Agenda

Berta Panes has been working in the humanitarian field for over 20 years. Initially with the UN, in peacekeeping operations and since 2009 with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Her work has focused on protection of civilian population in conflict and post conflict countries across the world specializing in detention, restoring family links and building resilience amongst communities affected by violence. Since 2019 she has been working at ICRC headquarters in the development of RedSafe, a safe and secure platform offering humanitarian services online. The first pilot was deployed mid 2021 in Southern Africa for migrants seeking services and information in the area.

Christine works as the Team Lead on Skills for Social Inclusion in the ILO’s Skills and Employability Branch in Geneva. She leads research and knowledge products, builds capacity and designs projects on skills and lifelong learning approaches that include persons with disabilities, informal economy workers, migrant workers, forcibly displaced people, LGBTI people and other vulnerable groups. She supports ILO constituents in making skills development and recognition systems more inclusive, and works with the ILO’s network of skills specialists around the world. She spent five years in Cairo as the ILO’s skills specialist for North Africa supporting ILO constituents and projects in the areas of TVET, youth employment, apprenticeship, rural skills training, skills anticipation etc. in 12 countries. Prior to that, among others, she co-authored the ILO’s Skills for green jobs book, and developed a Resource guide on upgrading informal apprenticeship in Africa. Before joining the ILO, Christine worked as a political consultant and coordinated development projects for trade unions in Africa and Asia for a German labour foundation. She holds a degree in International Business and Area Studies.

Guilherme Otero is Project Coordinator at the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Head of IOM Sub-Office in São Paulo, Brazil. He holds a B.A in International Relations (University of São Paulo - USP) and a Masters’ Degree in Public Policy (Federal University of ABC - UFABC). He is a former assistant coordinator at the São Paulo City Hall’s Office for Migrant Policies. In 10 years of experience in the field of migration, Guilherme has worked in the areas of education and human rights, migration policy and local governance, humanitarian response, migrant integration, emigration and diaspora engagement, and return migration.

Tatcee Lorena Macabuag is an activist, migrants rights advocate and a current programme coordinator of Migrant Forum in Asia. As programme coordinator she is tasked to support and develop program areas of MFA on: 1.) labour migration and recruitment, 2.) research and documentation and 3.) Advocacy and Capacity building. She was part of the core MFA team that developed MFA's online complaints and documentation system, Hamsa.

(MFA) is the biggest network in Asia of organizations, civil society groups, trade unions and advocates working on social justice for migrants and their families. MFA has a membership of more than 200 organizations and is represented in 27 countries in Asia.

Dr.  Maria Rosa Lorini is a Post-Doctoral Researcher in the School of Management at Royal Holloway, University of London.  Maria Rosa has a background in both civil society organisations and academia. Between 2008 and 2012 she directed a HIV/AIDS project for the Cesvi Fondazione Onlus in South Africa, and before that she also worked for the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire on human rights and the rule of law.  Immediately prior to joining Royal Holloway, she was most recently a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Cape Town, with which she maintains close connections.  She is working primarily on digital technologies and migration as part of the team contributing to the MIDEQ project.

Tim Unwin is Emeritus Professor of Geography and Chairholder of the UNESCO Chair in ICT4D at Royal Holloway, University of London. He was Secretary General of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) from 2011-2015, and was Chair of the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission from 2009-2014. In 2018-19 he led the co-ordination of 21 UN agencies on behalf of UNESCO and UNICEF to develop a system-wide strategy on the future of education and learning for the UN’s High Level Committee on Programmes and Chief Executives Board.

His influential edited book Information and Communication Technologies for Development, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2009, and his latest book Reclaiming ICT4D was published by Oxford University Press in 2017. Most of his research and writing currently focuses on the inequalities caused by digital technologies and what needs to be done to ensure that the poorest and most marginalised people can benefit from them.

G Hari Harindranath is a Professor of Information Systems in the School of Management at Royal Holloway, University of London and a member of the UNESCO Chair in ICT4D, also based at Royal Holloway. Hari has a background in political economy and holds a doctorate in Information Systems from the London School of Economics. His research centres on the social and organisational implications of digital technologies, including ICT4D. Hari is an Editorial Board Member of the Journal of Information Technology, Associate Editor of Information & Management, and Senior Editor of Information Technology & People. He is co-founder of the Association for Information Systems-affiliate conference, International Conference on Information Resources Management (Conf-IRM).