Aincre Evans (DPhil History) co-investigating policy project to tackle AI-facilitated gender-based violence in Ghana

Professor Shazia Choudhry (Faculty of Law) has been awarded funding through the Oxford Policy Engagement Network (OPEN) for a project that will address the ways in which new technologies such as AI are facilitating gender-based violence in Ghana. 

Professor Choudhry and co-investigator Aincre Maame-Fosua Evans, a DPhil student in Oxford’s Faculty of History, will work alongside Ghanaian organisations to respond – through policy development – to growing concerns about AI-enabled harms. These harms, such as deepfake sexual imagery, online impersonation and reputational abuse, disproportionately affect women and girls.  

Aincre Maame-Fosua Evans Said"Despite the immense economic potential of AI, when left unregulated this technology risks becoming a tool for targeted harassment, one that has already disproportionately affected women, particularly those in public life. In country contexts where respectability politics continue to heavily police women in public-facing roles, and where awareness of emerging technological harms remains low, the potential damage to women’s livelihoods and careers is significant. Legislation is not a cure-all,  but it remains a necessary step". 

She added: “As a Ghanaian, I have seen how technology-facilitated abuse exploits gaps in both law and awareness, with serious consequences for women and girls in my country. This project is about ensuring that Ghana’s legal framework evolves in step with technological change, drawing on local expertise and stakeholder engagement to produce national responses that are meaningful and sustainable.” 

The project is funded through OPEN’s Public Policy Challenge Fund and is due to run during the first half of 2026.