Digital Inclusion, Identity, Trust, and Agency

Dr. Roba Abbas
Roba Abbas is a Lecturer with the School of Management, Operations and Marketing, at the University of Wollongong. She has a PhD in location-based services regulation and has received internationally competitive and local grants for research addressing global challenges in areas related to codesign and sociotechnical systems, operations research, robotics/AI, social media. From 2005 to 2010, she was a Product Manager with Internetrix, Wollongong. Her current research interests include methodological approaches to design. Dr. Abbas is the Co-Editor of the new IEEE Transactions in Technology and Society.

Parry Aftab
Parry Aftab has advised nations, networks, the UN and global regulatory agencies on children online, cybersafety, human-centric innovation and digital privacy since 1995. She devotes a majority of her time running charities globally, including the new Cybersafety Group, StopCyberbullying and the Cybersafety India Foundation. She is the Youth Digital Privacy and
Cybersafety Advisor for the IEEE SA. And together with her Cybersafety Taskforce, she is helping to develop cybersafety standards, professional development and certifications for the youth digital ecosystem. Parry was appointed by UNESCO to head its US efforts on digital child sexual exploitation, was awarded the FBI Director’s Community Service Award, the Points of Light Foundation/Whitehouse President’s Service award and the RCMP’s Child Recovery Award.

Alexandra Ebert
Alexandra Ebert joined Mostly AI in 2019 after graduating in Digital Marketing and completing her Master's thesis on Machine Learning and the GDPR. She is responsible for engaging with the privacy community, with regulators, the media and with customers. Apart from that she was pleased to be invited to join the group of AI experts for the Ms. AI initiative.

Christopher Frauenberger
Christopher Frauenberger is Senior Researcher at the Human-Computer Interaction Group, TU Wien (Vienna University of Technology). He is interested in the complex relationships between humans and technology and particularly focuses on designing technology with and for marginalised user groups, e.g., autistic children. He is committed to participatory design approaches and builds on theories and methods from diverse fields such as the action research, disability studies, philosophy and ethics amongst others.  

Gerald Fritz
Gerald Fritz, MSc, MBA graduated in computer science at the Technical University of Graz and held positions as a researcher in the field of cognitive robotics and computational perception at the institute DIGITAL of the Joanneum Research Forschungsgesellschaft GmbH, key researcher and head of the department on robotics and assistive systems at Profactor GmbH in Austria. He joined TTTech Computertechnik AG as senior coordinator for R&D project 2017 and finished his MBA at the Vienna University of Economics and Business on Entrepreneurship and Innovation. He has published more than 50 peer-reviewed papers in the field of computer science conferences leading to more than 268 citations. Gerald Fritz is an IEEE member and serves in different officer roles in the robotic chapter Austria (RAS) and the Technology and Engineering Management Society (TEMS) Austria.

Robin Heilig
Robin Heilig - City of Vienna, Co-head of PACE, Vienna's IT-Innovation team, has been a project manager for many years. He first developed his more strategic skills as a senior e-government consultant before he took on the challenge as head of the strategy bureau of the ICT department of the City of Vienna. To meet the rising demands of digitization, PACE was founded, which he is co-head of, since its launch. 

Dr. Ansgar Koene
Dr. Ansgar Koene is Global AI Ethics and Regulatory Leader at EY where he supports the AI Lab’s Policy activities on Trusted AI. He is also a Senior Research Fellow at the RCUK funded Horizon Digital Economy Research institute (University of Nottingham) where he contributes to the policy impact activities of the institute and leads the policy related stakeholder engagement activities of the ReEnTrust project. As part of this work Ansgar has provided evidence to twelve UK parliamentary inquiries, co-authored a report on Bias in Algorithmic Decision-Making for the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation, and was lead author of a Science Technology Options Assessment report on a Governance Framework for Algorithmic Accountability and Transparency for the European Parliament.

Ansgar chairs the IEEE P7003 Standard for Algorithmic Bias Considerations working group, is the Bias Focus Group leader for the IEEE Ethics Certification Program for Autonomous and Intelligent Systems (ECPAIS), and a trustee for the 5Rgiths foundation for the Rights of Young People Online.

Ansgar has a multi-disciplinary research background, having worked and published on topics ranging from Policy and Governance of Algorithmic Systems (AI), data-privacy, AI Ethics, AI Standards, bio-inspired Robotics, AI and Computational Neuroscience to experimental Human Behaviour/Perception studies. He holds an MSc in Electrical Engineering and a PhD in Computational Neuroscience.

Dr. Katina Michael
Katina Michael is the Director for the Society Policy Engineering Collective at Arizona State University. She holds a joint professorial appointment in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society and the School of Computing, Informatics and Decision Systems Engineering. Katina is a Senior Member of the IEEE and holds a PhD in information and communication technology, a Master of Transnational Crime Prevention, and a Bachelor of Information Technology degree. She has held visiting academic appointments at Nanjing University and the University of Southampton. Previously she was employed as a senior network engineer and systems analyst. She is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the new IEEE Transactions on Technology and Society that will begin publication in 2020. Michael has also been a recent recipient of the Brian M. O’Connell Distinguished Service Award in the Society for the Social Implications of Technology.

Dr. Clara Neppel
After working with the European Patent Office (EPO) Dr. Clara Neppel joined IEEE in 2017 and serves as the Senior Director of the IEEE European office in Vienna, where she is responsible for the growth of IEEE’s operations and presence in Europe, focusing on the needs of industry, academia, and government. Clara serves as a point of contact for initiatives with regard to technology, engineering and related public policy issues that help implementing IEEE’s continued global commitment to fostering technological innovation for the benefit of humanity. She holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the Technical University of Munich and a Master in Intellectual Property Law and Management from the University of Strasbourg.

Moira Patterson
As Global Market Affairs & Community Engagement Director for IEEE SA, Ms. Patterson oversees key initiatives related to digital inclusion and identity, data governance, and children’s online experiences. She has managed strategic initiatives and policy engagements in Europe and Africa and engaged in institutional relationship and capacity building activities. In her role, Ms. Patterson has facilitated dialogue among different stakeholders (industry, government, academia, and social impact bodies) on ICT technology and the intersection of technology and policy, and worked in multi-stakeholder environments across various technical domains and industry sectors. By promoting standards’ potential to support sustainable development and to address digital challenges, Ms. Patterson contributes to IEEE’s mission of advancing technology for the benefit of humanity.

Dr. Stefan Sauermann
FH-Prof. DI Dr. Stefan Sauermann started as a researcher at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria, in biosignal analysis for electrostimulation in 1992.

Since 1999 he is lecturer at the University of Applied Sciences Technikum Wien (UAS TW) and since 2011 Program Director of the Medical Engineering & eHealth Master degree study program. He is researcher in the Research Focus „Secure Services, eHealth & Mobility” at UAS TW. He contributes to national and international efforts towards eHealth and telemonitoring, with a focus on IT interoperability and standards.

He is active in the “Austrian Standards Institute” committee „Medical Informatics", a mirror to ISO TC215 and CEN TC 251, in IEEE, HL7 and a founding member of IHE Austria. He is R&D Advisor to the Austrian Society for Telemedicine and eHealth (https://www.oegtelemed.at/ ) and Co-Chair of the EU working group of the Personal Connected Health Alliance (www.pchalliance.org/)

Alpesh Shah
Alpesh Shah serves as the Senior Director of Global Business Strategy & Intelligence at the IEEE Standards Association, where his focus is on organizational growth and advancements of ecosystems towards accelerated outcomes.

Prior to joining the IEEE, Alpesh worked as a trusted advisor to and for a number of organizations in various industries with a focus on organizational growth.

Alpesh holds an MBA with concentrations in Strategy, Marketing and Finance; MSc in IT Project Management and a BSc in Computer Science. In his spare time he volunteers with Special Spectators, a non profit committed to providing seriously ill children and their families a special day through sporting events across the United States.

Harpal Singh Toor
Harpal Singh Toor is Head of Innovation & Growth (Sales) at Tech Mahindra, enabling Enterprises, individuals and the Society with innovative and human-centric technology experiences. Having led successful digital transformations for various industries in Europe, he is passionate about changing role of technology and innovation.

As head of Tech Mahindra Innovation hub in Germany, his focus is to develop a digital ecosystem while keeping Ethics & Values, Technology and Innovation at Core. He holds a Master in Information Technology and Bachelor in Computer Science degree.

Dr. Yu Yuan
Dr. Yu Yuan is a visionary researcher, inventor, and entrepreneur in the areas of Consumer Technology, Transportation, Internet of Things, and Digital Transformation. He founded Senses Global Corporation, a multinational technology company specializing in Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and Human Augmentation. Prior to this he served as the president of CATE Global, a think tank focusing on bringing world-class expertise to clients and projects all over the world. Prior to that he worked for IBM Research as a research scientist and was a key contributor to IBM's Cell Broadband Engine, Smarter Planet, and IoT initiative. He has been a passionate volunteer in various leadership positions at IEEE and other professional communities. His outstanding service in IEEE standards activities at different levels (working group, standards committee, and IEEE Standards Association governance) has been widely appreciated by standards developers, individual members, and corporate members. He has been serving as the Chair of IEEE Consumer Technology Society Standards Committee (CES/SC) since 2015. He was the founding chair and is currently the secretary of IEEE Consumer Technology Society Blockchain Standards Committee (CES/BSC), which is sponsoring more than two thirds of IEEE's blockchain standards projects including P2418.8, P2418.9, P2418.10, P2140 series, P2141 series, P2142 series, P2143 series, P2144 series, and P2145 series. He is also serving as a member-at-large of IEEE Standards Association Board of Governors, and a voting member of IEEE Technical Activities Board Committee on Standards. He has a PhD in Computer Science, Tsinghua University.