The GYA is pleased to announce the launch of Women in Science and Ethics for Artificial Intelligence (WISE-AI), a two-year project supported by a U.S. $200,000 grant from the Henry Luce Foundation.
Artificial intelligence is transforming research practice, but women remain under-represented in both the development and use of the AI tools that underpin scientific work. Studies show that women researchers adopt generative AI at lower rates than men, even when access and training opportunities are comparable, and women account for only 14% of AI authorship. Left unaddressed, these gaps risk being built into the technologies driving the digital transition.
Running from June 2026 to May 2028, WISE-AI will equip 120 women researchers across at least four world regions — Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe and Latin America — with the technical, ethical and leadership skills to shape, and not only use, AI technologies.
The project begins with a multi-country survey and interviews mapping the barriers women researchers face, co-develops three open-licensed training modules delivered through an in-person bootcamp and a virtual workshop, and establishes a cross-continental mentorship network to sustain the community beyond the project’s lifetime. All training materials will be openly licensed for reuse and adaptation worldwide.
WISE-AI is led by GYA Immediate Past Co-Chair Yensi Flores Bueso (University College Cork, Ireland) along with a team of GYA members and alumni across twelve countries, in partnership with the Nepal Applied Mathematics and Informatics Institute (NAAMII).
GYA members and alumni involved in the project include Andreea Molnar (Swinburne University of Technology, Australia), Antonia Morita Iswari Saktiawati (Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia), Executive Committee member Carina Geldhauser (ETH Zurich, Switzerland), Emelda Chukwu (Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Nigeria), Luciana Balboa (University of Buenos Aires-CONICET, Argentina), Lydia Rhyman (University of Mauritius, Mauritius), GYA Co-Chair Natisha Dukhi (Human Sciences Research Council, South Africa), Nichole Lighthall (University of Central Florida, United States), Executive Committee member Reem Abou Assi (Al-Qabas College, Iraq), Rita Orji (Dalhousie University, Canada), and Immediate Past Co-Chair Siok Yee Chan (Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia).
“Women researchers should be co-creators of the tools that are reshaping science, not only users of them,” said Flores Bueso. “WISE-AI starts by listening — mapping what actually holds women back across very different research contexts — and builds the training and mentorship around that evidence.”