News Story

AI, Colonialism & Feminism: How KMi Research Informs Global Gender Equality Efforts

Nancy Pontika, Thursday 27 Mar 2025

Last week the Shifting Power team, represented by Senior Research Fellow in KMi, Dr. Tracie Farrell, spoke at the annual Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). First established in 1946, the CSW is an intergovernmental body whose purpose is to promote gender equality and the rights of women globally. The commission has spent the last 70 years bringing visibility to matters of inequality and discrimination that women experience worldwide, and creating action around key priorities. The event took place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, and was host to a record number of participants (nearly 6000), participating in events all over the city from March 10th – 21st.

Dr. Farrell was invited to speak at a session hosted by the OU’s own Centre for Protecting Women Online, spearheaded by Professor Olga Jurasz. The session addressed the challenges of women’s online safety, and included talks by ElsaMarie D’Silva (she/her) of Red Dot Foundation on cartographies of violence against women, Professor Jurasz on the legal and regulatory environment for protecting women online, and Dr. Farrell’s work on using computational approaches to evidence violence against women that is facilitated (directly and indirectly) via technology. Dr. Farrell spoke about her previous research, with colleagues Professor Harith Alani, Professor Miriam Fernandez, Dr. Aisling Third and Dr. Joseph Kwarteng, on evidencing hate speech and other hostility toward women online. She also spoke more about her current research programme, exploring how artificial intelligence and its deployment shift ongoing narratives about colonialism, the climate, feminism and human rights.

Dr. Farrell expressed gratitude for the opportunity, not only to share her research, but to share it with such a diverse and passionate audience, all committed to generating transformative policy that protects all women and girls across the globe.

* (People in the picture – from left to right: Tracie Farrell, Olga Jurasz, and ElsaMarie D’Silva.)