Dr Zena Assaad

Dr Zena Assaad is an Associate Professor of Engineering at the Australian National University (ANU) and is also the Deputy Director of the ANU Defence Institute. She is currently a fellow with the UN Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) leading research on the decommissioning of military AI systems. She has held fellowships with the Australian Army Research Centre and Trusted Autonomous Systems. Her research explores the safety of critical and complex technologies in safety-critical domains, with a focus on systems engineering practices. She is currently focussed on topics related to autonomy and AI in military systems. Dr Assaad is a former member of the expert advisory group for the global commission on responsible AI in the military domain (GC REAIM). She is currently an Ambassador for the Responsible by Design initiative of Article 36 Legal. She also serves on the independent advisory board on Legal Reviews as a technical expert and on the World Police Summit board of trustees.