Part of the IFPRI Webinar Series – AI for Food Systems Research
From the original IFRI webinar page: As artificial intelligence tools become more common in research workflows, qualitative researchers face both new opportunities and critical challenges. Can AI support interpretive and nuanced research? What risks might it introduce—and how can researchers remain attentive to nuance, positionality and power?
This webinar explores the use of AI in qualitative research. Drawing on her experience as a qualitative researcher, her experimentation with AI, and insights from existing literature, Evangelia Berdou of Agulhas Applied Knowledge shares reflections on how AI can complement qualitative analysis, highlight its current limitations, and outline key challenges researchers must navigate when integrating AI into their workflows.
Ruth Meinzen-Dick joins the conversation to reflect on the role of qualitative and participatory methods in CGIAR’s research tradition. She shares insights into how these approaches have supported more inclusive and grounded forms of knowledge production, and what is at stake as new technologies are adopted.
Together, the speakers explore how AI might reshape qualitative research practices, and what it means to use these tools responsibly in contexts of social and institutional complexity.
Speaker: Evangelia Berdou, Digital & AI Integration Lead, Agulhas Applied Knowledge
Discussant: Ruth Meinzen-Dick, Research Fellow Emeritus, IFPRI
Moderator: Eliot Jones Garcia, Senior Research Analyst, IFPRI