Agenda

Dafna Feinholz has a PhD in Research Psychology (UIA Mexico) and a Master in Bioethics (Universidad Complutense, Spain). Was the Head of the Reproductive Epidemiology Department at the Mexican National Institute of Perinatology, and the Director for Research and Planning of the Women and Health Program (Ministry of Health Mexico). She successively occupied the posts of Academic Coordinator of the National Commission of Human Genome at the Ministry of Health and Executive Director of the National Commission of Bioethics. She drafted the first national guidelines for Research Ethics Committees and Clinical Bioethics Committees and promoted the law that established both types of committees. She was Mexico´s representative at the meetings of the Intergovernmental Bioethics Committee to discuss UNESCO’s Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights. Since September 2009, Dafna Feinholz is the Chief of the Bioethics and Ethics of Science Section within UNESCO. In this capacity, she leads different activities aiming at reinforcing capacities of Member States to manage bioethical challenges and to identify the ethical, legal and social implications of science and technology. She has overseen the process of the elaboration of the Recommendation on Ethics of AI and the recently adopted Recommendation on Ethics of Neurotechnology.

Shamira Ahmed is a transdisciplinary social scientist whose focus on evidence-based research and policy work examine the transnational governance of emerging digital technologies and their implications for sustainable development.
She 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 was the inaugural Chair of the European Union’s Digital for Development Hub Civil Society and Academia Advisory Group, a 2024 Policy Leader Fellow at the European University Institute, and previously worked in economic diplomacy, industrial development, and international cooperation within South Africa’s Department of Trade, Industry and Competition. Shamira also worked as a researcher for KANTAR Global , one of the world’s leading market research, data, analytics, and consulting companies.

Shamira was a key co-author of the African Union Commission’s Data Policy Framework, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Planet Positive's "Strong Sustainability by Design: Prioritizing Ecosystem and Human Flourishing with Technology-based Solutions", and most recently the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)"Human Rights Centered Global Governance of Quantum Technologies", to name a few.

She has contributed to several international policy and knowledge initiatives on the responsible transnational governance of emerging digital technologies. Her work has included collaborations with the IEEE Standards Association (IEEE SA), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF), Think Tank 20 (T20), and the Global Partnership on AI (GPAI), among others.