Conversation With Audrey Tang

Tuesday, September 3 // 1:30–2:30 pm (ET)

Join the Wilson Center for a virtual conversation with Audrey Tang, a TIME100 “Most Influential People in AI” honoree, Taiwan’s 1st digital minister and the world’s 1st nonbinary cabinet minister (2016-2024).

As a child, Tang practiced Taoism to moderate all strong emotions to survive a cardiac condition. After attending 10 educational institutions in 10 years, she left formal schooling to pursue self-education at age 14. In her 20s, Tang rose to prominence as a leader in free and open-source software, revitalizing the Haskell and Perl programming languages. During her 30s, Tang played a crucial role in shaping g0v (gov-zero), one of the most prominent civic tech movements worldwide. In 2014, she helped broadcast the demands of Sunflower Movement activists, and worked to resolve conflicts during a three-week occupation of Taiwan’s Legislature.

Tang became a reverse mentor to the minister in charge of digital participation, before holding the role from 2016 to 2024 during the Tsai Ing-wen administration. Tang helped develop participatory democracy platforms such as vTaiwan and Join, bringing civic innovation into the public sector through initiatives like the Presidential Hackathon and Ideathon. Other accomplishments for Tang include shaping Taiwan’s internationally acclaimed COVID-19 response, as well as safeguarding the country’s 2024 presidential and legislative elections from cyber interference.

STILL TO Come THIS MONTH

The Role of China in Africa's Just Energy Transition

Monday, September 9 // 10:00 –11:15 am (ET)

Join us on September 9 for an expert panel featuring lawyers who have been working to integrate environmental justice in Chinese overseas investments, particularly in mining and off-grid coal-fired power plants in South Africa, Ghana, Uganda, and Malawi. They will share their stories of legal cases, watchdog work, and engagement with Chinese companies. Environmental Lawyer Jingjing Zhang (Center for Transnational Environmental Accountability, CTEA) will introduce the speakers who are part of a CTEA fellowship group visiting Washington D.C.

Mexico’s Constitutional Reforms Conference | Implications to US-MX Relations

Wednesday, September 11 // 1:00 –5:00 pm (ET)

This conference will delve into the far-reaching consequences of Mexico’s proposed constitutional reforms, with a particular focus on the judicial reform, electoral reform, and autonomous agencies reform, as well as other reforms with economic implications for Mexico and the United States. The discussions will revolve around how such constitutional changes could reshape the nation's democracy and financial outlook and influence U.S.-Mexico relations.

Work-In-Progress Screening | “School for Girls,” a Documentary about Afghanistan

Thursday, September 12 // 3:00 –4:30 pm (ET)

The Wilson Center’s Middle East Program (MEP), the Middle East Women’s Initiative (MEWI), and the South Asia Institute is pleased to host a closed, work-in-progress screening of the documentary “School for Girls.” MEWI promotes the empowerment of women in the region through an open and inclusive dialogue with women leaders from the Middle East and continuous research. Directed and produced by EMMY award-winning Shannon Taylor, "School for Girls" is an hour-long documentary intricately weaving the parallel narratives of two groups of teenage girls—one in San Diego and the other in Afghanistan—bound by their shared struggle for education and their courageous pursuit of a better future.