Dear ICTP Community,

TWAS and the TWAS Young Affiliates Network (TYAN) have launched the TWAS-TYAN Joint Seminar Series, designed to provide a platform to address shared global challenges and fostering dialogue across borders and disciplines. By bringing together leading experts and emerging scientists, the initiative contributes to strengthen science diplomacy as a tool for international cooperation.

The second webinar in this series will feature responsible-AI expert Sandra Avila, to address the hidden role of data in building fair and trustworthy AI. The event will take place online via Zoom on 14 October at 3 p.m. CEST and will include a Q&A session. To participate in the webinar, register here.

Abstract

Ethics by design: responsible AI, real-world impact

In this talk, Avila will explore why talking about AI models might already be too late to build responsible AI. At present, there is a need to talk about data. That shift is what moved Avila from teaching machine learning to teaching data feminism. Grounded in real-world applications, from skin cancer detection in black patients to systems designed to identify child sexual abuse imagery, Avila will demonstrate how bias can enter AI long before a model is trained, and what can be done to address it.

Who is Professor Sandra Avila

Sandra Avila is an associate professor at the Institute of Computing, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil. She earned her bachelor's degree from the Federal University of Sergipe, in 2006, her master's degree from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) in 2008, and a joint PhD from UFMG and Sorbonne Université in 2013.

Her research focuses on responsible AI, grounded in Brazilian and Latin American realities, through a gender-conscious feminist lens. Her work has received recognition through Google Latin America Research Awards in 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021, and the Google Award for Inclusion Research in 2022.

In addition, she has been awarded the UNICAMP–Vladimir Herzog Institute's Human Rights Recognition awards in 2023 and 2024, and the L'Oréal Brazil's More Inclusive Dermatology Award in 2025. In 2020, the Brazilian Academy of Sciences selected her to represent Brazil at the BRICS Young Scientists Forum in AI. She has also been named among the top 2% most-cited scientists worldwide, according to the Stanford/Elsevier metric.

We hope you will join us for this event and take part in the discussion.

Best regards,

Giovanni Ortolani