WAI Awards 2025 APAC | Women in AI (WAI)

JULY 25, 2025 | 6 - 10 PM

Museum of Contemporary Art Australia: 140 George St, The Rocks NSW 2000

APPLICATIONS OPEN
Click here to view

WAI Awards 2024 APAC - Website Banner (2).png

About The Event

THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS AWARDS FOR WOMEN IN AI FOR THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION

Pioneered by Women In AI (WAI), the WAI Awards honors women from diverse backgrounds who are making significant advances in the field of Artificial Intelligence.

Now on its 4th year in APAC, we're once again inviting all women working with AI technologies in the Asia-Pacific region who are taking the road less travelled; the women who are paving the way for others to reach even further and to dare to dream even bigger to try new things, be vulnerable, be seen, and be celebrated.

Facilitated by:

About

AWARD CATEGORIES

AI IN HEALTH

Honors women learing AI innovation in health, aged care and disability services.

AI IN FINANCE

Honors women leading AI innovations in finance, insurance and superannuation.

AI IN MINING

Honors women leading AI innovations in mining.

AI IN AGRIBUSINESS & RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Includes farming, agriculture, agtech, IoT in rural communities

AI IN LAW, PRIVACY, AI& DATA ETHICS

Includes the application of AI in the legal sector, regulation of AI, AI ethics and responsible AI

AI IN CYBERSECURITY (RISK MANAGEMENT)

Honors women leading AI innovations in cybersecurity
(risk management)

AI IN SPACE AND QUANTUM

Honors women leaders in space and quantum industries, including robotics

AI FOR SOCIAL GOODS

Initiatives where AI is used to solve social challenges, improve communities building, or drive sustainable development, including Humanitarian Action, AI Ethics and Responsibility

AI IN INNOVATION

Includes AI in sports, any ground-breaking, new and emerging AI process or technology in additional fields not mentioned in above industry sectors

AI IN DATA

Honors women AI leaders in data and data mining, data engineering, data architecture and MLops

COMMUNICATING IN AI

Honors women who have played a significant role in building AI channels, events, communities, or fostering networks that support knowledge sharing in AI, including genAI for media

AI IN FIRST NATIONS LEADERSHIP AWARD

Honors women who have played a significant role in using AI to elevate First Nation communities

AI IN EDUCATION & RESEARCH

Recognizes outstanding contributions in Edutech,
AI research, theoretical work or algorithms

AI IN MANUFACTURING

Honors women leading AI innovations in manufacturing

AI IN DEFENCE AND INTELLIGENCE

Honors women leaders in defense, intelligence, aerospace, or geospatial data

AI IN CLIMATE
& ENVIRONMENT

Includeds AI leaders in greentech, natural resources management, ecosystem and conservation services

AI IN INFRASTRUCTURE

Includes transportation, energy, renewable energy, water services, telco, waste mgmt., and smart cities

AI IN MARKETING & CREATIVE INDUSTRIES

Honors women leading
Martech and GenAI for marketing

ak-Attached 1 -WAIawards25 (1)_edited.jpg

APPLICATION TIMELINE

March 12, 2025

APPLICATIONS START

June 1, 2025

APPLICATIONS CLOSE

July 8, 2025

FINALISTS REVEALED

July 25, 2025

AWARDS NIGHT

WHO CAN APPLY?

Women who are working, leading, researching, creating or innovating in AI in the following sectors:

Private (any industry)

Public

Government

Universities
(or the academe)

Startups
(or small enterprises)

Non-profits
(or NGOs)

Award Categories

WAI Awards 2024 APAC - Website Banner (3)_edited.jpg

WHY JOIN?

We're committed to supporting and rewarding excellence to hardworking women in the field of Artificial Intelligence by using the WAI Awards 2025 APAC as a platform to recognize, build credibility, and provide exposure for women in the field of AI within the Asia-Pacific region.

Advisors

ADVISORS & JUDGES

KAY FIRTH-BUTTERFIELD

TIME Impact Honouree 2024

Advisor

IAN OPPERMANN

Co-Founder, Servicegen

Advisor

CAROL
REILEY

AI Robotics
Entrepreneur

Advisor

CHRISTINE
WANG

Healthcare AI Entrepreneur;
Best Selling Author

Advisor

HAREEFF MUHAMMED

CEO, Premier Integrated Labs, IHH Healthcare Berhad

Advisor

DAVID FOX

Assoc. Dir. Research & Technology, Western Parkland City Authority

Advisor

BRUCE BATEMAN

Co-Founder, Zero Carbon Future

Judge

BIANCA NOGRADY

Freelance Science Journalist

Judge

FATHIA
TAYIB

Privacy Risk & Compliance Analyst

Judge

PROF. EUN-JUNG HOLDEN

Professor, University of Melbourne

Judge

Chief Scientist, UNSW AI Institute

PROF. TOBY WALSH

Judge

SANDY ANTIPAS

Business Development Manager, ASI Solutions Tech education specialist

Judge

DR. TOMASZ BEDNARZ

Director,
NVIDIA

Judge

HILARY
O’CONNOR

SVP Revenue, Soul Machines

Judge

LEE CONSTABLE

Freelance MC + Presenter

Judge

PUANGRAT KAEWLOM

Prof. in Environmental Eng'g., Chiang Mai University

Judge

PETER GAVIN

GM, Data & Analytics, ANZ

Judge

SARAH CARNEY

National CTO, Microsoft

Judge

JUSTIN STRHARSKY

Founder, Director at Humyn.ai

Judge

RITA
ARRIGO

Strategic Engagement Manager., National AI Centre

Advisor

JANNAT MAQBOOL

Principal Advisor, Ecosystm Advisory

Judge

EMMA
NAJI

Partner & Outcomes Manager, MadeCurious

Judge

WILLIAM TJHI

Head of Applied Research, AI Singapore

Judge

GERRY
CHNG

Executive Director
Deloitte Enterprise Risk Services

Judge

PROF. KAREEN VERSPOOR

Executive Dean, School of Computing Technologies, RMIT University

Judge

KOO PING SHUNG

Co-founder, Data Science Rex

Judge

QUAH LEY HOON

Group Chief Corporate Officer CapitaLand Investment

Judge

LEE SZE CHIN (SQ)

Founder & CEO
Esse Pi Pte Ltd

Judge

DR. RAHIL GARNAVI

APAC Sr. AI Leader, IBM

Judge

GRACE CHUNG

Head of Research, & Engineering,
Google Australia

Judge

BILIANA RAJEVIC

Head of Strategy & Corporate Development
Quantum Brilliance

Judge

Tim De Sousa

Managing Director - Technology (Data Privacy)

Judge

BRUCE
BATEMEN

Chief Technical Advisor, Cold Electtric

Judge

TIM DE
SOUSA

Managing Director Technology, Privacy, Information Governance and Technology Ethics at FTI Consulting

Judge

ANGKANA
WHILEY

Founder, Whiley Group

Judge

DANIEL
CF NG

Executive Vice President,

Graphen

Judge

AMY
SHI-NASH

Chief Analytics and Data Officer, Tabcorp

Judge

KATHY NICHOLSON

Institute Manager, Australian Institute for Machine Learning (AIML)

Judge

SUSAN GIBSON

Head of Data Analytics and AI, University of Technology Sydney

Judge

RITA
MATULIONYTE

Associate Professor at Macquarie Law School, Macquarie University, Australia

Judge

ANNIE

MATHEW

Asia Sales Director, Developer Productivity Global Black Belts, Microsoft

Judge

AUDE
BAYLET-DIESEL

Global Account Manager - Financial

Services, AWS

Judge

Head of Data & Analytics, Uniting

CHANTAL
VELASQUE

Judge

CORRIE
DARK

Founder,

Integrity Ai

Judge

DAVID
BOND

Director of Online Programs, UNSW Business School

Judge

BHAGYA
NATHALI SILVA

Assistant Professor, SLIIT

Judge

FARINA
RIAZ

CERC Fellow, CSIRO

Judge

GAYATHRI
JAYARAM

Direct of AI Data Science & Analytics, CoreLogic Australia

Judge

HIBA
AI HAJRI

Continuous Improvement Lead, Petroleum Development Oman

Judge

JAVEN QINFENG SHI

Professor,

University of Adelaide

Judge

LOREN
SINCLAIR

Enterprise Sales Director, Databricks

Judge

LUN
WEI KU

Research Fellow, Academia Sinica

Judge

MU LI

Data & Analytics Lead, AZ NGA

Judge

1721372169690_e=1756339200&v=beta&t=M1EghWLOJIwDmB6bNcVxRvAG0qLE8I6TONzmSadcbWc.jpg

Fairoza Amira Binti Hamzah

Lead AI Engineer
MY E.G. Services Berhad (MYEG)

Judge

SACHINI
HERATH

Head of AI Solutions, Dialog Axiata PLC

Judge

SAI CHONG
YEH

Founding Partner, Ever AI Technologies

Judge

SEBASTIAN
SEQUOIAH-GRAYSON

Senior Lecturer in Epistemics, UNSW

Judge

SERMIN YAVUZER

Director, AI and Cyber Futures Institute

Judge

Lecturer in Data Science and Data Science Project Leader, University of Technology Sydney

SHOUJIN
WANG

Judge

SINÉAD FITZGERALD

ASIA ISV Partner Recruit Lead - Healthcare & Public Sector, Microsoft

Judge

TORI

STARKEY

Director, Kudosity

Judge

ANSGAR
KOENE

Global AI Ethics and Regulatory Leader,

Judge

INÈS ABDERRAHMANE

Head of Economic Department at Direction générale du Trésor

Judge

YANHAO TAN

Research Fellow at Nanyang Technological University

Judge

1729935232423_e=1756339200&v=beta&t=nbe2-TfzA2jsDT_ZCm8ccLbzeNnEPAJ4-8wT5ltB5Bc.jpg

Daniel Chew

Head of Finance Systems, UNSW

Judge

1539416813055_e=1756339200&v=beta&t=nmSSw0qpL9LMqlSLEYTj-uex19k_ZOEZRIzaRCMPEcs.jpg

Mokshika Gaur

APJ Head - Emerging Partnerships at Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Judge

Kavitha Dhanraj

Global Technology Leadership/

Chief Data Officer

Judge

Catherine Jones

Director Radiology, I-Med Radiology Network
Professor of Clinical Imaging Science USYD

Judge

CONTACT

APPLICATIONS

Linien Yen

linien@womeninai.co

SPONSORSHIP & GENERAL INQUIRIES

WAI APAC

waiawards_apac@womeninai.co

MEDIA

Monika Ortega

nika@womeninai.co

Contact

Previous Awards

WAI Awards 2021

Australia - New Zealand

WAI Awards 2021 ANZ Winners
with

R - The Hon Julie Bishop - Patron WAI Awards

L - Prof Joanna Batstone - Director, MDFI

KNOW MORE

WAI Awards 2022

Australia - New Zealand

WAI Awards 2022 ANZ Winners
with
R - Prof Joanna Batstone - Director, MDFI
C - Dr Tony Lindsay - Director, STELaRLab
L - Dr Amanda Caples - Lead Scientist, Victorian Government

KNOW MORE

JULY 25, 2025 | 6 - 10 PM

Museum of Contemporary Art Australia: 140 George St, The Rocks NSW 2000

APPLICATIONS OPEN Click here to view

THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS AWARDS FOR WOMEN IN AI FOR THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION

AWARD CATEGORIES

AI IN HEALTH

AI IN FINANCE

AI IN MINING

AI IN AGRIBUSINESS & RURAL DEVELOPMENT

AI IN LAW, PRIVACY, AI& DATA ETHICS

AI IN CYBERSECURITY (RISK MANAGEMENT)

APPLICATION TIMELINE

APPLICATIONS START

APPLICATIONS CLOSE

FINALISTS REVEALED

AWARDS NIGHT

WHO CAN APPLY?

Private (any industry)

Public

Government

Universities (or the academe)

Startups (or small enterprises)

Non-profits (or NGOs)

ADVISORS & JUDGES

PETER GAVIN

SARAH CARNEY

JUSTIN STRHARSKY

RITA ARRIGO

JANNAT MAQBOOL

EMMA NAJI

WILLIAM TJHI

GERRY CHNG

PROF. KAREEN VERSPOOR

KOO PING SHUNG

QUAH LEY HOON

LEE SZE CHIN (SQ)

DR. RAHIL GARNAVI

GRACE CHUNG

BILIANA RAJEVIC

Tim De Sousa

CONTACT

APPLICATIONS

SPONSORSHIP & GENERAL INQUIRIES

MEDIA

FOLLOW US

Previous Awards

WAI Awards 2021

WAI Awards 2021 ANZ Winners with

WAI Awards 2022

WAI Awards 2022 ANZ Winners with R - Prof Joanna Batstone - Director, MDFI C - Dr Tony Lindsay - Director, STELaRLab L - Dr Amanda Caples - Lead Scientist, Victorian Government

APPLICATIONS OPEN
Click here to view

Universities
(or the academe)

Startups
(or small enterprises)

Non-profits
(or NGOs)

RITA
ARRIGO

EMMA
NAJI

GERRY
CHNG

WAI Awards 2021 ANZ Winners
with

WAI Awards 2022 ANZ Winners
with
R - Prof Joanna Batstone - Director, MDFI
C - Dr Tony Lindsay - Director, STELaRLab
L - Dr Amanda Caples - Lead Scientist, Victorian Government