Agenda

Dr. Xianhong Hu is UNESCO’s Programme Specialist at the Sector of Communication and Information. She joined UNESCO through its competitive Young Professionals Program in 2006.

She serves on the Secretariat of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Program of Information for All (IFAP) since 2021 and had led UNESCO project of Internet Universality R.O.A.M principles (Rights, Openness, Accessibility, Multi-stakeholder) indicators during 2013-2021. 

Xianghong has followed the UN led processes of the World Summit of the Information Society (WSIS) and Internet Governance Forum (IGF) since 2006. Her policy work relates to humanistic digital governance and transformation, the ethical implications of Artificial Intelligence and other emerging technologies and building humanistic and inclusive Knowledge Societies.

She observed the IGF Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) and Missions Publiques. She serves on the Steering Committee of member of  European Dialogue of Internet Governance (Eurodig) and the International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (ICEGOV).She initiated the IGF Dynamic Coalition on measuring digital inclusion, with a focus on gender and youth inclusion. 

She received a Ph.D from Peking University in China in 2007 and was an affiliate of Harvard University's Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society (2021-2022). She is an alumni in the professional area of Internet governance of the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) as invited by the U.S Department of State in 2016. 

Xianghong has authored numerous publications and articles and recently was the lead aithor of UNESCO's policy study Steering AI and Advanced ICTs for Knowledge Societies: A ROAM Perspective’(2019), and co-authored an ongoing study “Shape Responsible Global Governance of Quantum Technologies: to advancing Information for All”.

She has been a guest lecture at a number of universities including Science Po, Bordeaux University Montagne, University of Malta, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Macao University, Peking University, China Communication University, etc. 

She initiated UNESCO Series Publication on Internet Freedom in 2011, which has captured the complex dynamics of global Internet governance by studying policy issues of online freedom of expression, privacy, Internet intermediaries, digital safety, Artificial Intelligence, etc. She has conducted UNESCO Series Publication on investigative journalism including “Story-Based Enquiry: A Training Manual for Investigative Journalism” and “Global Casebook of Investigative Journalism”. 

Since January 2025, Guilherme Canela is the Director of the Division for Digital Inclusion and Policies and Digital
Transformation, and Secretary of the Information for All Programme (IFAP) at UNESCO headquarters, in Paris.
He has a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Brasília (UNB) and a Master’s Degree on Political Science from the University of São Paulo (USP).on texts on various topics related to human rights and the rights of children.

Constance Bommelaer de Leusse has more than 20 years of experience in digital policy, technology, research and education. She currently leads tech policy work at the AI & Society Institute (ENS-PSL), and the Tech Hub of the Paris School of International Affairs (university of Sciences Po). She is also a Senior Fellow at the European University Institute. 

Constance started her career working for the French prime minister’s services (2003-2006) on information society issues. She then joined The Internet Society (2006-2022), the international NGO founded by Vint Cerf, the father of the Internet. In her role of Vice President of institutional relations and empowerment, she led the organization’s international partnerships and policy work across stakeholder communities. She also conducted training and learning activities, empowering the next generation of tech leaders to build an internet that creates opportunity and supports the public interest. She was also seconded at UNESCO to develop their digital agenda in the context of the WSIS (2013-2014). 

Constance has She has served on numerous high-level committees and played a pivotal role in shaping global Internet governance. She founded the Internet Technical Advisory Committee to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2008, enabling global technical and academic communities to participate in international policy discussions, she co-authored the 2013 “UN Internet Universality framework”—based on principles of being Rights-based, Open, Accessible, and Multistakeholder (ROAM)—which has since then informed national and regional digital policies on all continents.

Prof. Pieter Vermaas is a philosopher of quantum technology and design at TU Delft. He leads ethics research for the Dutch Quantum Delta NL (QDNL) programme for the development of quantum technologies and heads the Quantum Governance and Values Lab at the TU Delft Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management. His research expertise includes navigating the societal and moral impact of quantum computing, quantum internet and quantum sensing, and the use of design tools for enabling non-expert stakeholders to co-shape quantum technologies.

Pieter has training in physics and philosophy at the University of Amsterdam and obtained his PhD on the foundations of quantum mechanics at the Institute for History and Foundations of Science of Utrecht University. At TU Delft he helped create the Dual Nature of Technical Artifacts research program (2000-2005), in which technical artefacts were conceptually and ontologically analysed as having both structural and intentional natures, with functions playing an important role in relating these natures. 

Pieter is Editor in Chief of the book series Philosophy of Engineering and Technology and edited handbooks on Design for Values and Engineering Systems Design. He co-launched the Delft Design for Values Institute and served as president of the Society for Philosophy and Technology (SPT).

Elodie Vialle is a journalist, a digital safety trainer, and a tech policy advisor for newsrooms and international nonprofit organizations supporting journalists. She is the Rapporteur of the international expert group on women and media launched by UNESCO ahead of the thirtieth anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

Elodie is a Harvard alumni with the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, she was a Fellow at the Institute for Rebooting Social Media, a Knight-Wallace Fellow at the Wallace House Center for Journalists at the University of Michigan, and the Head of the Technology Desk at Reporters without Borders. She began her career as a TV journalist, a Radio Columnist, and the Editor-in-Chief of an online media outlet dedicated to social innovation.

Shamira is a social scientist with over a decade of combined experience as a policy entrepreneur, experienced quantitative economist, and interdisciplinary policy and research specialist. She has a track record of leading transnational research projects, producing high-quality knowledge outputs, managing the data value chain, and working in multicultural, multidisciplinary, and dynamic work environments.

Shamira is the founder and executive director of the Data Economy Policy Hub (DepHUB), the first independent think tank established by an Indigenous African woman, in South Africa. She is a PhD Candidate at the TU Delft Quantum Governance and Values Lab and was a 2023-2024 Policy Leader Fellow at the EUI’s Florence School of Transnational Governance.

Shamira is an active member of many international expert working groups that advocate for human-centred responsible global governance of data-based systems, ethical innovation, measuring the digital economy, and is committed to addressing pressing global challenges through interdisciplinary approaches.

She has led numerous public policy-oriented research projects and contributed significantly to public interest publications such as the African Union Commission's "Data Policy Framework", the Global Partnership on AI's  (GPAI) Report "Towards Real Diversity and Gender Equality in Artificial Intelligence", and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) "Strong Sustainability by Design: Prioritizing Ecosystem and Human Flourishing with Technology-based Solutions", to name a few.