Agenda

Maria is a Senior Employment Specialist in the ILO’s EMPLOYMENT Department. She is the coordinator of WSIS Action Line C7 on e-employment. In her current position, she leads, among other things, the work on digitalisation in the context of employment policies. Negotiations through social dialogue is a crucial dimension of her work. 

Previously, Maria worked as a Specialist in the ILO’s Future of Work Initiative, where she provided technical support to the Global Commission on the Future of Work and to the work of the ILO on the subject. Maria has more than twenty years of professional experience in the United Nations in positions that included thematic areas such as youth employment, digitalisation, local economic and social development, public-private partnerships for urban environment, small and micro enterprises, informal economy, and infrastructure development. 

Uma Rani is Senior Economist at the Research Department of the International Labour Office. She has been working on digital transformations in the world of work for close to a decade, wherein she tries to explore how labour and social institutions could be strengthened to address economic and social inequality. She works in the area of algorithmic management practices in traditional workplaces, AI supply chins and platform work. She coordinated the major flagship report of the ILO on "World Employment and Social Outlook 2021: The role of digital labour platforms in transforming the world of work” and is currently co-editing a book on "From Taylorism to algorithmic management: A multi-sector analysis of technology, control and worker experiences”.

Juan Chacaltana is a Senior Employment Specialist at the ILO in Geneva. He previously worked as Regional Economist with the ILO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean and as Employment Specialist with the ILO Office for the Andean Countries. He also was the head of the ILO Formalization Programme for Latin America and the Caribbean as well as Head of the Interagency United Nations MDG Programme on Youth, Employment and Migration. He holds a PhD in Economics from the Catholic University of Peru and a Master of Science in Economics from Texas A&M University in the United States.

Sher Singh Verick is Coordinator of Digitalization and AI at the ILO. Prior to this role, he has held various positions in the ILO, including as manager of the employment programme at the International Training Centre of the ILO and deputy director of the ILO Decent Work Team for South Asia and Country Office for India. He has also worked for the UN Economic Commission for Africa and various research institutions in Europe and Australia. He holds a master’s degree in development economics from the Australian National University and a doctorate in economics from the University of Bonn. Since December 2004, he has been a Research Fellow of the Institute for Labor Economics (IZA). He has published in a range of journals and has authored or edited a number of volumes, including the Transformation of Women at Work in Asia: An Unfinished Development Agenda. 

Praachi Kumar serves as the Associate Capacity Development Officer at the International Telecommunication Union, where she supports capacity and digital skills development. She coordinates the ITU Academy platform, the gateway to ITU’s capacity development activities which trains over 115,000 ICT professionals across topics related to digital development and digital transformation. Praachi is a development economist. In her PhD she investigates the impact of new technology on development outcomes related to gender inequality, discrimination, and inclusion. Prior to her role at ITU, Praachi worked with UNU-MERIT, United Nations University as a postdoctoral researcher on digital inclusion and capacity development. Her commitment to development and technology is anchored in more than a decade of experience spanning economic research and programmes.