María José Ogando Portela is the COO of Fab Inc, an education consultancy, and leads the AI-for-Education.org initiative, dedicated to leveraging AI to improve learning in low- and middle-income countries. With over 15 years of experience, she combines academic experience with hands-on government advisory roles. She has held positions such as researcher at the Young Lives study (Oxford University) and advisor to the Rwandan government, where she was seconded to the National Institute of Statistics.

María José has co-led several research and evaluation projects, including a USAID-funded study on Time-on-Task in Rwanda and several studies as part of the Independent Evaluation of the Girls’ Education Challenge. Her current focus is on quality assurance and benchmarking of AI Edtech tools and leading the development and piloting of AI-based solutions for education, including a chatbot to support teachers in Sierra Leone, and to assist school supervisors in preparing for their school visits.