June 12th 2026 | Workshop

Led by Weijie Huang

Venue: Kromme Nieuwegracht 80, room 1.06

This workshop explores how critical AI research can become a generative force for positive change through meaningful engagement with policy, industry, and community actors, even within contexts shaped by unequal power and institutional constraints. Rather than treating impact as an afterthought or policy engagement as one-way communication, the session frames collaboration as a situated, relational practice of co-creation—one that opens space for ethical imagination, shared responsibility, and accountable innovation. 

Participants will reflect on how research methodologies can be adapted across diverse cultural and social contexts, which actors are invited into knowledge production, and how ethical commitments can be strengthened through engagement. Through short case examples of research projects working with different stakeholders and communities, participants from diverse disciplines will explore practical pathways for involving these groups in ways that are meaningful, inclusive, and impactful. 

Goal: Designed for PhD candidates, RMA students, and early-career researchers, the session offers a rare opportunity to gain insights, feedback, and mentorship from leading experts in the human rights and policy worlds, empowering participants to shape research trajectories that address pressing policy concerns while fostering hopeful, collaborative solutions to real-world challenges.

Respondents:

Emily Tucker, Executive Director, Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law (USA)

Melanie Rideout, Red Cross AI Strategist, Humanitarian Tech Environmental Scientist, MasterCard Lighthouse Advisor (Sweden)

Ron Guerrier, Chief Technology Officer Save the Children, Former Illinois Secretary of Innovation, CIO Hall of Fame Inductee, USC Doctoral Candidate (USA) 

Moderated by Prof. Payal Arora, Professor of Inclusive AI Cultures and Inclusive AI Lab Director