted alongside so many brilliant women in tech. I build tools that make AI useful for the people who actually have to use it, and it's good to see that work recognised."
The nomination has also been welcomed by COMET's leadership team.
"We're proud to see Prash recognised in this way. She's exactly the kind of talent we want to keep building COMET around, and this shortlisting is well deserved." – Arrash Nekonam, Chief Technology Officer at COMET.
About COMET
COMET is a global leader in AI-powered incident investigation and root cause analysis software, trusted by organisations across high-risk industries to identify and address the underlying causes of incidents and performance issues. Founded in the heart of Aberdeen and developed by a team with over 400 years of combined investigative experience, COMET brings together advanced technology and a proven methodology to help organisations learn from every event and prevent repeat failures.
Serving safety-critical sectors including aviation, energy, construction, maritime, rail, and utilities, COMET empowers companies to enhance safety, efficiency, and compliance through data-driven intelligence and actionable insight.
Learn more at www.cometanalysis.com.