This year’s Ruth First Scholar

This year’s Ruth First Scholar (2026-27)

Chimwemwe Liwonde is from Malawi. He has a BSc in Computing and Information Systems from the University of Greenwich (taught by the National College of Information Technology in Blantyre). For his final-year project, in collaboration with the Federation of Disability Organizations in Malawi, he developed an innovative low-cost AI-driven system enabling people with motor disabilities to control a computer with eye movements. His innovation has been taken up by UNIPOD (the University of Malawi innovation hub) and has won the Best Social Impact Award at the National ICT Innovation Awards. Chimwemwe hopes to see the system deployed in rehabilitation centres and other spaces where it can be accessed by people with motor disabilities. Watch the system in action in this video.

At Durham Chimwemwe is taking an MSc in Advanced Computer Science (Artificial Intelligence). He is a member of St Chad’s College, which supports the scholarship by providing subsidized accommodation for all Ruth First Scholars. His goal is to establish an AI for Accessibility Lab at UNIPOD and become a leader in assistive technology. He says: “My life’s work is to give a digital voice to those silenced by disability. This scholarship is the catalyst that will allow me to turn technical innovation into a movement for social justice.”