Agenda

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).

Andrea Gita Millwood Hargrave is an independent consultant whose work focuses on policy making and its consequences across the converging (and emerging) communications environment.

A Member of the IFAP Information Accessibility Working Group, Andrea was the lead author of the IFAP Policy Brief ‘Global challenges for Information Accessibility: Key Principles and Good Practices in the Digital Age’.

International in her outlook, Andrea has acted as an Expert and Adviser for a number of national regulatory authorities across the digital communications ecosystem, as well as working with the European Union and the Council of Europe. She has published widely on media policy and has a keen interest in digital literacy, advocacy for the rights of children, and issues of governance, with an increasing focus on the uses of artificial intelligence.

Formerly an Associate of the Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy, University of Oxford, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Andrea stepped down as Director General of the International Institute of Communications, having run the Institute and its regulatory programme for over twenty years in order to pursue and further her interest in developing strategies to harness technological advances to empower often-disadvantaged populations. 

Maria is the Digital Affairs Policy & Research Officer at IFLA, where she leads on work at the intersection of digital inclusion, freedom of access to information and internet governance. 
Her current work focuses on leveraging the knowledge and expertise of the global library infrastructure to meet digital inclusion goals. She also coordinates partnerships and joint initiatives with Internet fora to facilitate a bridge between their work and the work of libraries. Before working at IFLA, she worked in the public, international and non profit sectors in projects related to peacebuilding and innovation.

Maria holds a Master's of science in Public Policy & Human Development from the United Nations University (MERIT) and Maastricht University and is passionate about information literacy, peace and education, in particular to themes and initiatives that cater to underserved and vulnerable communities. 

Mary-Ruth Mendel is a Speech and Language Pathologist, Co-Founder and Director of the Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation (ALNF) since 1999. Since that time, her focus has been to significantly elevate transgenerational literacy, including by the use of cutting-edge digital technologies and development of evidence-informed programmes which extend community capabilities. 

Mary-Ruth has authored two accredited courses aimed at strengthening community-led initiatives to address language and literacy inequities: the Certificate IV in Early Language and Literacy (11027NAT) and the Certificate III in Coding Aboriginal Languages for Indigenous Literacy (11261NAT).

As Executive Director: Programs at ALNF, Mary-Ruth spearheaded the development of two digital tools which are increasing community access to quality language and literacy teaching and learning. 

The Living First Languages Platform is being adopted across Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to collate Language elements for the purposes of teaching and learning. Importantly, Platform Language content is under the ownership and control of its Speaker Group, with Elders and Senior Language Speakers approving spelling, pronunciation and other presentation. Content is also available in multisensory formats to support learner understanding and consistent with current knowledge about learning and brain development.

The Early Language and Literacy Developmental Index (ELLDI), a world-first instrument to give educators access to real-time, reliable and valid information about children’s oral language and early literacy growth. 

Principal of the Speech Language and Literacy Centre since 1986, Mary-Ruth specializes in complex cases. She continues to draw on her clinical experience in her advocacy and has contributed to numerous panels and forums within Australia and internationally.

Alexandre is the head of the Regional Center for Studies on the Development of the Information Society (Cetic.br) under the auspices of UNESCO, based in São Paulo, Brazil. He is responsible for managing research projects for the production of ICT-related statistics on the access to and use of ICTs in different segments of society, including indicators on digital economy, e-commerce and e-government. Coordinates capacity building programs in survey methodologies in Latin America and Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa. Mr. Barbosa was the Chair of the Expert Group on ICT Households indicators (EGH) from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) from 2012 to 2017 and currently is member of the International Advisory Group of Experts on the Global Kids Online project (UNICEF and LSE) and member of the Council Board of The Innovation Center for Brazilian Education (CIEB). 
Mr. Barbosa holds a PhD degree in Business Administration from Getulio Vargas Foundation (Brazil), a Master Degree in Business Administration from Bradford University (UK), a MSc Degree in Computer Science from Federal University of Minas Gerais (Brazil) and a BSc Degree in Electrical Engineering from Catholic University (Brazil). He has also conducted postdoctoral research at HEC Montreal (Canada) in the area of electronic government. 

Onica is the Executive Director at the Global Digital Inclusion Partnership (GDIP). She is an experienced digital development professional working at the intersection of technology and policy to advance access to affordable and meaningful connectivity. Previously, she led the multi-stakeholder engagement across Africa for the Alliance for Affordable Internet focusing on advancing good practices in policy and regulatory frameworks for affordable and meaningful access to broadband where she also convened the Africa Summit on Women and Girls in Technology. A gender justice and digital rights advocate, she has managed and pioneered various national and international campaigns, policy change processes for women’s rights, civil rights, consumer rights, as well as media and digital transformation initiatives. She brings a strong sensitivity and unique perspective to the dynamics affecting women, and other disadvantaged populations.

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. 

 She 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 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. 

She authored +20 publications and articles and recently  lead-authored UNESCO 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 gave guest lectures in 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”.