Using Artificial Intelligence in Gender Research: An Ethics and Standards Toolkit

Background

The CGIAR Generating Evidence and New Directions for Equitable Results (GENDER) Impact Platform aims to catalyze research on gender in agriculture to achieve more equitable, sustainable, productive, and climate-resilient food systems. The Methods Module of the GENDER Impact Platform aims to co-create, consolidate, and share cutting-edge methods and tools to strengthen and facilitate high-quality gender research across key and emerging CGIAR research areas.

Statement of work

The Methods Module has produced a gender research ethics and standards toolkit that provides guidance, recommendations and resources on the gender-relevant ethical considerations for research involving human subjects. The toolkit aims to support CGIAR researchers and their research partners conducting research on human subjects—whether via surveys, interviews, focus group discussions, participant observations, multistakeholder dialogues, or participatory action and learning—in accordance with the CGIAR Research Ethics Code (CGIAR System Management Office 2020). As a ‘living’ document, the toolkit will be updated periodically with new resources, best practice guidance and special topics as the needs arise.

With the rapid innovations in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in research for development, IFPRI is seeking a consultant to develop an ethics and standards toolkit regarding the use of AI in gender research. The toolkit will identify gender-related risks and touch on critical ethical challenges, including but not limited to:

• Informed consent, privacy, and security: Researchers must obtain informed consent from participants, especially when using AI tools for data collection or analysis. While AI can facilitate gender research, surveillance applications can infringe on privacy and autonomy. AI systems can inadvertently reveal sensitive information about individuals, including their gender identity. Ensuring privacy protection and personal security while conducting gender research is crucial.
• Avoiding bias and exclusion: AI algorithms may perpetuate existing gender norms and biases present in training data. Researchers must address bias to ensure fair outcomes and avoid reinforcing stereotypes. Gender research using AI should consider diverse perspectives.
• Equity and intersectionality: Opportunities to develop and use AI resources are unequal. Women, especially in developing countries, often have less access to technology and lower levels of digital literacy compared to men. This creates a risk that they may be left behind in the digital revolution. AI innovations may also impact the livelihoods of men and women in agrifood systems differently, and these gender differences intersect with other social identities. Avoiding these negative outcomes requires fairer representation of women in agricultural innovation systems.
• Transparency and accountability: AI models often operate as “black boxes.” Researchers must strive for transparency, allowing users to understand how decisions are made.

The role of the consultant will be to review the literature, conduct key informant interviews with experts, and curate resources, guidelines, and good practices for this topic—including drawing on other science disciplines that have made more progress in this space. The consultant will draft the ethics toolkit with input from the Methods Module team.

The final set of deliverables for this activity includes:

· Draft ethics toolkit with reference list (Oct 15)

· Final ethics toolkit (revised based on feedback from the Methods Module) (Nov 15)

· Annex with resources and related tools (Nov 15)

Essential qualifications:

· Master’s degree in social science or a related field

· Familiarity with gender research and AI

· Track record of producing high quality literature reviews, briefs, and other research products

Application:

Please submit your CV, daily rate, and writing sample. All documents need to be uploaded as one pdf to the application section indicating CV or Resume by June 28, 2024.