Let's talk robotics with Dr Ramona Vijeyarasa

Joining me today is Dr Ramona Vijeyarasa. Ramona is the Chief Investigator behind the Gender Legislative Index (GLI), a tool designed to promote laws that advance women’s rights and gender equality. She is the head of the Juris Doctor Program in the Faculty of Law at the University of Technology Sydney and a Senior Lecturer.

Before joining UTS, Dr Vijeyarasa worked for a decade in civil society as a women’s rights activist and for international organisations in developing and developed countries. In 2022, Ramona’s work on the GLI received the Woman in Artificial Intelligence (AI) Award for the Law Category and the 2nd runner-up prize for the Women in AI Innovator of the Year. Since 2020, she is a Women’s Leadership Institute Australia Research Fellow, investigating ways to bring her global expertise into Australia’s legal context and advocating for a more gender-equal nation. Ramona’s work for women’s rights across the world has been recognised by grants and awards from the New York University, the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Letten Foundation and Young Academy of Norway.

Her new book (release date, July 2022), The Woman President: Leadership, Law and Legacy for Women Based on Experiences from South and Southeast Asia (Oxford University Press) is a global-first study of the impact women leaders have on women’s lives through the law.