Gillian Dowie is a Senior Program Specialist for Canada’s International Development Research Centre’s Education and Science team, based in Ottawa. She oversees a portfolio of research on technology policy and innovation in the Global South, including on artificial intelligence for development and feminist AI, gender equality and inclusion, and the future of work. Previously, she worked with J-PAL’s policy team in Sierra Leone and led programming on youth employment with the ILO in Indonesia.
Lacuna Fund Steering Committee
The Steering Committee governs Lacuna Fund, while maintaining a balance of perspectives that serve our Guiding Principles. Steering Committee members possess an understanding of labeled data globally, and potential transformative interventions in the space of machine learning, equity, and development. They also help us leverage strong relationships with broader communities critical to the Fund’s success.
Gillian Dowie
International Development Research Centre (IDRC)
About Gillian Dowie
Hadar Shemtov
About Hadar Shemtov
Dr. Hadar Shemtov is a Director of Research at Google. He currently leads the Languages Inclusivity Initiative which aims to make Google products accessible in 100s of new languages. He also leads the development of multilingual AI solutions in Gemini (Google DeepMind). Hadar Joined Google over 13 years ago and has played a critical role on a number of research and product development projects. Most recently, he led the TTS team within Google’s Speech team. Before Google, Dr. Shemtov has held senior R&D roles at Yahoo and Microsoft, and obtained his PhD in Linguistics from Stanford University on the topic of Machine Translation.
Renata Avila
Open Knowledge Foundation
About Renata Avila
Renata Avila, CEO, Open Knowledge Foundation, 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 an Affiliate 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, among other affiliations in a vast professional network extending across Europe, Latin America and North America. She co-founded the <A+> Alliance for Inclusive Algorithms, the Progressive International and the Polylateral Association – an international platform cooperative for knowledge workers.
Teki Akuetteh
Africa Digital Rights Hub LBG
About Teki Akuetteh
Teki Akuetteh is an ICT/Telecom Lawyer, a Privacy/Data Protection Consultant and Senior Partner at a law firm based in Accra, Ghana. She is also the Founder and Executive Director of the Africa Digital Rights Hub LBG, a member of the UN Global Pulse Privacy Advisory Group, and a non-resident fellow of the Center for Global Development. Previously, Teki has worked for the Government of Ghana in the development of several key legislations for the ICT sector including the Data Protection Act, 2012 (Act 843), Electronic Communications Act, 2008 (Act 775), and Electronic Transactions Act, 2012 (Act 772). She was also the first Executive Director of the Data Protection Commission of Ghana. Teki holds an LLM in Information Technology and Telecommunications Law from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland and a Bachelor of Arts in Law and Political Science from the University of Ghana (Legon), Accra – Ghana.
Shikoh Gitau
Qhala
About Shikoh Gitau
Shikoh is the CEO of Qhala, a Digital Innovation company that catalyzes digital transformation capabilities for organizations across Africa. She has over 10 years of experience in the research, design, implementation, and management of digital technologies. She has established expertise solving problems in Agriculture, Education, Health, Payments, Retail and Renewable energies. She is responsible for the set-up of Safaricom Alpha, a first of the kind corporate innovation hub in Africa. Previously, she worked with the Africa Development Bank (AfDB) and developed the Digital Government Blueprint to guide governments in digital transformation. Shikoh holds a PhD and MSc in Computer Science from the University of Cape Town, South Africa.
Vukosi Marivate
University of Pretoria and Data Science for Social Impact Research Group
About Vukosi Marivate
ABSA UP Chair of Data Science, University of Pretoria and PI for the Data Science, Social Impact Research Group
Dr. Vukosi Marivate is the ABSA UP Chair of Data Science at the University of Pretoria and PI for the Data Science for Social Impact Research group. Vukosi works on developing Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence methods to extract insights from data. A large part of his work over the last few years has been in the intersection of Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing. Vukosi is a founder of the Deep Learning Indaba, the largest Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence workshop on the African continent, aiming to strengthen African Machine Learning.
Balthas Seibold
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
About Balthas Seibold
Balthas Seibold is a co-lead of FAIR Forward: Artificial Intelligence for All’ at the ‘Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ)’. FAIR Forward is a global initiative of German Development Cooperation implemented on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Mr. Seibold is passionate about democratizing AI worldwide by leveraging the power of Open Source for sustainable development. He also advises the German Government on “Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Development”.
During his decade-plus time at GIZ, Mr. Seibold has worked with communities in Africa and Asia on issues such as digital transformation of societies and economic empowerment‚ open source, free software, open education, commons-based peer production and open innovation. Mr. Seibold has also worked at InWEnt –Capacity Building International, UNESCO’s bureau of strategic planning, the GTZ and the UNDP.
Steering Committee
Our Steering Committee provides strategic direction and oversight for the Lacuna Fund, working to ensure the Fund’s focus, impact, and growth.
Steering Committee Member, Balthas Seibold.
Steering Committee Member, Shikoh Gitau.
Steering Committee Member, Teki Akuetteh.
Steering Committee Member, Shikoh Gitau.