Language: English

Saiph Savage is an Assistant Professor and Director of the Civic AI Lab at Northeastern University’s Khoury College of Computer Sciences. Her research develops intelligent civic technologies to combat misinformation, organize collective action, and empower gig and rural workers to access better jobs, combining AI with human-centered design. She has collaborated with governments and authored policy briefs through the Federation of American Scientists’ accelerator program.

Previously, Savage worked at Intel Labs, Microsoft Bing, and Stanford’s Crowd Research initiative, and has taught at West Virginia University, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Washington. Her work has been published in top venues including ACM CHI, CSCW, AAAI ICWSM, and the Web Conference, and featured by the BBC, The Economist, and The New York Times.

A recipient of UN and NSF grants, the Google Anita Borg Scholarship, and MIT Technology Review’s “35 Innovators Under 35” honor, Savage also serves as a Fellow at the Center for Democracy and Technology, a technical advisor to Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and a member of ACM SIGCHI’s Latin America Committee.

Nicole Stremlau is Professor of Law and Society in a Digital World and Head of the Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies. Until 2024 she was also Research Professor in the School of Communications at the University of Johannesburg.

Stremlau’s research bridges socio-legal studies, communications/digital technologies, and international development/African Studies. She is the author or editor of several books including Media, Conflict, and the State in Africa (CUP 2018) and Speech and Society in Turbulent Times (CUP 2017). She has co-authored UNESCO’s flagship publication, World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development (2018). Her peer reviewed articles have appeared in leading journals across these fields including African Affairs, the International Journal of Communications, and the International Journal of Human Rights. She has long-term field research experience in the Horn of Africa (particularly Ethiopia and Somaliland) and South Africa.

She is currently leading several large international research projects including the European Research Council (ERC) ConflictNet project on the Politics and Practice of Social Media in Conflict with a focus on Africa. She is also the Oxford lead of the Horizon Europe ReMeD (Resilient Media for Democracy in the Digital Age) project and she was recently awarded a European Media and Information Fund project to launch a new programme -InfoLead- Information and Media Literacy for Judges and Policymakers, in partnership with the University of Florence and the University of Helsinki. Stremlau also serves as a Co-Investigator at the ESRC funded Centre for Public Authority and International Development at the London School of Economics’ Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa.

While Stremlau has written extensively about media, governance (particularly beyond state authorities) and conflict, her recent work has focused on issues around information controls (including online hate speech/mis/disinformation, the inequalities of online content moderation, and internet shutdowns); the politics of AI policymaking in Africa, including the emerging fields of AI for social good and anticipatory action; and innovation, technology beyond the state, including, for example, the role of technology in transnational dispute resolution among migrant and marginalized diaspora communities in Africa. She currently directs the Oxford Media Policy Summer Institute and regularly contributes to international media and public debates. She holds degrees from Wesleyan University (BA with honours, College of Social Studies), the School of Oriental and African Studies (MA, International Politics) and the London School of Economics (PhD, Department of International Development).

Marianna Araujo is a journalist with a PhD in Communication and Culture from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and over 20 years of experience working on human rights issues in Brazil. She has built a solid career at the intersection of journalism, communication, and advocacy for fundamental rights, previously serving as Communications Director at The Intercept Brasil, a media outlet known for its investigative coverage.

Araujo currently serves as Director of Communication and Innovation at the Instituto Fogo Cruzado, a pioneering organisation in monitoring gun violence in Brazil. In this role, she develops communication strategies focused on urban violence and democracy. Her work involves creating narratives that humanise violence data, promoting public awareness about the impacts of gun violence on Brazilian communities.

Dion Bailey is Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at The News Movement: a digital media startup. He is also an Adjunct Professor at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art.

Previously, Dion was VP, Head of Technology at the Wall Street Journal. In that role he provided executive leadership and strategic direction across the WSJ, and led the tech transformation of other Dow Jones entities, including their product, editorial, commercial, and acquisition strategies.

In the past, Dion also served as Executive Technical Product Manager at BBC, where he delivered an award-winning technology solution supporting the 2012 Olympics. In addition, he held lead roles at the BBC Future Media & Technology Division and served as Chief Architecture at News UK.

Davita Frankel-Bonacci is a Senior Product Manager at Google working on Search growth and acceleration, focusing on genAI opportunities to enhance Search experiences.

Previously, she co-lead Product for Google News Ecosystems where she led a global team of product managers who built genAI products to help news publishers of all sizes to research, distribute, and monetize their content. Prior to Google, she worked at BlackRock building portfolio management software platforms, specializing in passive equity portfolio strategies.

Based in New York City, she holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Pamela Wadende is a senior lecturer at Kenya’s Kisii University where she trains future teachers in Developmental Psychology and supervises graduate students. Dr. Wadende’s cross-cultural work with children explores how they learn and flourish in rapidly changing societies in low- and middle-income countries, such as Kenya, Ethiopia, Cameroon and Zambia.

Throughout her career, her guiding question has been: What spurs human flourishing and how can it be optimised through interventions?  Dr. Wadende believes that developmental outcomes are heavily shaped by environmental factors on a local and global scale, such as political tensions or climate change.  A community’s cultural traditions not only foster a sense of belonging for its members but hold a wealth of tools for interventions aimed at supporting their well-being. 

In line with this approach, Dr. Wadende  recently investigated ways of bridging children’s transition from home to school in Kenya and Zambia, supported by Global Ties and UKRI, and currently explores character development among children in Kenya, Cameroon and Ethiopia in two projects funded by the Templeton World Charity Foundation.

Dr. Timor Sharan is the co-Founder and Programme Director of the HAMRAH Initiative that supports Afghan civil society organisations in exile. Originally from Afghanistan, Dr. Sharan has lived in exile since the fall of the Afghan Republic in 2021. He has over 15 years of experience in international development, with background in programme management, policy analysis, joint advocacy, and applied research. 

In 2020, he founded the Afghanistan Policy Lab—the country’s first policy hub dedicated to experimental research, policy modelling, and behavioural insights. From 2017 to 2019, he served as Deputy Director-General for Policy and Programmes at the Independent Directorate of Governance under the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Dr. Sharan is currently a Senior Associate Fellow at the Overseas Development Institute and a Senior Policy Analyst at the Centre on Armed Groups. His previous roles include Visiting Fellow at the Global Security Programme at the University of Oxford, Senior Analyst for Afghanistan at the International Crisis Group, and Adjunct Professor at the American University of Afghanistan. 

He holds a PhD in Politics from the University of Exeter and an MPhil in Development Studies from the University of Cambridge. He is the author of ”Inside Afghanistan: Political Networks, Informal Order, and State Disruption.”

Tetiana Kyselova is an Associate Professor at the International Relations department, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, and Director of the Mediation and Dialogue Research Centre. Since June 2025, Dr. Kyselova has been a Marie Curie Fellow at the Institute for Conflict Management, Viadrina University. 

She holds a DPhil from the University of Oxford and a PhD from the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. She has been a visiting fellow at the Universities of London, Uppsala, Giessen, Torino and Basel. Dr. Kyselova was certified as a mediator by the Search for Common Ground and as a business mediator by the IHK Academy for Munich and Upper Bavaria. 

Dr. Kyselova has been working with civil society and the professional community of mediators in Ukraine since the 1990s, advising them on strategies of peacebuilding, professional regulation, training, and methodologies of mediation and dialogue. She has co-authored a Ukrainian law on mediation, served as an advisor to the Ukrainian government and various international organisations. Her research interests include conflict transformation, peacebuilding, mediation, negotiation and dialogue.

Angelika Rettberg is the dean of the School of Social Sciences and a professor at the Political Science Department at Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá – Colombia). Her research has focused on the private sector as a political actor and, specifically, on business behavior in contexts of armed conflict and peacebuilding.

She has also been involved in research about other aspects of the political economy of armed conflict and peacebuilding, such as the relationship between legal resources, armed conflict, and crime as well as the dynamics of transitional justice and reconciliation.

In 2018 she served as a negotiator for the Colombian government in the peace talks with the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN). She regularly contributes to the public media on topics related to the Colombian peace process. She has also been a regular advisor and commentator on issues related to peace and peacebuilding at a global level. She is co-Editor-in-Chief at World Development journal (with Jampel Dell’Angelo). 

Lea Bolt is a Nicaraguan activist, researcher, and poet currently serving as Executive Delegate of the Limitless Foundation for Human Development. 

She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Diplomacy and International Relations and a Master’s degree in Creative Writing in Spanish from the University of Salamanca. With over six years of experience, Lea has led political advocacy projects, coordinated regional research and dialogue initiatives, and facilitated learning processes focused on democratic culture, transitional justice, and human rights. She has collaborated as a research assistant, consultant, and strategic advisor for various international organizations, including projects funded by USAID, the European Union, and AECID. She is also the founder of Bolt: School of Oratory & Debate, where she has trained dozens of young leaders in public speaking, argumentation, and civic engagement. 

A committed feminist and advocate for social transformation, her work bridges political analysis, educational innovation, and poetic expression. Her poetry explores themes of memory, exile, and collective resistance, and she facilitates writing spaces that center emotional truth and dissenting voices. Now living in exile in Costa Rica, Lea continues to contribute to transnational efforts for democracy, justice, and civic participation in Central America.