UK IGF 2021 SPEAKERS

Benjamin Mueller is a senior policy analyst at the Center for Data Innovation, focusing on AI and technology governance. Prior to joining the Center he was chief of staff at a financial technology company in London. Dr. Mueller studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics at the University of Oxford, and completed a PhD in International Relations at the London School of Economics.

Chenai Chair is the Special Advisor on Africa Mradi Innovation at Mozilla Foundation. She is an expert on the intersection of digital technology and gender. She has built her expertise with extensive experience in work that is focused on understanding the impact of technology in society through research and public policy assessment. Her work draws on principles of feminism in assessing digital technology.
She has developed projects focused on privacy, data protection and AI as Mozilla 2019/2020 fellow – available on mydatarights.africa. She also led the research on Women’s Rights Online as the Web Foundation’s gender and digital rights research manager. She is currently an Internet Governance Forum Multistakeholder Advisory Group Member and a steering Image in folder committee member for The Center for International Governance Innovation’s work on assessing online Gender Based Violence.

Seyi Akiwowo is a multi-award winning founder and CEO of Glitch. Seyi founded the charity during her time as a local politician in East London (2014-2018), after she faced hideous online abuse and violence. Using her lived experience and expertise, Seyi co-designs practical solutions with Governments, NGOs, UN Human Rights Council and tech companies to protect public online public spaces from hate and abuse.
In 2020 George Washington University appointed Seyi a Knight Fellow of the Institute for Data, Democracy and Politics and also sits on the Guardian Council of Yoti and 20:40. Seyi is an expert workshop and training designer and facilitator, delivering training for over 10 years on political leadership, democracy and inclusion in the UK, Kuwait, Uganda, Montenegro and the UAE.
Before Glitch, Seyi was elected as the youngest Black female Councillor in East London at age 23 and now has over 10 years’ experience working in government and policy and the charity sectors both in the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa. Seyi has delivered talks at TEDx London, European Parliament, The United Nations and has written several critical pieces for the Telegraph, Marie Claire and Huffington Post. She’s also London School of Economics Alumni and Gates Foundation Global Goalkeeper.science from Stanford University.

Hera is the Founder and CEO of CHAYN – a global nonprofit that creates resources on the web to address gender-based violence. Chayn’s multi-lingual resources, designed with not for survivors, have reached more than 400 000 people. Raised in Pakistan and living in the UK, Hera knew from early on she wanted to tackle violence against women. She believes in using the power of open source technology, trauma-informed design and hope-filled framing to solve the world’s pressing issues. Hera was on the Forbes 30 Under 30 and MIT Technology Review’s Innovators Under 35 list.

Dr. Hosein Badran holds the position of Director, Internet Growth and Trust, with the Internet Society, based in Ottawa, Canada. He is a member of the North American Network Operators Group (NANOG) Education Committee, and the Canadian Forum for Digital Infrastructure Resilience (CFDIR), established by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED). He is a co-author of the final report of the Canadian Multi-stakeholder Initiative on IoT Security: “Enhancing IoT Security: Final Outcomes and Recommendations”.
He has been a member of the Steering Committee of the Arab IGF since its inception in 2010, overseeing the program content for the annual event, and was the Chair of the Program Committee of the Canadian IGF 2020.
During his carrier of over 25 years as C-level expert, he spent 14 years with Cisco Systems as Distinguished Systems Architect and Regional Chief Technology Officer as a member of the Cisco CTO Office. Before joining the Internet Society, he spent three years as Director, Special Projects and Innovation, at Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI), a member of Qatar Foundation, in Doha, Qatar, where he led projects dealing with machine learning and data-driven optimization in different national socio-economic initiatives including smart transportation, e-health, aviation, and cybersecurity. He worked also with Nortel Networks in Ottawa, Canada, FORE Systems (now Ericsson) in Dubai, and Siemens AG in Munich, Germany.

Alain Durand currently serves as Principal Technologist at ICANN, where his responsibilities include applying expert technical knowledge and experience to improve ICANN’s technical capabilities and stature. Alain has done extensive research into Non-IP Networking (NIN) and New IP and has past experience of working on IPv6 as well as in working with various entities using IP for communication.

Lise has been ETNO’s Director General since January 2016. On behalf of the Association, she is also a Board and an Administrative Committee member in ECSO, the European Cybersecurity Organisation. Prior to joining ETNO, she was Chief Operating Officer of DK Hostmaster and DIFO, the company managing the .dk domain name. In the period between September 2014 and December 2015, she also chaired the Cross Community Working Group for the IANA Stewardship Transition, building on her strong network within the internet community.
Lise has 20+ years of experience in the telecoms industry. She started her career at the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology & Innovation (1996-2000) where she wrote and implemented regulation for the telecommunication markets. After that, she worked for the telecoms operator Telia Networks (2000-2009), where she led various teams dealing with issues as diverse as interconnection agreements, mobile services and industry cooperation.

Alissa Cooper is Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Technology Policy and a Fellow at Cisco Systems. Her work advances the state of the art at the intersection of engineering, policy, and technical standards.
She previously served as Vice President of Technology Standards at Cisco and in a variety of leadership roles in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), including serving as IETF Chair from 2017 to 2021. She also served as the chair of the IANA Stewardship Coordination Group (ICG) from 2014 to 2016. At Cisco she was responsible for driving privacy and policy strategy within the company’s portfolio of real-time collaboration products before being appointed as IETF Chair.
Prior to joining Cisco, Alissa served as the Chief Computer Scientist at the Center for Democracy and Technology, where she was a leading public interest advocate and technologist on issues related to privacy, net neutrality, and technical standards. Alissa holds a PhD from the Oxford Internet Institute and MS and BS degrees in computer science from Stanford University.

Dr. Hosein Badran holds the position of Director, Internet Growth and Trust, with the Internet Society, based in Ottawa, Canada. He is a member of the North American Network Operators Group (NANOG) Education Committee, and the Canadian Forum for Digital Infrastructure Resilience (CFDIR), established by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED). He is a co-author of the final report of the Canadian Multi-stakeholder Initiative on IoT Security: “Enhancing IoT Security: Final Outcomes and Recommendations”.
He has been a member of the Steering Committee of the Arab IGF since its inception in 2010, overseeing the program content for the annual event, and was the Chair of the Program Committee of the Canadian IGF 2020.
During his carrier of over 25 years as C-level expert, he spent 14 years with Cisco Systems as Distinguished Systems Architect and Regional Chief Technology Officer as a member of the Cisco CTO Office. Before joining the Internet Society, he spent three years as Director, Special Projects and Innovation, at Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI), a member of Qatar Foundation, in Doha, Qatar, where he led projects dealing with machine learning and data-driven optimization in different national socio-economic initiatives including smart transportation, e-health, aviation, and cybersecurity. He worked also with Nortel Networks in Ottawa, Canada, FORE Systems (now Ericsson) in Dubai, and Siemens AG in Munich, Germany.

Alain Durand currently serves as Principal Technologist at ICANN, where his responsibilities include applying expert technical knowledge and experience to improve ICANN’s technical capabilities and stature. Alain has done extensive research into Non-IP Networking (NIN) and New IP and has past experience of working on IPv6 as well as in working with various entities using IP for communication.

Lise has been ETNO’s Director General since January 2016. On behalf of the Association, she is also a Board and an Administrative Committee member in ECSO, the European Cybersecurity Organisation. Prior to joining ETNO, she was Chief Operating Officer of DK Hostmaster and DIFO, the company managing the .dk domain name. In the period between September 2014 and December 2015, she also chaired the Cross Community Working Group for the IANA Stewardship Transition, building on her strong network within the internet community.
Lise has 20+ years of experience in the telecoms industry. She started her career at the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology & Innovation (1996-2000) where she wrote and implemented regulation for the telecommunication markets. After that, she worked for the telecoms operator Telia Networks (2000-2009), where she led various teams dealing with issues as diverse as interconnection agreements, mobile services and industry cooperation.

Alissa Cooper is Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Technology Policy and a Fellow at Cisco Systems. Her work advances the state of the art at the intersection of engineering, policy, and technical standards.
She previously served as Vice President of Technology Standards at Cisco and in a variety of leadership roles in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), including serving as IETF Chair from 2017 to 2021. She also served as the chair of the IANA Stewardship Coordination Group (ICG) from 2014 to 2016. At Cisco she was responsible for driving privacy and policy strategy within the company’s portfolio of real-time collaboration products before being appointed as IETF Chair.
Prior to joining Cisco, Alissa served as the Chief Computer Scientist at the Center for Democracy and Technology, where she was a leading public interest advocate and technologist on issues related to privacy, net neutrality, and technical standards. Alissa holds a PhD from the Oxford Internet Institute and MS and BS degrees in computer science from Stanford University.

Yih-Choung Teh is Group Director, Strategy and Research at Ofcom, and also has interim responsibility for Ofcom’s Technology Group. The Strategy and Research Group’s role is to ensure that Ofcom has a deep understanding of consumers’ use of communications services through research and analysis of industry trends, and to develop insight which informs Ofcom’s overarching strategy.
He has previously been a Director in Ofcom’s Competition Group, working on issues including Ofcom’s strategy to encourage investment in telecoms infrastructure, and overseeing Ofcom’s broadcasting and media competition programme.
Before joining Ofcom, Yih-Choung worked for a strategy consultancy in the telecoms sector, providing policy and strategy advice to public and private sector clients globally. Prior to that he held an academic research post in the University of Oxford.

Dr Louise Bennett has worked with computers for fifty years. The first half of her career was as a scientist in overseas aid and defence and the second half as an IT and R&D Director in science-based companies (Thorn EMI, Logica, AEA Technology, Vivas, DPA).
She currently does a portfolio of jobs including major project reviews, government advisory work and as a charity trustee. She is a Director of the Digital Policy Alliance, Co–Chair of the Privacy and Consumer Advisory Group to the Cabinet Office and DCMS, a member of the Management Board of IAAC (Information Assurance Advisory Council). She also chaired the BCS Security Community and Identity Assurance Working Group for 14 years until 2018.
Her work focuses on: Identity and Privacy online, Internet safety, education and trust; strategic and corporate governance; the exploitation of new technology and risk management. Her latest work includes: identity assurance and payments on the internet, trust in online identities, sponsorship for PAS 1296 on Age verification (now being upgraded to an ISO standard sponsored by DCMS), developing resilient organisations, from environmental, security and privacy perspectives.

Joyce Hakmeh is a research fellow at Chatham House, where she leads the institution’s work on cyber policy issues. She is also co-editor of the Journal of Cyber Policy and sits on the Advisory Board of the Global Forum on Cyber Expertise (GFCE). Joyce’s work on cybersecurity and cybercrime is regularly published and she currently leads regional research projects in the Commonwealth and Gulf Cooperation Council countries, as well as a project on cybersecurity in India. Beyond this, Joyce is working on several cyber simulation exercises for financial institutions, as well as law enforcement and technology companies.
Previously, Joyce worked for the United Nations, the International Federation of the Red Cross and various non-profit organisations. Her areas of expertise include cybercrime, cybersecurity, rule of law and good governance, international criminal justice, and human rights. Joyce received her MA in International Law from SOAS the University of London.

Dr Victoria Baines is a leading authority in the field of online trust, safety and cybersecurity. She provides research expertise to a number of international organisations, including Interpol, UNICEF and the Council of Europe. Victoria is co-host of the award-nominated Cyber Warrior Princess podcast, demystifying cybersecurity for a popular audience. She regularly addresses both specialist and non-specialist audiences, and has been named as one of the top 25 women in cybersecurity (IT Guru & SC Magazine).
For several years Victoria was Facebook’s Trust & Safety Manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa. Her work focused on operational support to law enforcement, and strategic engagement with policy makers on criminal activity online. Before joining Facebook, Victoria led the Strategy team at Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3), where she was responsible for the EU’s cyber threat analysis. She designed and developed the iOCTA, Europe’s flagship threat assessment on cybercrime, and authored 2020, scenarios for the future of cybercrime that were the basis for a successful short film series of the same name.
Prior to this, Victoria was Principal Analyst at the UK Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), the forerunner of the National Crime Agency. She began her career in law enforcement in 2005 as a Higher Intelligence Analyst for Surrey Police. In 2008, the International Association for Law Enforcement Intelligence Analysts recognised Victoria’s work with a global award for outstanding achievement. Victoria serves on the Advisory Boards of cybersecurity provider Reliance ACSN and the International Association of Internet Hotlines (INHOPE), and is a trustee of the Lucy Faithfull Foundation. She is a graduate of Trinity College, Oxford and holds a doctorate from the University of Nottingham, UK. She is a Visiting Fellow at Bournemouth University’s School of Computing.

Ana Yang is the executive director for the Chatham House Sustainability Accelerator. Her interests focus on how to drive change for a fairer and more sustainable future. Ana has strong interdisciplinary work experience and is now working on understanding how finance and innovation can enable the deep sustainability transition.
Prior to Chatham House, Ana worked at the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, where she led the land use and finance workstream of the Climate Change Programme. Between 2005 to 2008, she was the executive director of FSC Brazil’s Forest Stewardship Initiative and later joined the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) Sustainable Business Advisory team, advising companies and investors on impact investments in the Amazon.
She is now chair of the board of Instituto Clima e Sociedade (iCS), a grant-making organisation based in Brazil focused on climate change and social development. Ana has a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Fundacao Getulio Vargas and holds an MSc in Social Policy and Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Emma leads the data centre programme for technology sector trade body techUK, representing the interests of operators to Government and other stakeholders. She influences policy, mitigates compliance burdens, alerts the sector to risks and manages specialist groups, including the UK Council of Data Centre Operators.
She negotiated a Climate Change Agreement for the sector in 2014, worth over £200M to UK operators and continues to lobby hard on behalf of the industry on issues ranging from energy costs to regulatory compliance. In 2020 she negotiated key worker status, protection for construction sites and quarantine exemption for data centre staff and contractors during COVID-19 and continues to work closely with UK government on sector resilience.
She produces reports, policy responses, white papers, briefings and infographics on topics from generator emissions to Brexit. Emma’s key priorities include sustainability and resilience. Recent outputs include a Sector Energy Routemap, a discussion paper on the challenges of attributing carbon to cloud services, a sector market overview and a discussion paper on construction trends.
She has recently been appointed to the Board of the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact and is working closely with the European Commission on common objectives. Emma is a recipient of three prestigious awards, is a regular speaker at industry events and sits on three international judging panels.

Michael J. Oghia is a Belgrade-based consultant, editor, researcher, speaker, and ICT sustainability advocate working within the digital policy & infrastructure, Internet governance, and media development ecosystems. He is a third-culture kid (TCK) and a connector at heart with more than a decade of professional experience in conflict resolution, journalism & media, policy, and development across five countries: The United States, Lebanon, India, Turkey, and Serbia.

Victoria Nash is the Director, an Associate Professor, and Senior Policy Fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute (OII). Her research interests draw on her background as a political theorist and concern the normative policy implications of evidence characterising children’s use of Internet technologies.

Victoria’s recent projects have included an analysis of age verification policies as a tool for balancing the interests of children and adults online, and a review of the risks and harms faced by children online. She is currently concluding a funded research project examining the concept of the ‘algorithmic child’ and the data risks posed to children by connected toys and the Internet of Things.

She holds several digital policy advisory roles, including membership of the UK Government’s multi-stakeholder UK Council on Internet Safety (UKCIS) Evidence Group, and serves on the Advisory Board of COADEC. She is also Course Director of the OII’s annual course for digital policy-makers, the Internet Leadership Academy and the Summer Doctoral Programme for international PhD students.

Prior to joining the OII in 2002, Vicki was a Research Fellow at the Institute of Public Policy Research. She received her D.Phil in Politics from Nuffield College, Oxford University in 1999, having completed an M.Phil in Politics from Magdalen College in 1996, and a BA (Hons) Degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics before this.

Orla MacRae is currently working as the Deputy Director, Online Harms Regulation at the Department for Digital Culture, Media and Sport. She has previously worked as Head of Services and Digital Market Access for the Department for Exiting the European Union and, before this, as Head of Cyber Strategy and Business Engagement and Head of Private Sector Engagement, Cyber Security in the Department for Digital Culture Media and Sport.

Alan Rusbridger is the Principal at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, Chair of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, former Editor-in-Chief of The Guardian and currently a member of the Facebook Oversight Board. His academic awards include recognition by universities such as Harvard, CUNY, Oslo, Lincoln, Coventry, Kingston and the Open University.

In 2014, he was a recipient of the Right Livelihood Award in Stockholm – the so-called “alternative Nobel Prize”. The Guardian’s coverage of surveillance by western intelligence agencies was recognised with the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2014. Educated at Cambridge University, he has also written children’s books and a screenplay. He is the author of ‘Play it Again’; and ‘Breaking News: The Remaking of Journalism and Why it Matters Now’. He was a member of the Scott Trust, which owns The Guardian, served as a board member of the Royal National Theatre in London and currently serves on the Board of the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Dr Damian Tambini is Distinguished Policy Fellow in the Department of Media and Communications at LSE, where he also serves as Programme Director for the MSc Media and Communications (Governance). Dr Tambini is an expert in media and communications regulation and policy, and active in policymaking as well as academic research.

From 2014-2015 he served on the UK Government Expert Panel advising on the value of electromagnetic spectrum. He was called to give evidence to the Leveson Inquiry in 2012, and from 2009-2010 he served on the Communications Consumer Panel, a non-executive role at the communications regulator Ofcom. Dr Tambini was inaugural Director of the Media Policy Project. From June 2002-August 2006 Dr Tambini was Head of the Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy at Oxford University.

Dr Tambini’s research interests include media and telecommunications policy and democratic communication.