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Programme Committee

Pradipta Biswas Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Science, India Pradipta Biswas is an Associate Professor at the Centre for Product Design and Manufacturing and affiliated faculty at the Robert Bosch Centre for Cyber Physical Systems of Indian Institute of Science. HIs research focuses on user modelling and multimodal human-machine interactionfor aviation and automotive environments and for assistive technology. He setup and lead the Interaction Design Lab at CPDM, IISc. He is a Co-Chair of the IRG AVA, International Telecommunication Union and a Memberof the UKRI International Development Peer Review College. Earlier, he was a Senior Research Associate at EngineeringDepartment, Research Fellow at WolfsonCollege and Research Associate at Trinity Hall of University of Cambridge. He completed his PhD in Computer Science at the Rainbow Group of Universityof Cambridge Computer Laboratoryand Trinity College in 2010 and wasawarded a Gates-CambridgeScholarship in 2006. He Iundertook a first degree in Information Technologyat the University of Kalyani and a master degree atthe Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. He conducted courses on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning at National Institute of Fashion Technology, Automotive User Interface and AR/VR systems at Ashok Leyland, Multimodal Interaction at Honeywell, Human Computer Interactionat Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi, AssistiveTechnology at Indian Institute ofTechnology, Madras and was a vice chairman of ITU-TFocus Group on Smart TV. Besides academics, he is a keen rifle shooter and won gold medals in Imperial Shooting Meet from 2010to 2015. He was the Senior Treasurer of Cambridge University Revolver and Pistol club, captain of Wolfson College Cricket Club, Trinity Collegegraduate cricket team and secretary of the Engineering Department cricket. Click here for more info.
Alfred Mugaisi Ambani Deputy Director/ Multimedia Licensing and Content Regulation Mr. Ambani works for Kenya’s ICT sector regulator, Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) since its inception in 1999 and is currently responsible for overseeing the licensing and content regulation of broadcasting services in Kenya. Previously, Mr. Ambani worked in the frequency spectrum management department for more than ten years where he was responsible for spectrum planning, development of broadcast frequency plans, coordination of broadcasting frequencies with neighboring countries and filing the Plans with ITU. He also was part of the team that oversaw the transition from analogue to digital terrestrial television broadcasting in Kenya. Mr. Ambani is currently serving his first term (2019-2023) as a vice chairman of ITU-R Study Group 6. Mr. Ambani has participated in the meetings of ITU-R Study Group 6 and its Working Party 6A as well as World Radiocommunications Conferences (WRCs) and Regional Radiocommunication Conferences (RRCs). Mr. Alfred Ambani is an electrical engineer having graduated with a Bachelor of Technology Degree (Electrical and Communications Technology) from Moi University, Kenya in 1990 and a Postgraduate Diploma in Communications Management from the Buckinghamshire New University, UK in 2016.
Abdullah Saleh Hussain Al-Araim Director of Frequency Planning Department, Ministry of Information, Oman Dr. Alaraimi is the Vice-Chairman of ITU-R, study group 6 (2015-2023), and he was elected as vice-chairman of ITU-R, Study Group 7 (2012-2015). He is leading the team of changeover from analogue to digital in Oman TV, and he is the project manager of DVB-T2 project. Dr. Alaraimi is the director of frequency planning department in ministry of information, and participating in many conferences and workshops dealing with broadcasting technologies. He is member in, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers (IEICE).
Mustafa Al Mahdi Programme Officer, Arab Regional Office, ITU Mustafa graduated with the highest honors (first class) B.sc in Telecommunication and Control Engineering (University of Gazira-Sudan) and master’s degree in Telecommunications Management (UK) in March 2005 and March 2009 respectively. He is finalizing his PhD in Management of Technology at Nile University-Egypt. From May 2005 to July 2013 he worked with Telecom Regulator of Sudan and in different depts. (licensing, interconnection, QoS, spectrum monitoring and management and International relations). In August 2013, he joined the ITU in the Arab regional Office and leading ITU regional works on thematic priorities of Policy and Regulation, Emergency Telecom, Digital Infrastructure, Environment and Capacity and Skills Development. His current research interests are in the broad areas of Technology Management of 5G and IoT, AI, wireless and mobile technologies, green environment (EMF, E-Waste, Energy), and intelligent wireless solutions for smart cities including smart water management as well as econometric of ICTs on national GDPs.
Rosheen Awotar-Mauree Advisor, ITU-D Study Group 1 Rosheen is the Advisor for ITU-D Study Group 1 which has as mandate “Enabling environment for Meaningful connectivity”. She has over 20 years professional experience in ICTs – leading IT Security initiatives and ICT projects in Government and ITU experience on regional and national work on ICT Regulation & Policies, Digital Inclusion, ICT centric innovation. She managed the Cyprus National CIRT project, the initial versions of the Global Cybersecurity Index & of the National Cybersecurity Strategy Guide formulation. More recently she led the development of a roadmap for Digital Knowledge Platform. She received her degree in Computer Science with honours in Information Systems, in 1994 and her MBA in 1996, both from Murdoch University, Perth, Australia with certifications CISSP, CRISC and PMD Pro level 1.
Ali Drissa Badiel Area Representative for West Africa, ITU Ali Drissa Badiel is the ITU Area Representative for West Africa since 1 October 2012. He is a graduate Telecom Engineer from Telecom & Management SudParis, Evry, France, since 1996. He also holds a Master’s degree in Pure Physics from the University of Ouagadougou in 1993, obtained after his baccalaureate C at Lycee Scientifique de Yamoussoukro, Cote d’Ivoire, in 1989. Mr. Badiel also received a MSc in Cyber Security and an MBA from the University Maryland (UMUC, United States) in 2013 and 2014 respectively. Mr. Badiel joined ITU in November 2007 in Addis Ababa, where he served for 5 years as Senior Advisor to the Regional Director for Africa, in charge of broadband networks, IP networks, ICT applications and cybersecurity. He was appointed ITU Area Representative a.i. for Central Africa, with his duty station in Yaoundé, Cameroon, in 2009. Before joining the ITU in 2007, he served as Senior Engineer for 11 years at Office National des Telecommunications (ONATEL S.A.) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, where he held various positions, including the position of Head of the Internet Department (Fasonet) from 2000 to 2007. He was also an international consultant for the ITU and the African Union between 2004 and 2007, a freelance Professor in several colleges in Burkina Faso and a Member of the French Speaking Countries Taskforce for Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) to the ICANN (GTF-ICANN) from 2000 to 2007. Mr. Badiel is fluent in French and English and has some knowledge of German and Arabic.
Simao Campos Counsellor, ITU-T Study Group 16, TSB, ITU Simão joined the secretariat of the ITU Standardization Sector in 2002, and is the Counsellor for ITU-T Study Group 16 (for standardization work on multimedia, including audio and video coding, accessibility/human factors, e-health, ITS, IPTV and digital signage) and ITU-T Focus Group on AI for health (FG-AI4H). He has a long experience in standardization, having started with voice compression standards in 1989. Prior to joining ITU, Simão was a Scientist at COMSAT Labs in the USA and a researcher at CPqD, a telecom research center in Brazil. A Senior Member of the IEEE, Simão authored several academic papers and position papers, served in the review committee of several IEEE-sponsored conferences, and organized the first ITU Kaleidoscope Conference.
Calvin Chan Programme Administrator Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, ITU Mr. Calvin Chan is the Programme Administrator for the ITU's Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, based in Bangkok. He holds a MSc in Development Management from the London School of Economics. His professional experience focuses on policy issues related to the digital economy, innovation, ICT for development, and trade facilitation, with publications for clients including APEC, FCDO, UNESCAP, and USAID.
Ruoting Chang Counsellor, ITU-R Study Group 6, BR, ITU, Geneva, Switzerland The Counsellor of ITU-R Study Group 6 (broadcasting service). Before joining ITU in August 2018, he was the Director of frequency planning division and terrestrial radio services division of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technologies of P.R.C and the Vice-Chair of ITU-R Study Group 1 and the Chair of Working Party 1B on international spectrum management. He has been engaging in international radio frequency coordination activities from 2006, he used to be the key coordinator in China’s delegation in World Radiocommunication Conferences 2012 and 2015.
Noah Luo Chairman, ITU-T SG16, Senior Director at Huawei Technologies, Switzerland Noah Luo is a senior director at Huawei Technologies, Co., Ltd, where he oversees standards and industry development for various major international SDOs including ITU, ISO, IEC and JTC1. Based in Lausanne, Switzerland, he works at Huawei since 1998 and has been involved in various standardization fields such as Multimedia communication, Digital Services , AI, Cloud/Edge Computing, Network Functionalities Virtualization (NFV), and Digitalization of Industry Verticals. He is the chairman of ITU-T SG16, the technical standardization committee in ITU for multimedia and related digital technologies, since 2016. He had been previously the vice-chairman of ITU-T SG16 from 2008 to 2016. He holds a Ph.D. in Automatic Control Theory and Applications from Xi’an Jiaotong University, where he graduated in 1996. He also worked as a postdoc fellow and project manager at the Chinese Academy of Sciences from 1996 to 1998 in Beijing, China.
Satoshi Miyaji Chairman, ITU-T SG9, General Manager, KDDI Corporation, Tokyo, Japan Dr. Miyaji has a long history of participating in the ITU-T SG9 (“television and sound transmission, and integrated broadband cable") almost for twenty (20) years as an expert of broadcasting and telecommunications particularly for cable television networks and services. He served as Vice Chairman of SG9 and Chairman of WP1/9 for eight (8) years in 2009 – 2016. At the WTSA-16 (General Assembly of ITU-T), he has been appointed as Chairman of SG9 for the Study Period 2017 – 2020. In KDDI, he is now responsible for development and deployment of entertainment-related business and services such as video streaming, music distribution, e-books, live concert, and so on.
Yukihiro Nishida Chairman, ITU-R Study Group 6, NHK, Tokyo, Japan Dr. Nishida is an executive research engineer (Fellow) at the Science and Technology Research Laboratories, Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK), Tokyo, Japan. He has been involved in the research and development of many areas of broadcasting technologies, including high-definition television (HDTV), ultrahigh-definition television (UHDTV), high-dynamic range (HDR) TV, digital broadcasting, video coding, multiplexing, and quality evaluation. He is also active in the standardization of broadcast technologies in the International Telecommunication Union – Radiocommunication (ITU-R) Sector and the Association of Radio Industries and Businesses (ARIB), Japan. He was appointed as the chairman of the ITU-R Study Group 6 in October 2015 and reappointed in October 2019, after having served as the vice chairman of the ITU-R Study Group 6 and the chairman of the Working Party 6B for eight years.
Stefano Polidori Study Group Counsellor, ITU Stefano is a Counsellor at the International Telecommunication Union and responsible for the technical secretariat of ITU-T Study Group 9 “Broadband cable and TV”. He is also responsible for the Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) activities, including the Symposium on the Future Networked Car at the Geneva Motor Show. Stefano is the ITU representative to the European Multi Stakeholder Platform on ICT Standardization at the European Commission. After few years in the private sector, joined the ITU in 2004 covering various positions including Coordinator for ITU Kaleidoscope academic conference and Advisor for Study Group 11 “Signalling, protocols and test specifications”. Stefano holds a Master in Electronic Engineering from the University of Rome, Italy and a Master of Science in mobile communication from Aalborg University, Denmark.
Andy Quested Chair ITU-R WP 6C, Lead EBU QC Group, European Broadcasting Union Andy Quested started working for the BBC in 1978 becoming a video-tape editor in 1985 where he worked on many comedy, children’s and documentary series. Moving to a new technology department he, worked on introducing non-linear editing, stereo, widescreen, the BBC’s first HD programme Planet Earth I and the first UHD programme, Planet Earth II. Andy has been a Rapporteur for ITU Working Party 6C investigating the use of 3DTV, the Global Broadcasting Platform and image quality. He is a Co-Chair of the joint group on Accessibility and has chaired several Rapporteur Groups including the group that developed the HDR Recommendation until 2015 when he became chair of Working Party 6C itself. As chair, he initiated new areas of study on Advanced Immersive Sensory Media Systems, Artificial Intelligence and Energy Aware Broadcasting as applied to content production and international programme exchange. In WP 6B, Andy led the group formalizing the use of componentized content creation that led to a new Recommendation. Andy left the BBC at the end of 2020 but is still leading standards work in the ITU and EBU. He is also an active member of SMPTE, becoming a Fellow in 2014 for work relating to standards.
Sarra Rebhi Vice-Chair, ITU-T SG-16 I Head of Technical Department, Tunisian broadcaster office, Tunisia Sarra currently holds the position of the Technical Department Chief at the Tunisian National Broadcasting Office, where her responsibility includes managing equipment projects, broadcasting network planning and spectrum management. In addition to this role, Sarra has also been appointed as Vice-chair of the ITU-T SG-16 on multimedia since 2019. Sarra educational background includes an electrical engineering degree from ENIM (Tunisia), which she obtained in 2007. She also holds a master’s degree and a Doctorate in Information and Communication Technologies from Sup’Com (Tunisia), which she obtained in 2013 and 2018 respectively.
Aamir Riaz Programme officer, ITU Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Jakarta, Indonesia Mr. Aamir Riaz is a Programme officer in International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and is currently a part of the team of its Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. Mr Aamir has been working on development of ICTs in the region through country specific actions, sub-regional and regional interventions across the region. As a programme manager he has implemented several initiatives and projects in partnership and collaboration with international/regional organizations like ASEAN, APT, PITA etc.; Administrations including, Korea, Australia, China, Japan etc. amongst others and industry including Intelsat, Nokia, Forum Global, Inmarsat, Kacific and Ericsson etc. Currently he is regional focal point for thematic action areas of Digital Network Infrastructure and Emergency telecommunications. Most recent work is the areas of 5G market readiness assessments, remote satellite connectivity, ICT market regulations and wireless innovation strategies with emphasis on issues related to RF Spectrum. Prior to joining ITU in 2013, he had been working in ictQatar (now CRC Qatar) from 2010 to 2013 as National Spectrum Manager where he implemented several management and planning initiatives. From 2007 until 2010 he performed his duties as Assistant Director in Strategy and Development department of the Pakistan telecomm Authority. Mr. Aamir is an Electrical Engineer from National University of Science and Technology (NUST) Pakistan and possesses advanced degree in Radio-communication from École Supérieure d'Électricité (SUPÉLEC) France.
Walid Sami Senior Project Manager, European Broadcasting Union (EBU) Dr. Walid Sami is Senior Project Manager at the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), Geneva, with responsibility for co-coordinating studies on frequency planning and spectrum sharing issues. He represents EBU in number of European and International Forums dealing with Spectrum Management. He is Vice Chair of ITU-R Study Group 6 (Broadcasting) and mostly active in Working Parties 6A (Terrestrial broadcasting delivery) and 1A (Spectrum engineering techniques). Prior to joining EBU, Dr. SAMI worked in spectrum management and frequency planning of Digital Broadcasting systems at Télédiffusion de France (TDF) and CSA (Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel) in France. Notable is his 7 years as head of Television Planning Department at the French Broadcasting Authority, where he was in charge of planning Digital Terrestrial Television in France. Dr. Sami received Electrical Engineering Degree from the Lebanese University in 1986 and a Doctorate in Physics from Supelec / Université de Paris Sud in 1991.