Responsible AI for Educators and Researchers: Embedding Security, Privacy, and Trust in Teaching and Research

Event summary

The JournoTECH two-day online event on Responsible AI for Educators and Researchers, funded by SPRITE+, successfully convened participants from universities, secondary schools, and research institutions across the globe. The training focused on how to use AI responsibly, understand issues of trust, privacy, and security, and explore practical ways to mitigate AI risks.

The event provided a platform for participants to learn about various AI tools relevant to research and teaching, understand how to prevent AI companies from using their data to train models, and engage with the ethical considerations involved in using AI systems.

Participants were also placed into three breakout groups to practise what they learned and to ask further questions.

Importantly, attendees were given a preview of upcoming NewsAssist AI features specifically designed for researchers—tools that many expressed strong interest in trying.

Highlights

Out of 233 applicants, we selected 36 professionals from more than 10 countries, including the United Kingdom, United States, United Arab Emirates, India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Niger Republic and Malaysia, among others.

Participants came from different disciplines such as computer science, media, engineering and the social sciences. We had a mix of professors, heads of departments, lecturers, secondary school teachers, online education mentors and researchers.

The cross border participation highlighted the importance of international perspectives in shaping trusted use of AI technologies in the education sector.

All selected participants had not attended JournoTECH training before, so they were excited to learn about the organisation, its impact and its plans for future features designed for diverse groups.

We are also grateful to Tatiana Dia from SPRITE+, who attended the event and introduced participants to several opportunities they could explore through SPRITE+.

Key Discussions

The main purpose of the training was to equip participants with the knowledge to mitigate AI risks, use a range of AI tools effectively, understand lesser known tools for research and classroom settings and explore the ethical concerns around the use of AI.

Trainers:

• Elfredah Kevin Alerechi, Founder of JournoTECH and lead trainer, focused on AI tools for educators, understanding algorithmic bias in AI detectors and how to stop personal data from being used to train AI models.

• Rebecca Bird, Founder of BixBe Tech, focused on AI security and privacy

• Wendy Amexo, Founder of TechJumpstart Hub CIC, focused on ethical considerations and the use of AI in research and classrooms

Outcomes/outputs

Participants learnt:

• AI tools for classroom teaching and research

• AI tools used to detect AI generated content and the importance of caution because these tools are not always accurate

• Ethical considerations, policy and regulation around AI

• AI privacy and risk mitigation

• Ways to prevent AI companies from using personal data to train models

• Practical demonstrations of NewsAssist AI’s upcoming features designed for educators and researchers

Findings:

• On a scale of 1 to 5, participants’ knowledge increased from level 1 to level 4 after the training on AI policy, tools, ethics and privacy.

• Many participants who previously had no understanding of how AI detectors work learned about algorithmic bias, how detectors make decisions and how to interpret their outputs.

• Participants’ knowledge improved from level 1 to 4 on how to stop AI models such as ChatGPT from training on their data, with live demonstrations provided by the JournoTECH founder, Elfredah Kevin-Alerechi.

• Participants’ understanding grew from level 1 to 5 on when to use AI, the ethical issues around AI and global policy considerations, explained by Wendy Amexo.

• Participants’ knowledge increased from level 2 to 5 on techniques and patterns to get the best results from conversational AI such as Gemini, Copilot and ChatGPT, strengthening their prompt engineering skills, taught by JournoTECH founder  Elfredah Kevin-Alerechi.

•  Participants' knowledge increased from 1-4 on privacy concerns related to AI issues and mitigated, explained by Rebecca Bird, BixBe Tech Founder.

Outcomes and Impact:

• Knowledge exchange: Participants gained a deeper understanding of AI trust, ethical challenges, privacy settings and how to make the best use of AI tools

• Visibility of SPRITE+: The introduction to SPRITE+ generated strong interest and engagement

• Cross border networking: Participants from several countries connected and exchanged ideas

• Practical relevance: Lessons were directly applicable to participants’ daily work and professional contexts

 Next Steps:

• Provide certificates based on attendance

• Produce an educational guide for researchers and academics on AI technology, security, privacy and ethics, to be published in 2026

• Seek funding to conduct further research on issues identified through the event

• Organise follow up training workshops on AI trust, privacy and security for sectors we have not yet reached such as health, students and others across the world

• Continue collaborating with SPRITE+ on knowledge sharing and engagement where opportunities arise.