On April 28th, 2025, the HeadStart project team gathered in Lisbon for our latest partner meeting, hosted by our wonderful Portuguese partner, Inspiring Girls Portugal.
Our arrival coincided with a major and unexpected power outage that swept across Portugal & Spain, plunging all of Lisbon into chaos. Public transport stalled, traffic lights went dark, cafés & shops shut their doors, and communications were disrupted. The outage created an atmosphere of uncertainty and disruption that was a striking reminder of how deeply we rely on energy infrastructure — and how fragile it can be.
Rather than let the disruption derail us, the Headstart team saw an opportunity. The blackout sparked conversations about AI's energy demands and ethical responsibilities, leading us to revise our Headstart module on Ethics to include new content on the wider impact of AI, resource usage, and energy consumption. The unexpected event served as a powerful, real-time case study that grounded our work in immediate, real-world relevance and underscored how critical it is for future AI leaders to understand the broader social and environmental contexts in which technology operates.
Throughout Tuesday, our partners convened in the heart of the city at the vibrant Casa do Impacto — a hub for social innovation and entrepreneurship, based in the historic Convento de São Pedro de Alcântara. The space offered the perfect environment for creativity, collaboration, and big-picture thinking — to refine project resources, share insights from our national contexts, and plan the next phases of our mentoring, networking and outreach activities.
The Headstart project remains committed to empowering young women with the knowledge, skills, and critical thinking they need to lead the future of AI — and to do so ethically and sustainably.
Stay tuned for more updates as we continue building a more inclusive, ethical, and resilient AI future!