We were delighted to welcome Ariba Jahan and Nigel Shadbolt as our 2021 keynote speakers.
Ariba Jahan is a biomechanical engineer turned innovation and design strategist focused on creating social impact and a future that is more accessible, intersectional and equitable. She is currently the Vice President of Design & Innovation Strategy at the Ad Council, where she established the organization’s design innovation practice. As an immigrant Bengali woman who discovered her hearing loss at age eight, Ariba advocates for diverse, historically marginalized voices that are often overlooked to ensure their lived experiences inform and drive the work. As a member of the Ad Council’s DEI Council, she also leads efforts to advance diversity, equity and inclusion at the organization. Outside of this, she is an international speaker and facilitator, leads the NYC Chapter of Women in Innovation and volunteers to mentor girls in STEM.
Sir Nigel Shadbolt is Principal of Jesus College and Professor of Computing Science at the University of Oxford, where he has focused his research in human centered AI in a wide range of applications. Most recently he was asked to lead the setting up of the Oxford Institute of Ethics in AI. He is also the Chairman and Co-Founder of the Open Data Institute (ODI). Since 2009, Sir Nigel has helped transform public access to Government information. In 2010, he joined the UK government’s Public Sector Transparency Board – overseeing Open Data releases across the public sector. He was knighted in 2013 for ‘services to science and engineering.’ With over 500 publications, he has researched and published on topics ranging from cognitive psychology to computational neuroscience, Artificial Intelligence to the Semantic Web. In 2018 he published The Digital Ape: how to live (in peace) with smart machines, described as a ‘landmark book’. He is a Fellow of The Royal Society, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the British Computer Society.
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