Amitabh Kumar

Amitabh Kumar is Head of Media and Communication at the New Delhi, India-based Centre for Social Research. The Centre’s core mission is to restructure gender relations toward a humane, equitable and gender-just society. CSR focuses attention toward empowering women, protecting and ensuring women’s rights and understanding social issues from a gender perspective, and recognizes that restructuring gender relations requires the participation and support of all sectors of society: women and men, young and old, grassroots to national levels, private and public institutions alike. In addition to spearheading CSR’s communications strategy and execution, he is one of CSR’s gender trainers working with Indian companies and government agencies to ensure gender equality.

Anja Kovacs

Dr. Anja Kovacs directs the Internet Democracy Project in Delhi, India, which works for an Internet that supports free speech, democracy and social justice in India and beyond. Anja’s research and advocacy focuses especially on questions regarding freedom of expression, cybersecurity and the architecture of Internet governance. She has also worked as an international consultant on Internet issues, including for the Independent Commission on Multilateralism, the United Nations Development Programme Asia Pacific and the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, Mr. Frank La Rue, as well as having been a Fellow at the Centre for Internet and Society in Bangalore, India.

Basheerhamad Shadrach

Basheerhamad Shadrach joined the Web Foundation in June 2014 as its A4AI Asia Coordinator. Shadrach works to build coalitions of private, public and civil society organisations to advance the shared aim of affordable access to both mobile and fixed-line Internet in Asia. Shadrach has managed ICT4D programmes in over thirty nations around the world, and brings with him nearly three decades of experience in the field. Until recently, Shadrach served as the Global CEO of the Telecentre.org Foundation. Prior to that, Shadrach worked for IDRC, Canada, managing ICT4D research grants in Asia, including the “Mission 2007: Every Village a Knowledge Centre” initiative.

George Abraham

George Abraham, CEO of Score Foundation, started his career in advertising in 1981 and started working with the blind after 1989. In 1990 he launched national cricket programmes for the blind and established the World Blind Cricket Council in 1996. Later he launched a mobile training program in personality development in 1997 and co-authored a book on Inclusive Education in 2004. In 2002 George founded Score Foundation and launched its flagship Project Eyeway in 2003, which is a single stop Knowledge Resource for blind and visually impaired people with the object of changing lives through the power of Knowledge. In the past George has been conferred with awards such as, the Sanskriti Award, the Rotary Vocational Award, The Limca Book of Record’s “People of the Year” Award and was elected as an Ashoka fellow in 2001. In 1996, he also had the privilege of running with the Olympic Torch at Atlanta. Having spent over two decades working in the domain of Life with blindness, George has diverse experience as a trainer/motivational speaker, a promoter of cricket for the blind and a disability Activist/Communicator.

Saikat Datta

Saikat Datta is the Policy Director at Center for Internet and Society. He has been a journalist for over 19 years as an editor and an investigative reporter with several news organisations. He has been a defence correspondent with The Indian Express, an assistant editor with the Outlook magazine, Resident Editor with DNA, member of the Editorial Board with Zee News and Editor (National Security) with Hindustan Times. His core areas of research are around counter-terrorism, intelligence, cybersecurity and the use of special forces in strategic roles. He is also a senior fellow with the Internet Democracy Project.