Alison Gillwald (PhD) is the Executive Director of Research ICT Africa (RIA) an African digital policy and regulatory think-tank that works across 20 African countries and hosts the African Digital Policy Project. As an adjunct professor at the University of Cape Town's Graduate School of Development, Policy and Practice she supervises doctoral students undertaking transdisciplinary research in digital governance, policy and regulation. A former regulator she was appointed to the founding Council of the South African Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (SATRA) in 1997, having headed the policy department at the first broadcasting regulator, the Independent Broadcasting Authority established in 1994. Besides serving on several South African advisory councils and public boards, she was appointed to the ITU Gender Taskforce and on the ICANN President's Strategy Panel on Multistakeholder Innovation. A political economist, Alison is published in the areas ICT policy and regulation, gender and development.
•digital governance, political economy, gender