Session on Citiverse Rising: Virtual Worlds and AI Agents for Urban Transformation

Hyoung Jun Kim

Chair, ITU-T Study Group 20

Dr Hyoung Jun Kim is a Research Fellow at the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), where he has served since 1988, including as Senior Vice President leading the Intelligent Convergence Research Laboratory. With 37 years of experience, he has contributed across multiple divisions of ETRI and currently serves as Chair of ITU-T Study Group 20 and the APT Standardization Program (ASTAP). He has held numerous leadership roles in ITU, including Vice-Chair of SG20 and SG13, Working Party Chair, and Rapporteur since 2004.
Dr Kim has submitted over 450 standardization proposals, published 150+ papers, holds 100+ patents, and transferred 20 technologies to industry. His achievements have earned him three Presidential Citations of the Republic of Korea (2003, 2009, 2023) and multiple international recognitions, including ITU-T Certificates of Appreciation.

Kamelia Kemileva

Co-Director, Programmes and Administration, Global Cities Hub

Kamelia, holding an MBA, has in-depth experience in executive administration of non-profit organisations. She is a lawyer, specialized in Swiss law relevant to international organisations and international public law, including expertise on the United Nations. Kamelia also has a direct experience of intergovernmental multilateral negotiation and diplomacy.
Before joining the Global Cities Hub, Kamelia was Executive Manager at the Geneva Academy. She also worked as Special Assistant to the President of the UN Human Rights Council for three years. She was a Visiting Programme Director at Wilton Park. Previously to that, she worked at the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations Office in Geneva. Before moving to the public sector, Kamelia worked for two years in the private sector in a Geneva-based private bank as a compliance officer. She’s a part-time Senior Consultant in AxLR.ch.

Okan Geray

Chair of U4SSC and Thematic Group Leader

Dr. Okan Geray has more than 25 years of experience in consulting and advisory roles across various industries. He has consulted for a number of organizations in Netherlands, France, Italy, Germany, South Africa, Turkey and Dubai. He worked at A.T. Kearney global management consulting firm for 6 years and was a member of the Global Telecommunications and Higher Technology core team before he joined Dubai Government in 2002. He has fulfilled strategic planning and policy roles in Dubai eGovernment, Dubai Smart Government, Smart Dubai Office and is currently working in Dubai Digital Authority as the Strategic Planning Advisor. His responsibilities include Strategic Planning, Strategic Performance Management and Policy Making among others. Dr. Geray was the Co-Chair of the Enhancing Innovation and Participation Working Group, part of the United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) global initiative. This working group addressed Smart Governance, Smart Economy and Smart People aspects in smart cities. He has led the two thematic groups “Guidelines on Strategies for Circular Cities” and “City Science Application Framework” in U4SSC. He is currently leading “Guiding principles for Artificial Intelligence in cities”, and co-leading “Enabling People-Centered Cities through Digital Transformation” in U4SSC. Dr. Geray is the Co-Rapporteur of ITU Study Group 20, Question 7 on “Evaluation and assessment of Smart Sustainable Cities and Communities”. He is a member of the IEC-ISO-ITU Joint Smart Cities Task Force (J-SCTF). He is also a member of the ITU Focus Group on Metaverse and is co-chairing Working Group 7 on “Economy, Competition and Regulation”. He was also the Co-Chair of the “Data Economy Impact, Commercialization and Monetization” Working Group, part of the ITU Focus Group on Data Processing and Management. Dr. Geray holds a double major B. Sc. degree in Industrial and Computer Engineering from Bosphorus University in Istanbul Turkiye, an M.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering and a Ph.D. degree in Systems and Control Engineering from the University of Massachusetts in USA. He has published book chapters, several journal and conference papers, and teaches as an adjunct lecturer. ​

Paola Cecchi Dimeglio

Professor, Harvard University

Paola Cecchi-Dimeglio, Ph.D., J.D.,LL.M., M.Sc., is a globally recognized expert in AI, Big Data, behavioral science, and talent analytics. She advises senior executives at Fortune 500 companies, global law firms, and public institutions on using advanced analytics and behavioral insights to optimize decision-making, develop high-performing talent, and shape future-ready workforce strategies.

At Harvard University, she holds dual appointments at the Law School and the Kennedy School of Government and serves as Faculty Chair of the Executive Leadership Research Initiative for Women and Minority Attorneys (ELRIWMA), where since 2011 she has led pioneering research—using AI and Big Data—at the intersection of leadership, organizational behavior, decision science, and talent strategy. She is the author of Diversity Dividend (MIT Press, 2023) and the forthcoming Building a Thriving Future: Metaverse and Multiverse (MIT Press, 2025)—a strategy-driven guide to the AI-powered Metaverse, offering business and government leaders practical frameworks to lead digital transformation and build adaptive, human-centric digital ecosystems that support talent growth and innovation.

As CEO of People Culture Drive Consulting Group, she leads a global behavioral science and AI firm that developed I.D.E.A., a patented platform that enhances talent analytics by ensuring consistency, fairness, and transparency in performance evaluations and succession planning—transforming how organizations identify, retain, and advance top talent.

She advises international institutions including the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the World Bank, the United Nations ITU), and the European Commission. Her research and publications have received multiple honors, including awards from federal agencies such as the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services for her behavioral and data visualization tools, and a 2017 Azbee Award of Excellence from the American Society of Business Publication Editors.

Dr. Cecchi-Dimeglio has authored over 70 peer-reviewed journal articles and regularly contributes to leading business and legal publications including Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, Business Insider, Bloomberg Law, Reuters Legal, and Forbes, where she is a senior contributor on leadership, strategy, and AI. Her insights and tools are used by organizations worldwide to transform how they hire, evaluate, and promote talent.

Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post, and she is widely recognized for her thought leadership on AI-powered talent development, workforce transformation, and data-driven decision-making.

Roland van der Heijden

Program Manager Digital City, City of Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Roland is from origin a cityplanner, but has also a big interest in digital and data. The last decade he has focussed mainly on the impact of the digital transformation on the city and its citizens. First with the development of a responsible digital infrastructure for the city of Rotterdam in the form of an Open Urban Platform. And now recently in his new role of Chief Citiverse Officer in which he explores the possiblities of the Citiverse concept for a deeper understanding of the (social) impact of the digital transformation on the lives of the Rotterdam citizens. He is also part of the Steering Committee of the Global Initiative on Virtual Worlds and AI.

Chistina Yan Zhang

CEO, The Metaverse Institute

Christina is a metaverse pioneer, who started the journey in 2006 with a PhD using digital twin for the construction industry.

Christina has 19 years’ experience turning vision into successful businesses. She worked for QS, the world university rankings agency 2013-2020, as China Director. Her work impacted China’s £750bn five years funding to 3005 universities.

She has sat on 20+ committees for UNESCO, World Bank, EU, UK governments on Innovation. She served as UN ITU Co-chair on Pre-standardisation for the CitiVerse TaskGroup, exploring the use of AI and virtual worlds to develop people-centred smart cities. She is the author of “People-Centred CitiVerse” – the UN’s first approved technical report on the subject – which introduced an 8-level entry point for a people-centred and planet-friendly digital future. Her co-authorship extends to UN reports such as “Definition of Metaverse,” “Metaverse for All Part I Legal Framework,” and “Part II Survey,” alongside contributions to the “Future of Travel in the Metaverse” in collaboration with UN Tourism and the “Definition of CitiVerse.”

She sits on the Advisory Council for Centre for Science Futures of International Science Council, the world’s largest science body of 250 national/international academies of sciences. She serves The Economist Impact’s advisory board for “AI Economy”, focusing on AI’s global economic impact.

Cristina Bueti

Counsellor, ITU Study Group 20

Cristina Bueti is the ITU Focal Point on Smart Sustainable Cities and AI-powered Virtual Worlds. She is also the Counsellor of ITU-T Study Group 20 “Internet of Things, digital twins and smart sustainable cities and communities” and serves as TSB/ITU focal point for Latin America. Cristina Bueti graduated from the Faculty of Political Science, Law and International Cooperation and Development of the University of Florence, where she completed postgraduate studies in International Cooperation and Telecommunications Law in Europe. In 2003, Ms. Bueti built on her academic credentials by completing a specialized course in peace keeping and international cooperation with special focus on telecommunications at the Faculty of Laws, University of Malta, before joining the International Telecommunication Union in Geneva in January 2004. As part of the International Women’s Day 2016, she was named as one of the ten Geneva-based inspirational women working to protect the environment. She has authored over 40 reports on telecommunication and emerging technology issues. A native Italian speaker, Cristina is also fluent in English, French and Spanish.