Agenda

Cristina Bueti is the ITU Focal Point on Smart Sustainable Cities and AI-Enabled Citiverse. 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.

Soumaya Ben Dhaou is a Research Specialist at the United Nations University (UNU-EGOV) since 2016.

Her expertise lies in Digital Governance, digital government, emerging technologies, smart cities, digital innovation, and research policy.

She leads the research line on "Digital transformation, innovation, and emerging technologies", where she explores the potential of emerging technologies like Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, IoT, and Data Analytics. Her work investigates the impact of these technologies on transforming urban centres, settlements, and government and public services. Soumaya and her team are actively researching "leapfrogging strategies with emerging technologies in Africa" and exploring the implications of recent Govtech, emerging technologies such as Metaverse and Generative AI on government and public service, and open data and government and public services capabilities.

Committed to advancing smart cities and digital governance for sustainable development, Soumaya's work encompasses various dimensions of urban transformation. She is involved in several global projects and research initiatives. Currently, she is the project lead of the global survey assessing the responsible use of AI in cities in collaboration with UN-HABITAT and IDRC, which examines the implementation, use and governance of cutting-edge technologies for urban development.

As the lead contact for UNU-EGOV's collaboration with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Soumaya has spearheaded various working groups under the U4SSC (United 4 Smart Sustainable Cities Communities). She led the “Blockchain 4 Cities” and co-led the "Simple Ways to be Smart” thematic groups, focusing on cities and digital governance for efficient, inclusive, and sustainable urban development.
Her work extends to collaboration with various organisations, universities, and local and national governments from member states. She recently advised the government of Uzbekistan on its strategic approach to introducing blockchain technology, studied the digital transformation for social security in China, and researched next-generation solutions for data management, identity management, and digital signatures, among other areas.

Currently serving as an invited professor at the University of Minho, Soumaya coordinates the joint master's program on technology and governance between UNU-EGOV and the University. She is also a visiting professor at the South Mediterranean University, where she coordinated the master's Degree in Big Data, technologies and analytics.

Soumaya holds a Ph.D. in Information Systems and Technology and Digital Governance from a joint program of the University of Quebec in Montreal, Concordia University, HEC Montreal, and McGill University in Canada. Additionally, she earned a Ph.D. in Management of Information Systems from Paris-Dauphine University.

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 worked as the Strategic Planning Advisor in Dubai eGovernment, Dubai Smart Government, Smart Dubai Office and recently Dubai Digital Authority. His responsibilities include Strategic Planning, Strategic Performance Management and Policy Making among others.
Dr. Geray is the U4SSC Chair (U4SSC is a UN initiative coordinated by ITU, UNECE and UN-Habitat and supported by other 16 UN bodies, that help support the development of institutional policies and strategies which encourage the use of digital technologies to facilitate digital transformation and ease the transition to smart sustainable cities). He is leading several thematic groups globally for U4SSC namely “Guidelines on Strategies for Circular Cities”, “City Science Application Framework”, “AI in Cities”, “Enabling People-Centered Cities through Digital Transformation”, and “Digital Wellbeing”.
Dr. Geray is the Steering Committee Chair of the Global Initiative on Virtual Worlds and AI.
Dr. Geray is the Working Party 1 Vice-chair and Rapporteur of the 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 co-chaired the Working Group “Economic, regulatory & competition aspects” in the ITU Focus Group on metaverse (FG-MV). 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 Turkey, an M.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering and a Ph.D. degree in Systems and Control Engineering from the University of Massachusetts in the US. He has published several journal and conference papers and was an adjunct lecturer in management for 15 years.

Professor Bamidele Adebisi, MBE is Professor of Intelligent Infrastructure Systems and Director of Smart Communities and Innovations at Manchester Metropolitan University. He contributes as a UN expert on AI-enabled urban systems: digital twins, spatial intelligence, and immersive technologies for sustainable city development. He also serves as a Cluster Lead for the ITU–UN Digital Development Goals initiative.

His career features significant high-impact research and industry collaboration, including senior leadership on the €29M EU Horizon 2020 Triangulum project and academic leadership of the BEIS-funded NIceEnergi project in Nigeria, among other smart sustainable cities and communities projects.

He was awarded  a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2025 King’s New Year Honours for excellence in knowledge transfer. A two-time UK “Best of the Best” KTP Project of the Year winner (2020, 2024), he has also received major national recognition for collaborative impact.

With over 250 publications, he is a Fellow of the IET, Senior IEEE member, Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and Chartered Engineer, as well as a globally sought-after thought leader and advisor in AI and sustainable infrastructure.

Dr. Serge Stinckwich is a Senior Research Fellow at the UNU Paris Office and a computer scientist with over sixteen years of experience at the interface of digital technologies, sustainable development, and public policy across Asia and Africa.  His work centres on the science-policy interface in two directions: how computational models like agent-based simulations, complex-systems approaches or AI models, can support evidence-based decision-making for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); and how open source software and digital public goods (DPGs) can be governed to advance inclusive and sustainable digital futures.

Tim Unwin is a British academic and public figure, specialising in the uses of digital technology by the world’s poorest and most marginalised peoples. He led the UK Prime Minister’s Imfundo initiative (creating partnerships for using IT in education in Africa) between 2001 and 2004, was Secretary General of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation between 2011 and 2015, and founding Chairholder of the UNESCO Chair in ICT4D at Royal Holloway, University of London between 2007 and 2023. Much of his research practice over the last 50 years has concentrated on the interface between learning and digital tech, and his latest book Digital Inclusion in an Unequal World: an Emancipatory Manifesto was published by Routledge in April 2026. https://ict4d.org.uk; https://timunwin.blog.

Dr Sarah Jane Fox is a skilled academic-practitioner and thought-leader, with extensive experience in Higher Education and external to it, whereby she has worked in government and consultancy roles.

Dr Fox is currently an academic at Leicester Law School, University of Leicester (UK) and is also a Co-Director for the Institute of Digital Culture.

Dr Fox specialises in law, policy and strategy. She is an internationally recognised expert-specialist in transport, particularly, air/aviation, space and road transport modes and systems (including autonomous vehicles) sustainable future use and advancing cyber-connected technologies. This includes safety/security/cybersecurity factors. Her research also includes the social acceptance of evolving technology, engagement and EDI issues.

In 2015-2016 Dr Fox achieved a highly coveted Fulbright Commission Scholarship, whereby she undertook research in the U.S. for 12-months across the areas of aviation/autonomous systems (drones) and space.

Dr Fox has presented her research at a number of international key events, including at the United Nations (UN - ITU/WSIS; OOSA; ODC) the European Union (EU) and the Council of Europe. She continues to collaborate extensively with the UN and EU and is an adviser to a technology (Europol group).

Dr Fox continues to take part in key policy discussions in the United Nations and the EU on technology risks, challenges and opportunities. In 2024 Sarah Jane was a top-20 finalist of the United Nations SDG Game Changer Awards. This accolade honours individuals and organisations that are working towards rescuing the global goals through digital technologies and exemplifies how digital technologies can lay the groundwork for a more sustainable, inclusive and responsible future. Her work was acknowledged within the Peace Category, which relates to building peaceful and inclusive societies (SDG 16 and 17).

Dr Fox’s ongoing collaborative work relates to technologies used for peaceful purposes, namely to benefits society and protect national infrastructures (from misuse): it is based on sharing policies and guidance.