Spring 2023 Research Group

Afnan Aldakhil (Saudi Arabia, Georgetown Law)

Afnan Aldakhil is from Saudi Arabia. and holds a bachelor's degree in law with second-class honors from Al Qassim University in Saudi Arabia.  She has worked as an attorney since 2015. Currently, she is an LL.M. student in the Technology Law and Policy program at Georgetown University Law Center. She worked as a legal research assistant at the Center on Privacy and Technology during the fall of 2022, where it was focusing on fundamental rights, democratic institutions, and the rule of law. There, she conducted research, advocated for, and wrote memoranda on important issues concerning surveillance and privacy in technology. Afnan was nominated to win the Fifth Conference for Scientific Research in Saudi Arabia and won the Prince Muhammad Bin Fahad Award for Young Leaders for volunteer legal work.

Elisa Elhadj (Switzerland)

Elisa Elhadj is currently a second-year Master student in European Global Studies at the University of Basel, whilst also working there as a research assistant. She completed her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science as a student-athlete at the Hawai’i Pacific University & California State University where she was awarded multiple academic awards and honors. 

Her research focuses on bioethical issues emerging from the development and use of artificial intelligence in healthcare, with a specific emphasis on bias, discrimination and explainability. She gathered previous experience in AI policy whilst working in Brussels for the Swiss National Science Foundation and the State Secretary for Education, Research and Innovation.

Ivana Feldfeber (Argentina)

Ivana Feldfeber is a data activist from Buenos Aires, Argentina, currently based in Bariloche, Patagonia. Ivana holds two degrees in Education and Social Pedagogy, and she successfully completed a postgraduate diploma in Data Science, Machine Learning, and its Applications at the University of Córdoba, Argentina. She is the Chief Executive Officer of the gender data observatory DataGénero. Founded by Ivana with a group of scientists and activists from different disciplines and countries, DataGénero is the first observatory of its kind in the region to work at the intersection of gender bias, gender data, policy and feminism. Representing DataGénero, Ivana has hosted and attended numerous events concerning data in Latin America and Europe.  

Tamar Kankava (Georgia)

Tamar Kankava is a senior associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers Georgia and is a member of PwC’s legal tech network, which aims to improve legal services by developing and implementing technology solutions. Prior to joining PwC Georgia, she worked at a digital creative agency Leavingstone LLC (which created softs, processed big data, etc.). While working as the only lawyer for Leavingstone, she was in charge of all legal matters for the company’s AI products. 

Tamar holds LL.M degree from Free University of Tbilisi. During her bachelor studies, she was selected for the Erasmus Mundus Exchange Programme to study at Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania. She also attended the summer school at Saarland University (Saarbrücken, Germany), which discussed AI policy making, legal technology and IT-security. She is motivated to learn more on technology revolution and how Artificial Intelligence will alter and modernize legal profession. 

Joel Kumwenda (Malawi)

Joel Kumwenda is the Learning Technologist (LT) at Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHeS), one of the top public universities in Malawi. He is also a member District Health Information Software 2(DHIS 2) core team for the Ministry of Health in Malawi that contributes to ICT decisions in the health sector. Before joining KUHeS as LT 8 years ago, Joel worked as Lead Software Developer at NICO Technologies Limited. At NICO he was responsible for managing a team of developers and leading the software development projects. 

Joel got interested in AI when he was studying for his Masters in Software Engineering where he applied AI concepts and algorithms in his final research. He hopes to research more on AI application in health when he gets an opportunity for a PhD. 

To be part of CAIDP candidates of the Spring 2022 cohort is a dream come true. Upon completion of the course, he hopes to be a core resource contributing towards AI policy development for Malawi and other countries in Africa. A good policy will help guide all isolated AI activities currently happening in the country and boost his CV for personal career growth.

Giuliano Borter, CAIDP Teaching Fellow

Giuliano Borter is a Swiss research and teaching fellow working as a military strategic and political affairs advisor for the Swiss government. He holds a master degree in European Global Studies from the University of Basel. His research focuses on international organizations, crisis and conflict studies, defense matters and security policy with a special emphasis on autonomous weapon systems. Giuliano has received the CAIDP AI Policy certification with distinction and the CAIDP AI Policy Advanced certification with distinction, and was named a CAIDP Fellow in 2021. 

Lyantoniette Chua (Teaching Fellow)

Lyantoniette Chua is a founding member of the Ethically Aligned Design Concentration of Power Committee under the IEEE SA that set global standards for autonomous/intelligent systems. She is a member of the Class of 2021 at the University of the Philippines Diliman, with a major in Philosophy. She is an independent technology ethics & governance consultant, mentor, and speaker –putting her background in the arts (philosophy) and sciences (computer engineering) full circle. Lyan is a facilitator for AGI Safety Fundamentals ran by Effective Altruism Cambridge, under the AI Governance track; and a WANBAM mentor for AI Ethics. She is also involved with the Mechanism Design for Social Good under the Algorithms, Law, and Policy Group, as well as the Policy and Free Speech Project. She is currently pursuing tech governance in the intersection of geopolitics, power asymmetries, and Global South risks. Lyantoniette has received the CAIDP AI Policy certification. Lyantionette has received the CAIDP AI Policy certification with distinction. and the CAIDP AI Policy - Advanced certification with distinction, and was named a CAIDP Fellow in 2022.

Somaieh Nikpoor (Research Fellow, Canada)

Somaieh Nikpoor is a lead for AI Strategy working for the Federal Government of Canada. She works at the intersection of AI, data, analytics and policy to help drive real, tangible results. She designs AI and analytics road maps based on organizational readiness and supports various policy initiatives on data and AI. Prior to her current role, Somaieh worked as a research advisor for AI and machine learning at Research and Innovation Unit residing at the Federal Government of Canada where she was experimenting with machine learning models to explore whether these models could be used to improve service delivery. She has more than 10 years of experience in conceptualizing business problems into analytics projects. Somaieh holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Ottawa. She is passionate about AI ethics and is currently collaborating with non-profit organizations and startups to curates and generates original content that will help others navigate through various AI ethics topics and concepts. Somaieh has received the CAIDP AI Policy certification with distinction. and the CAIDP AI Policy - Advanced certification with distinction, and was named a CAIDP Fellow in 2022.

Nidhi Sinha (United States)

Nidhi Sinha is an analyst at Accenture where she works as a backend developer and a data visualizer. She graduated from NYU with a B.A. in Computer Science and Mathematics, with a minor in Philosophy. She is passionate about responsible AI and creating a more equitable internet for all. Outside of AI policy, she loves working with youth and supporting the arts.  

Martyna Kalvaityte

Martyna is an AI governance, regulation and social tech impacts researcher. Most recently, she has worked on SMEs innovation policy and digital markets at the European Commission as a Blue Book trainee. She has also worked on AI governance at the GPAI hosted at the OECD and AI standardisation at AXA's AI research and thought leadership team. Her interest in AI policy stems from research on privacy and surveillance, which she has pursued across startups, NGOs and think tanks across Lithuania, Washington DC and India. Martyna graduated with distinction from Sciences Po Paris with a Master's in Public Policy focused on digital and new technologies. Her MA thesis, "Unregulated Negative Impacts of AI: Mixed Methods Analysis of Feedback Responses to the EU AI Act Proposal", has been published by Sciences Po School of Public Affairs.