Vacancy Overview
MBZUAI is seeking a Gender and AI Research Scientist responsible for embedding gender equity, inclusion, and social impact considerations across all Institute for Agriculture & AI (IAAI) research, technical development, and deployment activities. The role will provide subject-matter leadership on gender-responsive AI research, advisory system design, and evidence-based interventions, with a particular focus on improving outcomes for women smallholder farmers and marginalized groups through AI-enabled agricultural solutions.
Key Responsibilities
- Gender Strategy and Institutional Integration: Develop and lead the Institute’s gender and inclusion strategy, ensuring systematic integration into research agendas, governance frameworks, operational guidelines, and program design. Embed gender considerations into standard operating procedures, ethical guidelines, and institutional practices across all IAAI activities.
- Gender-Responsive Research and AI Design: Advise AI researchers, data scientists, and agronomy experts on gender-sensitive research design, data collection, annotation practices, model evaluation, and bias mitigation. Support the development of AI models and advisory systems that account for gendered access, constraints, and decision-making contexts.
- Women-Focused Advisory and Interventions: Design and support targeted interventions that improve the accessibility, relevance, and effectiveness of AI-enabled advisory services for women smallholder farmers. Ensure advisory content, delivery channels, and interaction modalities reflect women lived realities, constraints, and information needs.
- Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Integration: Integrate gender-disaggregated indicators into MEL frameworks and research protocols. Analyze adoption, usage, and outcome data to identify gender gaps and inform adaptive improvements to research and deployment strategies.
- Capacity Building and Partnerships: Provide technical guidance and capacity building to governments, partners, and innovators on gender-responsive AI and digital agricultural advisory systems. Support inclusive pilot design, implementation, and scale-up strategies in collaboration with national and international partners.
Academic Qualifications Required
- Master’s degree in Computer Science, Computational Science, Data Science, Applied Mathematics, or a related field.
- PhD or equivalent applied research experience will be preferred.
Professional Experience Required
Essential:
- Minimum of ten (10) years of progressive experience in technical assistance, program implementation, or adoption-focused roles within gender equity & inclusion, development, or innovation ecosystems.
- Demonstrated experience working with governments and public-sector institutions, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.
- Experience leading multidisciplinary teams and managing complex, multi-country initiatives.
Preferred:
- Exposure to policy engagement, institutional reform, or national advisory system strengthening.
- Experience working within international research or development organizations.