Logan schoolgirls will be challenged to use artificial intelligence to tackle problems in their community under a new $1.9 million Griffith University program.
The program will include multiple two-day “venture sprints” at Griffith University’s Logan campus as part of the five-year Girls in AI Innovation and Mentorship program, known as GAIM.
Project co-lead Sebastian Binnewies said girls would work with mentors and experts to develop ideas that could have practical local benefits.
“We’re trying to do projects that are for social good in those hubs that can really help the community there,” Dr Binnewies said.
The program will combine school-based learning, an AI-enabled digital platform, teacher training and mentoring across Logan, the Gold Coast, Cairns and Townsville.
Federal grant records say it is expected to reach more than 2000 participants.
Rather than arriving with a finished curriculum, the university plans to develop the program with girls, parents, teachers, community organisations, mentors and AI specialists.
Project co-lead Dr Carla Riverola said Griffith wanted to hear directly from Logan residents.
“If I had the community, I would say, ‘Please, let’s sit down. Let’s talk. What do you need? What do you want your community to be? And let’s work together to get that’,” she said.
Students will complete school-based activities covering entrepreneurship, digital innovation, AI literacy and responsible AI before joining regional venture sprints.
Each yearly round is expected to culminate in a three-day camp in Brisbane, where promising ideas can receive further mentoring.
Girls may later return as near-peer mentors, creating what Dr Binnewies described as a “mentoring cascade”.
“What we try to do as much as we can is support them stepping up on the ladder,” he said.
Dr Riverola said many families lacked the networks or knowledge to explain rapidly changing career opportunities.
“If parents are not able to fill that gap of career advice, let’s provide them with a network that can help them see where their interest is,” she said.
Dr Riverola said she had loved mathematics growing up but was discouraged from studying it because those around her did not understand the career options.
“I think that is a gap for girls,” she said.
“They don’t really see — they don’t have the visibility on what’s out there for them.”
She said Logan’s blue-collar identity created opportunities for students to explore how digital innovation could strengthen existing industries.
Dr Riverola said previous work in Logan had focused on embracing the city’s existing strengths and using innovation to solve local problems, rather than trying to import entirely new industries.
“There are opportunities to also take the lead,” she said.
“Rather than technology taking over, [Logan can be] the one that embraces it and uses that to drive the future of the sector and the area.”
Her message to girls considering the program was simple: “Whatever you want to do, you can.”
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