Dr. Nii Quaynor pioneered Internet development and expansion throughout Africa for nearly two decades, establishing some of Africa's first Internet connections and helping set up key organizations, including the African Network Operators Group. He also was the founding chairman of AfriNIC, the African Internet numbers registry. He earned a PhD in Computer Science in 1977, from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and helped establish the Computer Science Department at the University of Cape Coast in Ghana, where he has taught since 1979. He was the first African to be elected to the board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and served as an at-large director of ICANN for the African region from 2000 to 2003. Dr. Quaynor was a member of the United Nations Secretary General Advisory Group on ICT, Chair of the OAU Internet Task Force and President of the Internet Society of Ghana. In 2007, the Internet Society awarded him the Jonathan B. Postel Service Award for his pioneering work in advancing the Internet in Africa. He is a member of the IGF Multi-Stakeholder Advisory Group (MAG).

(Bio from Internet Hall of Fame)

Judith Okonkwo is a Technology Evangelist, Business Psychologist and Organisation Development Consultant with experience working in Africa, Asia and Europe. She sits on the Board of the European Organisation Design Forum, advises Startups, not-for-profits and SMEs on emerging technologies and is a guest lecturer at several HEIs. She is also the creator of the Oriki Coaching Model™ and a co-founder of We Will Lead Africa. Judith is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society.

In 2016 Judith set up Imìsí 3D a creation lab in Lagos focused on building the African ecosystem for extended reality technologies (AR/VR/MR), and connecting XR communities across the continent. The lab provides learning opportunities and access to XR resources for creators and enthusiasts, while supporting engagement and adoption by the wider community, and consulting and content creation for clients. In 2018 she set up AR/VR Africa which holds large XR events on the continent, the most recent - the 2020 AR/VR Africa hackathon - had participants from 27 African countries. Judith is especially passionate about the adaptation of immersive technologies to create solutions on the continent, particularly low/mid cost virtual reality, for education, healthcare and storytelling. Imìsí 3D’s most recent VR film production Lagos At Large made the Forbes list of the Top 50 XR Experiences of 2019.

Judith is a current member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council for Augmented and Virtual Reality.

About Imìsí 3D
Imìsí 3D is an Extended Reality (XR) creation lab focused on building the African XR ecosystem. We are dedicated to growing a community of African AR/VR creators, creating solutions using AR/VR, and providing educational and engagement experiences with AR/VR. We see huge potential for AR/VR as a tool for creating everyday solutions and intend to change the technology narrative so that here we become creators and not just consumers of technology.

We are future thinking and committed to being responsible ancestors, creating a better world for today and tomorrow.

Social Media
Twitter: @judithoko; @imisi3d; @arvrafrica
Instagram: @jay.oaks; @imisi3d; @arvrafrica

Videos of Imìsí 3D’s work
https://youtu.be/0v1h-nWHIRc Digital Conservation workshop, a partnership between Imisi 3D and Cyark
https://youtu.be/2jTRPZE8_DM Our VR for Schools project
https://youtu.be/7GkUb89Q8mk Our community Meetup ups (January 2019)

Thompson Chengeta is a European Council Research Fellow on Drone Violence and Artificial Intelligence Ethics where he leads research on autonomous weapon systems. From an ethical and legal standpoint, Thompson provides a multi-disciplinary analysis of autonomous weapon systems, their development, potential deployment and related governance/regulation. Dr. Chengeta studied law at Harvard Law School, University of Pretoria (UP) and Midlands State University (MSU). He is a Fellow at the South African Research Chair in International Law, University of Johannesburg (UJ), Adjunct Senior Lecturer at MSU and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Institute of International and Comparative Law in Africa, UP. Thompson has lectured and presented seminars in public international law, international humanitarian law, international human rights law and international criminal law at institutions such as MSU, Harvard Law School, Stanford Law School, Emory Law School, UJ and UP. He has published in the above-mentioned fields in peer-reviewed journals such as the Harvard International Law Journal, Brooklyn Journal of International Law and the New York University Journal of International Law and Policy. He is also the author of the hypothetical cases of the Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court Competition that is organised by the Centre for Human Rights and the United Nations (UN) Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

Os Keyes is a researcher and writer at the University of Washington. An inaugural winner of the Ada Lovelace Fellowship, their work examines questions of gender, disability, race and power in technoscience.

Araba Sey is a Principal Research Scientist at the University of Washington, with projects at the Information School and the Ocean Nexus Center. She is also a Senior Research Fellow at Research ICT Africa. Her research examines digital and social inequalities and explores ways to foster diversity and inclusion. She approaches these issues through a variety of lenses including gender digital equality in global, regional and national contexts; trends in the deployment of artificial intelligence for development in Africa; misinformation and disinformation in Africa; and approaches to democratizing knowledge creation through inclusive research design and decision-making processes. She has authored or co-authored books, journal articles and policy papers at the intersection of digital technologies, socio-economic development and gender equality. Recent publications include Taking stock: Gender equality in digital access, skills and leadership; Case studies on AI skills capacity-building and AI in workforce development in Africa and a contribution to the 2020 Government AI Readiness Index report.

Professor Braunack-Mayer is a bioethicist, with considerable experience in the use of qualitative research methods (including deliberative approaches such as Citizens’ Juries) to explore public health issues, including obesity, immunization and pandemics. Annette contributes to a program of research in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander methodologies, and her previous work has included research on the place of privacy and confidentiality in medicine and public health, the role of ethics in the education of medical students, and to the relationship between ethics and health technology assessment.

Annette's research, teaching and community service combines rigorous and robust analyses of health systems, policies and practices with the views and experiences of community members. Annette is passionate about ensuring that the experiences and views of members of communities contribute to health services, policies and systems. She has brought this commitment to bear in every research, teaching and service activity in which she engages, leading to strong relationships and a familiarity with needs across diverse communities and service providers. She has a particular affinity with rural communities, with strong links to a number of communities in South Australia.

Annette has held short appointments as a Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for Ethics in Medicine at the University of Bristol in the UK and in the Department of Ethics, Philosophy and History of Medicine at Radboud University in the Netherlands.

(Bio image from UOW Scholars and bio adopted from UOW Scholars and University of Adelaide)

Maru Mora Villalpando is an undocumented community organizer and immigrant. She was born and raised in Mexico City. Since she was very young in Mexico, she was involved in protests and marches and supporting work stoppages or strikes. In the U.S., she has spent more than two decades working for racial justice and immigrant rights. Currently, she is a member of La Resistencia, the group’s main focus is to end all detentions and deportations, to shut down the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, WA. Maru is also a founding member of MiJente, a national digital organizing Latinx group. Unlike many other undocumented immigrants, she has been an outspoken organizer and has been upfront about staying in the U.S. after her tourist visa expired. And, in December 2017, Immigration and Customs Enforcement put her in deportation proceedings. Despite these challenges, Mora Villalpando is undeterred and continues her community work. When asked how she would describe herself, she replied “single mom and community organizer.”

(Adopted from 350 Seattle)

Verónica Achá Alvarez is Head of the Department of Social Information Analytics in the Social Information Division of Chile’s Ministry of Social and Family Development. She holds degrees in
computer science and IT from the University of Chile and KTH Sweden and has taught in the Computer Science Department of the University of Chile. Alvarez is currently leading a policy pilot programme deploying UNICEF’s guidance on AI and children at the Ministry of Social and Family Development.

Nushin Isabelle Yazdani is a transformation designer, artist and AI design researcher. She works at the intersection of machine learning, design justice and intersectional feminist practices, and writes about the systems of oppression of the present and the possibilities of just and free futures.

At Superrr Lab, Nushin works as a project manager on creating feminist tech policies. Nushin is also the co-founder of the AI research, advocacy and art platform Dreaming Beyond AI. With her collective dgtl fmnsm, she curates and organizes community events at the intersection of technology, art and design. Nushin has been lecturing at different universities, is a Landecker Democracy Fellow and a member of the Design Justice Network. She has been selected as one of 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics 2021.

https://superrr.net/
https://nushinyazdani.com/

Daniel Cooper Bermúdez is a human rights defender and political scientist specializing in network building and catalyzing innovative and high-impact actions to improve civil society's advocacy work to end crimes against humanity and the Complex Humanitarian Emergency in Venezuela. He directs Civilis Derechos Humanos, an NGO aimed at strengthening over 500 Venezuelan civil society organizations through coalition building and network development in the areas of human rights defense, humanitarian assistance, communications, and electoral conditions. Daniel is the founder and director of Hearts On Venezuela, an organization internationally disseminating analysis, reports, statements, and interviews pertaining to the complex humanitarian emergency in Venezuela, and bridging key gaps in civil society's international advocacy work through international alliance building.

(Bio image from Caracas Chronicles)

Mohan J Dutta is Dean's Chair Professor of Communication. He is the Director of the Center for Culture-Centered Approach to Research and Evaluation (CARE), developing culturally-centered, community-based projects of social change, advocacy, and activism that articulate health as a human right. Mohan Dutta's research examines the role of advocacy and activism in challenging marginalizing structures, the relationship between poverty and health, political economy of global health policies, the mobilization of cultural tropes for the justification of neo-colonial health development projects, and the ways in which participatory culture-centered processes and strategies of radical democracy serve as axes of global social change. Based on his work on healthcare among indigenous communities, sex workers, migrant workers, farmers, and communities living in extreme poverty, Prof. Dutta has developed an approach called the culture-centered approach that outlines culturally-based participatory strategies of radical democracy for addressing unequal healthpolicies. Based on academic-activist collaborations, the culture-centered approach uses fieldwork, resistive strategies for performance and dialogue-based reflexive participation to create entry points for listening to the voices of communities at the global margins. At the core of his research agenda is the activist emphasis on provincializing Eurocentric knowledge structures, and de-centering hegemonic knowledge constructions through subaltern participation.

(Bio image from Massey University)

Salima is a State Counsel assigned to the Directorate of Science, Technology and Innovation from the Ministry of Justice in Sierra Leone. She is a member of the Policy Team which is tasked with proffering legal advice and opinions. Salima holds an LLB (Hons) Degree from The University of Wales (Holborn College) and is practising a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of Sierra Leone. She is also an active member of the Sierra Leone Bar Association and serves as an executive member of LAWYERS a nonprofit organization of female lawyers established for defending the rights of women and children.

(Bio image from DSTI)

Oluwatoyin Sanni is a researcher at the University of Lincoln, where she’s working on solutions that combine Robot learning, Deep learning and Computer vision.

She holds a B.Sc. in Computer Science from the University of Ilorin, Nigeria as well as an MSc in AI and Robotics from Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.

Prior to her Masters' studies, she worked at Andela as a Software Engineer/Technical team lead for various clients in the US and North America.

She is a Google generation Scholar, a Toptal Scholar alumna, and a Grace Hopper Celebration Scholar among others.

In 2017, Oluwatoyin co-founded TechInPink, an organization that was dedicated to helping women embrace a career in tech through mentorship, university boot camps and regular blogposts for newbies.

She was also the co-organizer of the Women in Machine Learning and Data Science, (WiMLDS) Lagos, Nigeria Chapter where she organized various workshops to help more women get into the field of AI. Her involvement with WiMLDS led to the expansion of the organization and the creation of other chapters in Nigeria.

She enjoys speaking on various topics that address Women in tech, Social justice, AI Ethics, AI for Health, diversity in the technology sector and its solutions.

Oluwatoyin has a strong passion for the younger generation and remains an ardent advocate for women in tech. Her fundamental core passion does not stop at the idea of women in tech, it dives deeper to advocating excellence and a strong distaste for mediocrity, thereby propelling more women into long term leadership positions.

Her favourite quote is: "Let your skills speak louder than your gender".

In her spare time, she mentors and volunteers with various organizations dedicated to Minorities such as AfricaCodeWeek, Frauenloop, CodeYourFuture and many more.

You can find more details about her on oluwayetty.com