UNIDIR Women in AI Fellowship

The UNIDIR Women in AI Fellowship is a capacity-building intervention that endows women diplomats with up-to-the-minute knowledge of the policy, legal and technical aspects of AI, including its gendered implications. Women in AI Fellows acquire the knowhow, skills and resources required to engage effectively in multilateral AI discussion in the field of international peace and security.

The 2024 Women in AI Fellows came from more than 30 different countries and every region of the world.

The Women in AI Fellowship comprises a week-long, in-person training in Geneva, as well as a series of engagements with relevant experts and stakeholders.

In 2024, 32 experienced and engaged women diplomats were selected as Women in AI Fellows. They were drawn from a pool of over 100 applications from 56 countries. From 27-31 May, the Women in AI programme provided them with a well-rounded, holistic picture of the AI landscape, built around three key pillars:

  1. Education:
    We provide Fellows with a substantive introduction to AI technology, including its strengths and limitations; an overview of the possible and observed use cases of AI in security applications; related international security concerns surrounding AI; background to and current multilateral discussions around AI policy and governance; and insights into the link between gender and military AI.
  2. Exploration:
    We organize visits to Geneva-based AI labs and other relevant local organizations employing practical AI solutions. This allows Fellows to receive targeted briefings and to gain a better sense of the ecosystems involved in AI design, development, deployment and governance.
  3. Networking:
    We also facilitate Fellows’ interactions with experts and relevant stakeholders to enable the forging of strong connections with the diplomatic community, the private sector and civil society.

The Fellows left the programme equipped with the essential knowledge, skills and resources needed to actively engage in multilateral discussions on AI, within the field of international peace and security.

Watch the video testimonials from our 2024 Women in AI Fellows on our YouTube channel.

This will begin to counter the chronic under-representation of women in international security processes, where only one in every three diplomats accredited to arms control, non-proliferation and disarmament forums is a woman.

Ultimately, redressing this imbalance will help to combat stereotypes that devalue women’s expertise and lead to a vicious cycle where perspectives and knowledge of large segments of the population continue to be excluded.

The 2024 Women in AI Fellowship would not have been possible without the support of our generous donors to the Gender and Disarmament Programme and the Security and Technology Programme, namely Canada, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland.