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Applications Are Open For The 2025 WiSER Pioneers Program
The initiative offers women professionals from around the globe the chance to join a 1-year program focused on sustainability and leadership.
The Women in Sustainability, Environment, and Renewable Energy (WiSER) initiative, created by Masdar and the Zayed Sustainability Prize, has officially opened applications for its 2025 WiSER Pioneers Program.
Focused on empowering women to lead the global shift toward a net-zero future, the WiSER Pioneers Program provides participants with the skills and knowledge required to drive impactful change.
Originally launched in 2018, the year-long program offers women from around the world access to specialized educational workshops and global networking opportunities with industry experts, aiming to help them achieve their untapped potential. Since its inception, over 130 women from more than 30 countries have successfully completed WiSER Pioneers.

Dr. Lamya Fawwaz, Program Director of WiSER, said: “The Pioneers Program is a cornerstone of WiSER’s enduring commitment to empowering young women with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to lead the charge toward a sustainable future. Since its inception in October 2018, the Pioneers Program has been equipping participants to become bold leaders in the global energy transition and creating a supportive community of talented sustainability professionals”.
The program is open to women between the ages of 25 and 35 who have at least two years of work experience and hold a degree in a field related to the environment, energy, sustainability, or STEM disciplines. Applicants must be currently employed or self-employed.
The WiSER Pioneers Program is designed to offer a broad range of activities aimed at building skills, advancing careers, and fostering connections. Key components of the course include tailored workshops and training sessions that focus on sustainability, clean energy, and leadership development.
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Participants in the program also get to engage in the annual WiSER Cares initiative, which focuses on community development through cultural exchange. For example, in 2024, 18 participants took part in a five-day program on adaptive agriculture in Marrakesh, Morocco.
In addition, WiSER is an active participant in major global sustainability events such as Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW) and the COP conferences. These events offer participants valuable opportunities to learn, contribute to critical discussions, and network with global industry leaders, policymakers, and sustainability professionals.
To apply for a place on the WiSER Pioneers Program, head to the website.
News
At I/O 2026, Sundar Pichai Concedes AI Must Deliver Real Value
Gemini 3.5, a personal agent called Spark, agentic shopping, and Android XR eyewear are all aimed at making AI feel useful, not just impressive.
Google’s annual I/O developer conference (I/O 2026) has recently become a status update on the same question: can the company turn its AI spending into products people use every day? This year, chief executive Sundar Pichai described Google as being in a phase of hyper progress, while conceding this is the part of the cycle where people want to see real value in the products they use on a day-to-day basis.
The strategy on display was to push agents — AI systems that act on a user’s behalf — into nearly every Google product at once. Search now has an “intelligent search box” that returns generated explainer videos alongside links. Gmail, Docs, YouTube and Maps are gaining their own agent layers, including a Docs Live feature that turns spoken instructions into drafted text with citations.
Two new models, Gemini 3.5 and a cheaper Gemini 3.5 Flash, arrived the same day. Google says 900 million people now use Gemini, and that more than 50 billion images have been generated with it. The pricing tier names are likely to confuse buyers: a new AI Ultra plan launches at $100 a month, while the older Gemini AI Ultra drops from $250 to $200.
The flashier announcements were Gemini Omni, a video generator pitched as a more realistic answer to OpenAI’s discontinued Sora 2, and Gemini Spark, a personal agent that handles recurring tasks across a user’s Google account. A new universal shopping cart lets agents complete purchases across multiple retailers from inside Google itself, placing the company between the merchant and the buyer, and also owning the checkout.
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Google also confirmed its Android XR eyewear, built with Samsung and frames from Warby Parker and Gentle Monster. Audio-only glasses ship this autumn; a display-equipped version, which would superimpose live translations into the wearer’s field of view, is still in development. Both sets translate, however only the display version shows you the result.
What Pichai did not resolve is the bargain underneath all this. An agent is only useful to the degree it knows your calendar, your inbox, your shopping history and your physical surroundings. Google has now confirmed that, in time, the same context may carry advertising.
