The State of Open Data Roundtables Series 1

Tim Davies

Research Director Connected by Data

Tim Davies is Research Director at Connected by Data, a non-profit seeking to put community at the heart of data governance. He was formerly co-editor of the State of Open Data: Histories and Horizons, open data research lead at the World Wide Web Foundation, and co-founder of Open Data Services Co-operative, a workers co-op involved in developing and maintaining global data standards. His research looks at the intersection of technology, democracy and participation. He was a 2019 resident in AI at the Rockefeller Bellagio Center, and helped to create the Global Data Barometer as an expert survey-driven study of data for the public good.

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Renata Avila

Chief Executive Officer, Open Knowledge Foundation

Renata is an international lawyer, author and advocate. She brings nearly 20 years of experience in access to knowledge, freedom of expression, policymaking and global digital rights. Renata is affiliated with the Stanford Institute of Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. Renata is part of the World Economic Forum Expert Network on Digital Technologies and a member of the Global Board of Trustees of Digital Future Society. She co-founded the <A+> Alliance for Inclusive Algorithms, the Progressive International, and the Polylateral Association - an international platform cooperative for knowledge workers

Feng Gao

Co-founder and Managing Director, Open Data China

Feng Gao is the co-founder and managing director of Open Data China, the first civic group and social enterprise in China working on data transparency and digital rights. Under Feng’s leadership, Open Data China actively advises governments and other data holders on how to build an open and transparent data agenda. Open Data China also sets up a community for data users to make their voices heard. In 2015, Open Data China co-launched Shanghai Open Data Apps (SODA), a competition-based open data innovation model.

Jeni Tennison

Co-Chair, Data Governance Working Group, GPAI

Jeni is the co-chair of the Data Governance Working Group at the Global Partnership on AI, and sits on the Boards of Creative Commons, the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data and the Information Law and Policy Centre. She is the founder of Connected by data, a Shuttleworth Foundation Fellow and an Affiliated Researcher at the Bennett Institute for Public Policy. Jeni was CEO of the Open Data Institute, where she held leadership roles for nine years. Before joining ODI, Jeni worked as an independent consultant, specialising in open data publishing and consumption.

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Mor Rubinstein

Data Strategy Consultant, Open Heroines

Mor Rubinstein is a data strategy consultant with more than a decade of experience in data analytics and building robust data culture. She worked with the government of Israel, Parkinson's UK, 360Giving and the Open Knowledge Foundation promoting good data practices and innovative projects for data curation and use. She is one of the editors for The State of Open Data - Histories and Horizons. She is an a feminist and the founder of Open Heroines, a safe space for women and non-binary people who work in civic tech, open data and open government.

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Blerta Thaçi

Executive Director, Open Data Kosovo

Executive Director of Open Data Kosovo. An experienced leader in missions that contribute to public causes, open government, civic-tech, and digital solutions that deliver high-quality services to Kosovo’s citizens, and help the youth of Kosovo build their capacities in the tech industry. Founder of Girls Coding Kosova, a woman community-driven to empower and inspire tomorrow's tech leaders. Experienced Software Engineer with a demonstrated history of working in software development. Strong expertise in developing fully-fledged digital solutions for social good with Kosovo’s open data. Forbes 30 under 30, class of 2018.

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Thais Ruiz de Alda

Founder and Executive Director, Digitalfems/ Gender Data Lab

Thais founded and currently is Executive Director at DigitalFems, a non-profit social entity that provides services related to diversity and gender policies to technological companies, public administrations, and entities. She has developed her career in digital and tech scope since 1999. Thais has worked as Managing Director at Thoughtworks, where besides starting up the company’s operations, she also founded LaT, a technopolitical citizen lab focused on tech sovereignty and social digital innovation. As the Executive Director and Founder of DigitalFems, she leads projects and provides services related to gender inclusion in technological companies and coordinates different projects such as DatosContraElRuido.org, GenderDataLab, Tecnologas.org, and EllesMusic.

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Coretta Jonah

Data Capacity Development Lead, Equal Measures 2030

Coretta Jonah, PhD, is the Senior Data Capacity Lead, Equal Measures 2030. She has over a decade of experience as a researcher and analyst in higher education and international development. She is particularly interested in understanding gender differences, patterns and potential causal factors of food insecurity, poverty, and inequality. Recently her work is focused on gender inequalities and urban food insecurity.

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Marisa Miodosky

Gender Equality Strategy Leader, Buenos Aires City Statistics and Census Bureau

Marisa Miodosky is a gender policy specialist from Argentina. She studied Political Science at the University of Buenos Aires and has a Master's Degree in Sustainable International Development from the Heller School for Social Policy, in the United States, where she studied with a Fulbright scholarship. Marisa has worked for more than twenty years on social development issues, such as urban and rural poverty, youth, and migration in civil society organizations and international organizations, such as the World Bank, the Inter-American Bank, and the Foreign Office. Since 2016 she has worked in the government of the City of Buenos Aires, where she coordinated the City Gender Equality Strategy 2018-2020 which was awarded by Apolitical as the best civil service team in the world working for equality. In 2021 she joined the BA Statistics Bureau where she has coordinated several data production projects with a gender perspective, including the Care Indicator System, unique worldwide. She is a proud member and Community Coordinator of Open Heroines and a professor at Di Tella University where she teaches about evidence for gender policies and gender mainstreaming in the public sector.

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Emma Ruttkamp-Bloem

AI Ethics Researcher Professor and Head of Department of Philosophy, University of Pretoria

Emma Ruttkamp-Bloem is professor and head of the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Humanities at the University of Pretoria. She is the leader of the ethics of artificial intelligence research group at the Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research (CAIR) in South Africa. She has a Ph.D. in Philosophy in mathematical logic and the philosophy of science. She was the Chairperson of the UNESCO Ad Hoc Expert Group that prepared the draft of the 2021 UNESCO Global Recommendation on the Ethics of AI and a current member of the UNESCO Ad Hoc Expert Group working on implementing the Recommendation. She is the rapporteur for the UNESCO Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST).

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Angel Hsu

Assistant Professor, Public Policy and the Environment at UNC Chapel Hill and Founder, Data Driven Lab

Angel Hsu is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy and the Environment at UNC Chapel Hill and Founder/Director of the Data-Driven EnviroPolicy Lab, an interdisciplinary research group that innovates and applies quantitative approaches to pressing environmental issues. Her research explores the intersection of science and policy and the use of data-driven approaches to understand environmental sustainability, particularly in the areas of climate change and energy, urbanisation and air quality.

Aniket Ghai

Senior Economic Affairs Officer, UN-OHRLLS

Aniket Ghai, a Kenyan national, joined the Office of the High Representative for the LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS in 2017. Prior to that he served in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General in Ban Ki-moon’s cabinet-style Policy Committee. Previously, he was Policy Advisor in the Executive Office of UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner. He also worked at UNEP’s Environment Management Group secretariat, where he coordinated a UN system-wide approach to the Green Economy, and the UN climate neutral strategy. He coordinated the first-ever UN Palestinian environmental assessment and implemented a programme Israeli-Palestinian environmental cooperation during the Second Intifada. He was part of the secretariat staff that negotiated the Rio Earth Summit (UNCED) secretariat and the UN Climate Change Convention and Kyoto Protocol. He has also worked for ILO and UNCTAD, and advised governments and NGOs on trade, sustainable development and climate change. He was educated at Oxford University, UK, and Columbia University, New York, USA.

Shaida Badiee

Managing Director, Open Data Watch

Shaida Badiee is Managing Director of Open Data Watch, an NGO focused on monitoring and promoting open data in national statistical offices. She has been an active member of the UN Secretary General’s advisory group on data revolution, co-chairs the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) Data Network and has played a key role with the startup of the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data. As senior advisor, Shaida works closely with the Data2X team focused on knowledge creation and advocacy for closing gender data gaps.

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Luis G. González Morales

Chief, Web Development and Data Visualization Section, United Nations Statistics Division

Luis Gonzalez Morales is the Chief of the Web Development and Data Visualization Section of the United Nations Statistics Division, where he co-leads initiatives in data interoperability, open data, semantic web technologies, and integration of geospatial information and statistics for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Since joining the United Nations Statistics Division in 2005, Luis has worked with National Statistical Offices and international partners on methodology and capacity development projects, in the fields of IT architecture, economic statistics, data quality, development indicators, and the coordination of national statistical activities for the SDGs.

Grant Cameron

Director, Sustainable Development Solutions Network

Grant Cameron is the Director of SDSN’s Thematic Research Network on Data and Statistics (TReNDS). There, he oversees a work program that brings innovative approaches to countries in the Global South to improve data for the SDG agenda. Until recently, Grant worked as a Manager at the World Bank for 15 years. While there, he led teams supporting countries to improve their capacity to produce data and statistics and to make them more accessible and useful to policymakers and the public. Before joining the Bank, Grant held managerial and economist positions in the Government of Canada in policy development (personal income tax) and at Statistics Canada.

Sultanov Akrom Amanovich

Head of State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Statistics’s (UZSTAT), Open Data Monitoring Department

Sultanov is the Head of Department for monitoring and coordination of the open data portal, The State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Statistics (Goskomstat). He had over 15 years experience working in data in Uzbekhistan. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in International Business from Tashkent State University of Economy and a Master’s Degree in International Business.

Jenna Slotin

Senior Director for Policy and Strategy, Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data

Jenna Slotin is Senior Director for Policy and Strategy for the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data. Prior to this she was Director, Sustainable Development Policy at the UN Foundation. She has over 12 years of experience at the UN and working on UN policy issues related to sustainable development and peacebuilding with a particular focus on analyzing the political dynamics around the 2030 Agenda, financing for development, sustainable development data, and the UN 's peacebuilding architecture.

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Jorge Florez

Senior Program Manager, Global Integrity

Jorge Florez leads work at Global Integrity about the use of data for accountability and anti-corruption. He is most interested in finding ways to support partners in their efforts to solve local problems through the use of data, evidence, and innovation. Prior to joining Global Integrity, Jorge worked with the Results for Development Institute and the National Democratic Institute, he also advised the Colombian government on citizen participation, and conducted research on governance, social movements, and environmental management.

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Natalia Carfi

Executive Director, Open Data Charter

Natalia Carfi is the Open Data Charter’s Executive Director. She was the former Open Government Director for the Undersecretary of Public Innovation and Open Government of Argentina where she coordinated the co-creation of the 3rd Open Government National Action Plan. She was also Open Government coordinator for the Digital Division of the Government of Chile and for the City of Buenos Aires. She is part of the Open Data Leaders Network and the Academic Committee of the International Open Data Conference.

Keziah Munyao

Research Fellow, Local Development Research Institute

Keziah Munyao is a research fellow in residence at the Local Development Research Institute and supports the institution by providing critical technical support in evidence-informed improvements to policy, regulatory frameworks, performance management, and the working environment in order to improve the formulation and implementation of practical evidence-informed development actions. She played a critical role as a regional coordinator in the Global Data Barometer in the Sub-Saharan Region as well as ensuring the quality of data collected by national researchers across countries.

Courtney Tolmie

Founder, Wonderlight Consulting

Courteny is the Founder of Wonderlight Consulting and a Senior Fellow at Results for Development. For over 12 years, she has designed and led programs with Results for Development seeking to increase accountability and citizen engagement around the world, often using evaluation and adaptive learning as an approach to strengthen the way partners tackle these complex challenges. With Wonderlight, she continues to work on these issues, with a focus on three core areas of work: (1) Monitoring, Evaluation, and Adaptive Learning, (2) Open Governance, Accountability, and Community Engagement, and (3) Facilitation for stronger strategy and action planning.

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Bence Tóth Senior

Senior Researcher, Government Transparency Institute

Bence Tóth is a PhD candidate at UCL SSEES and a senior researcher at Government Transparency Institute. He was working on the DIGIWHIST research project based at the University of Cambridge, where he assisted the collection and publication of public contracting data from 35 jurisdictions across Europe and building indicators of administrative capacity and integrity. Currently, he works on the British Academy/DFID funded research project looking at anti-corruption in development aid-funded procurement. He is also frequently involved in policy research projects for the European Commission, World Bank, European Investment Bank, and various NGOs. Together with Mihály Fazekas, he was awarded the first prize in the U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre competition for the best new proxy measure of corruption. His research focuses primarily on measuring corruption and collusion risks in public procurement markets using large-scale contract and company level data. His PhD research is about informality in locally managed public procurement contracts where informal enforcement and local information have particular importance in contract governance.