Speakers' biographies: THEME I
THEME I. THE IMPACTS OF AI-POWERED TECHNOLOGIES ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
Abraham Bernstein
Abraham Bernstein is a professor of Informatics at the University of Zurich (UZH), Switzerland and the founding Director of the University of Zurich’s Digital Society Initiative (DSI), a university-wide initiative with more than 180 faculty members investigating all aspects of the interplay between society and digitalisation, and also serves as the President of the steering Committee of the Swiss National Science Foundation’s Research Priority Program 77 on Digital Transformations. Former member of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Experts on human rights dimensions of automated data processing and different forms of artificial intelligence (MSI-AUT), Professor Berntein’s research focuses on various aspects of the AI, data mining, machine learning, semantic web, recommender systems, crowd computing and collective intelligence. His work research is based both on social science (organisational psychology/sociology/economics) and technologies technical (computer science, artificial intelligence) foundations. His research work has been published in leading computer science, Management Science and AI professional outlets. Professor Bernstein has served on the editorial boards of a variety of top journals including as an Editor at the Journal of Web Semantics, Associate Editor at the ACM Transaction on Internet Technologies or ACM Transactions on Interactive Intelligent Systems.
Irene Khan
Irene Khan is the first woman to be appointed as UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Opinion and Expression. An internationally recognized advocate for human rights, gender equality and social justice, she teaches at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva and is co-author of The Unheard Truth: Poverty and Human Rights. She was the Secretary-General of Amnesty International from 2001 to 2009 and Director-General of the International Development Law Organization (IDLO) from 2010 to 2019.
Noel Curran
Noel Curran is the Director general of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) since 2017. He was formerly the Director General, Managing Director of Television and Editor of Current Affairs of RTÉ, Ireland's national television and radio broadcaster. A strong and long-time advocate of public service media, Curran is an award-winning investigative journalist and Producer. He was also Executive Producer on a range of live television events and live music events such as the Eurovision Song Contest in 1997. Noel originally graduated from Dublin City University with a degree in Communication Studies, specialising in national and international broadcasting policy and wrote a thesis on the role of Public Service Broadcasting. He attended a postgraduate course at Trinity College Dublin in European Studies, where he did specific research on European Broadcasting Policy. He is currently Adjunct Professor of Journalism at Dublin City University. Noel is married to the singer/songwriter Eimear Quinn and they have two daughters.
Alexandra Borchardt
Prof. Dr Alexandra Borchardt is a senior journalist and book author, journalism professor and media consultant. Her major concern is the impact of digital transformation on quality journalism and democracy. She works in different roles for the University of the Arts in Berlin, the World Association of News Publishers (Wan-Ifra) and Hamburg Media School. She is also a Senior Research Associate at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University where she developed and led the leadership programs for media professionals. At the Council of Europe, she serves as Rapporteur in the Expert Committee on Digital Technologies and Freedom of Expression and was Vice Chair at the Committee on Quality Journalism in the Digital Age. Alexandra is a board member with Constructive Institute in Aarhus and a member of the Committee for Editorial Independence at Czech publishing house Economia. At TU Munich she teaches Leadership and Strategy in the 21st Century as honorary professor. Previously she spent 25 years in journalism at major German media brands, 15 of these in leadership roles.