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Research & Programming

Gender & Tech Online Talk Series: Addressing Harms and Advancing Rights

About Upcoming Events Past Recordings Research Team

Overview

The Gender and Tech Talk Series brings together leading scholars, advocates, and practitioners to discuss the intersections of gender, technology, democracy and human rights.

It will critically examine how digital platforms and technologies impact women, queer and gender-diverse individuals while exploring pathways for more inclusive, rights-focused digital governance frameworks.

This online series, co-organized by Yasmin Curzi and Jess Reia, will run monthly and feature two speakers and international perspectives with the following topics:

Digital Colonialism
Data Governance
Platform Governance   
Technocapitalism and Environmental Justice   
Data Work and Political Participation   
Trans-inclusive Technology Governance
Dis/Misinformation & Political Extremism
Digital Transformation
Immigration & Techno-authoritarianism
Possible AI Futures 

Past Recordings

Gender & Tech: Possible AI Futures

Gender & Tech

Gender & Tech: Immigration & Techno-authoritarianism

Gender & Tech

Gender & Tech: Digital Transformation

Gender & Tech

Gender & Tech: Dis/Misinformation & Political Extremism

Gender & Tech

Gender & Tech: Trans-inclusive Technology Governance

Gender & Tech

Gender & Tech: Data Work & Political Participation

Gender & Tech

Gender & Tech: Technocapitalism & Environmental Justice

Gender & Tech

Gender & Tech: Platform Governance

Gender & Tech

Gender & Tech: Data Governance

Gender & Tech

Gender & Tech: Digital Colonialism

Gender & Tech

See All

Research Team

Faculty Co-Lead

Jess Reia

Affiliations

Assistant Professor of Data Science, School of Data Science

Bio

Jess Reia is an assistant professor of data science and a faculty co-lead at the Digital Technology for Democracy Lab at the University of Virginia (UVA). In 2025, Reia was selected as an Andrew Carnegie Fellow by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. They are also a visiting scholar at Fudan University in Shanghai and a non-resident fellow at the Center for Democracy & Technology in Washington, D.C. Reia works primarily on topics of technology policy and human rights transnationally, being interested in the untold stories in our datasets, citizen-generated data and how artificial intelligence is transforming the way we think about evidence and representation.

A policymaker by training, Reia's research and advocacy agenda has focused on building collaborations with government and civil society organizations in Brazil, Canada, and the U.S. for over a decade, resulting in numerous resources to support policy- and decision-making and academic publications in four languages. Reia is also a public scholar whose writing and interviews were featured in various outlets, including Estadão, Le Devoir and BBC. Before joining UVA, they were appointed Mellon postdoctoral researcher at McGill University, studying the impact of smart-washing and datafication in nocturnal urban spaces and their communities. Reia held a two-year mandate as a member of MTL 24/24's first Night Council in Montreal. Prior to that, they worked at the Center for Technology & Society at FGV Law School in Rio de Janeiro.

Reia's latest book, "Urban Music Governance: What Busking Can Teach Us about Data, Policy and Our Cities" (Intellect/University of Chicago Press, 2025), explores what happens when precarious urban cultural laborers take data collection, laws, and policymaking into their own hands. A transnational exploration of often unseen aspects of urban governance, it examines the intricate limits of legality, data visibility, and resistance from the perspective of those working at the social and regulatory margins of society.

Currently, Reia teaches courses for future data scientists on ethics, governance, and policy. Past courses have included a focus on urban data, digital rights, intellectual property, and research methods.

Full Profile
Headshot of Yasmin Curzi

2024-26 Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Yasmin Curzi

Yasmin Curzi is a professor at FGV Law School in Rio de Janeiro, where she heads the Diversity and Inclusion Program and acts as a researcher at the Center for Technology and Society. She was a postdoctoral research associate (2024–2026) at the University of Virginia’s Digital Technology for Democracy Lab.

She is the author of the book Online Gender-Based Violence: Platform Regulation and Human Rights Protection of Women and Gender Diverse People Online (Lumen Juris, 2026, preface by the Brazilian Supreme Federal Court Justice Cármen Lúcia). Her research examines online gender-based violence, platform regulation, and digital sovereignty, with a particular focus on the Global South.

Dr. Curzi co-coordinates the Dynamic Coalition on Platform Responsibility at the United Nations Internet Governance Forum (UN IGF) and serves on Brazil's National Cybersecurity Committee linked to the Office of the Brazilian Presidency (CNCiber). She also participates in many interdisciplinary collaborations that advance human rights and feminist perspectives on law and technology.

She is the author of several essays and analyses in international media outlets, including The Conversation US, The Conversation FR, Folha de S. Paulo, Conjur, Migalhas, and Jota.

Full Profile
Headshot of Krisha Chichili

Research Assistant

Krisha Chichili

Krisha Chichili is a research assistant at the Digital Technology for Democracy Lab and a recent graduate of the University of Virginia (UVA) with a dual degree in computer science and global security and justice. Her work focuses on the intersection of AI governance, technology policy, and strategic problem-solving.

Krisha’s primary interest lies in the role of artificial intelligence in moderating technology-facilitated gender-based violence. In her undergraduate thesis, she examined the effectiveness of AI moderation on digital platforms, specifically analyzing how jurisdictional limitations and unregulated spaces like the dark web impact these efforts. Her professional experience includes work at Deloitte, LMI, and New America, where she contributed to the development of GenAI knowledge hubs, quantitative risk assessments for AI products, and policy recommendations for equitable technology adoption.

At UVA, Krisha was selected as a Meriwether Lewis Institute Fellow for Citizen Leadership and a Karsh Institute of Democracy Civic Cornerstone Fellow. She also served as the Vice President of the Data Science and Analytics Club and was on the executive board for the Indian Student Association. She is passionate about leveraging her technical background to address complex challenges at the heart of digital democracy and global security.

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