The Accelerator Fellowship Programme of the Institute for Ethics in AI, University of Oxford, is delighted to announce that our Fellow, Ambassador Audrey Tang, has been awarded the 2025 Right Livelihood Award. Widely known as the Alternative Nobel Prize, Ambassador Tang has been recognised for her work pioneering the use of frontier technology to advance digital democracy with ethics and transparency.
Ambassador Tang is acknowledged for her work in fostering civic participation and rebuilding trust across political divides. At a time of deep global polarisation, she has demonstrated how technology can be reimagined as a tool for collaboration, openness and human dignity.
For more than four decades, the Right Livelihood Award has honoured courageous individuals and organisations committed to a just, peaceful and sustainable world. This year, Ambassador Tang joins a distinguished line of Laureates including Oleksandra Matviichuk, Dr Denis Mukwege and Bryan Stevenson.
The jury commended Ambassador Tang “for advancing the social use of digital technology to empower citizens, renew democracy and heal divides”.
As Taiwan’s first Digital Minister and now cyber ambassador, Tang has been instrumental in shaping participatory processes such as vTaiwan and declaring broadband a human right. Her methods, forged in the uniquely high-stakes context of Taiwan’s democracy under constant disinformation pressure, have since informed policy and civic innovation worldwide. Today, Tang collaborates with international partners on projects ranging from AI governance at Oxford to platform safety innovations with companies such as Roblox and Bluesky.
Reacting to the Award, Ambassador Tang said:
“The Right Livelihood Award is designed to address the most pressing challenges people and the planet are facing right now. I see this as affirming the particular work that I do: overcoming political polarisation, social media fragmentation and the loss of trust in democratic institutions. Cyberspace is a conflict region, and my work turns that conflict into an energy source for co-creation. It is time we work on peace in this zone.”
Dr Caroline Green, Lead of the Accelerator Fellowship Programme, said:
“We warmly congratulate Audrey on receiving the Right Livelihood Award for her remarkable work in advancing digital democracy and social trust. Her leadership as Taiwan’s first Digital Minister and as a globally recognised civic innovator demonstrates what can be achieved through collaboration across governments, academia and technology. We look forward to celebrating with her in Oxford in the coming weeks, and to supporting her continued work as one of our Accelerator Fellows.”
The 2025 Laureates will be honoured during a televised Award Presentation in Stockholm on 2 December.
Later this autumn, Ambassador Tang will also return to Oxford to host an Expert Insights event. In addition, she and Dr Green will announce a new project on Civic AI entitled 6-Pack of Care, details of which will be shared in the coming weeks.
Notes for Editors
Ambassador Audrey Tang is available for interviews. For more information, please contact: aiethicscomms@philosophy.ox.ac.uk
About the University of Oxford
Oxford University has been placed number 1 in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for the ninth year running, and number 3 in the QS World Rankings 2024. At the heart of this success are the twin-pillars of our ground-breaking research and innovation and our distinctive educational offer.
Oxford is world-famous for research and teaching excellence and home to some of the most talented people from across the globe. Our work helps the lives of millions, solving real-world problems through a huge network of partnerships and collaborations. The breadth and interdisciplinary nature of our research alongside our personalised approach to teaching sparks imaginative and inventive insights and solutions.
Through its research commercialisation arm, Oxford University Innovation, Oxford is the highest university patent filer in the UK and is ranked first in the UK for university spinouts, having created more than 300 new companies since 1988. Over a third of these companies have been created in the past five years. The university is a catalyst for prosperity in Oxfordshire and the United Kingdom, contributing £15.7 billion to the UK economy in 2018/19, and supports more than 28,000 full time jobs.
