contributors

Helen Brown is Legal Counsel at the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), an intergovernmental organisation established by treaty in 1899 which provides services for the resolution of disputes involving various combinations of states, state entities, intergovernmental organisations and private parties.

In this capacity, she provides legal and administrative support to arbitral tribunals in PCA‑administered proceedings, and she also assists the PCA Secretary-General in the discharge of his duties under the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules, including in relation to the designation of appointing authorities, the appointment of arbitrators, and decisions on challenges to arbitrators.

Helen is a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand. She holds an LLM in International Legal Studies from New York University, as well as an LLB (Hons) and BA (Spanish) from the University of Auckland.

Professor Mike Hinchey is Chair of IEEE UK & Ireland Section for 2018-2019. He is President of IFIP, the International Federation for Information Processing (www.ifip.org) and is Emeritus Director of Lero-the Irish Software Research Centre and Professor of Software Engineering at University of Limerick, Ireland. Prior to joining Lero, Professor Hinchey was the Director of the NASA Software Engineering Laboratory.

In 2009, he was awarded NASA’s Kerley Award as Innovator of the Year and is recognized in the NASA Inventors Hall of Fame. Professor Hinchey holds a B.Sc. in Computer Systems from University of Limerick, an M.Sc. in Computation from University of Oxford and a PhD in Computer Science from University of Cambridge. Professor Hinchey is a Chartered Engineer, Chartered Engineering Professional, Chartered Mathematician and Charted Information Technology Professional, as well as a Fellow of the IET, British Computer Society and Irish Computer Society, of which he is the current President. He is Editor-in-Chief of Innovations in Systems and Software Engineering: a NASA Journal and Journal of the Brazilian Computer Society. In January 2018, he became an Honorary Fellow of the Computer Society of India.

Panel member of the United Nations Secretary General’s High-Level Panel
on Digital Cooperation (2018-19)

Nanjira Sambuli is a researcher, policy analyst and advocacy strategist interested in and working on understanding the unfolding impacts of ICT adoption and how those impact governance, media, innovation, entrepreneurship and societal culture, with a keen focus on gender implications.

She currently leads policy advocacy to promote digital equality in access to and use of the web at the  World Wide Web Foundation,  with a particular focus on the Foundation’s Women’s Rights Online work.  She previously worked at the iHub in Nairobi, where she provided strategic guidance for growth of technology innovation research in the East Africa region.

Nanjira is a member of the DFID’s Digital Advisory Panel, board member at The New Humanitarian (formerly IRIN) , and a Commissioner on the Lancet and Financial Times Global Commission (Governing Health Futures 2030). Nanjira also advises the Triple A Affirmative Action for Algorithms initiative by Women@TheTable, and the World Economic Forum’s project on Preparing Civil Society for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. 

She served as a panel member on the United Nations Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation (2018-19), as a trustee at UK Citizens Online Democracy (mySociety) (2016-2019), and as a deputy on the United Nations Secretary General’s High-Level Panel for Women’s Economic Empowerment (2016-17). 

Sivaaji De Zoysa comes from two highly respected and established families (4th generation) of leaders, entrepreneurs, doctors and architects who have been responsible for pioneering various Industries, professions and sectors in the country as well as being involved in many philanthropic activities.

Sir. Cyril De Zoysa (2nd generation) founded the Associated Motorways Group of Companies (1940s) initially to support the South-Western Bus Company, which was then the largest bus company in Sri Lanka and later nationalized to become the now SLTB (state owned, Sri Lanka Transport Board). Sir Cyril served as President of the Senate of Ceylon, founded the Young Men’s Buddhist Association (YMBA), built the YMBA one of the largest buildings in the center of Colombo and also built one of the largest and most popular temples in the country. His brother, V.T. De Zoysa (Sivaaji’s grandfather) went on to start Air Ceylon (later Air Lanka and now SriLankan Airlines) and become Chairman and watch over its growth all the way to the point of it becoming Air Lanka.

The group were leaders in transport, motor, rubber and plastics manufacturing, refrigerators (pioneered manufacturing in Sri Lanka), tea and rubber plantations, finance and real estate investments. Chulaka De Zoysa (Sivaaji’s father), eldest son of V.T. De Zoysa succeeded him as Chairman of the group and took the group into many pioneering international JVs in the sectors of batteries, rubber & plastics, construction and infrastructure projects. After his death in 1990, he was succeeded by his younger brother Ajita who went on to be Chairman until 2008.

Sivaaji’s maternal great grandfather, Sir Frank Gunasekera, was one of the great physicians of the time and went on to become the Deputy President of the Senate of Ceylon. His Maternal grandfather Justin Samerasekara founded the Architecture school in Sri Lanka along with Geoffrey Bawa and founded the Sri Lanka Institute of Architecture. His eldest daughter Nela (Sivaaji’s mother), went on to also become a prominent architect who has served and serves on several councils of the AIA and the RIBA.

In 2008, the De Zoysa Family sold their stake in the AMW (automotive business) to the Al-Futtaim Group, the largest Automotive company in the UAE. Sivaaji continued to serve on the board in an executive capacity until March 2014 when he finally retired after 22 years with the company. He left the Company to focus on his investments and build GAIA Investments (Private) Limited (2010), a consultancy and advisory business in the areas of infrastructure and clean energy, which he had established a few years before. GAIA also partners with other local companies who specialize in the various sectors they operate in, which include renewable energy, gas, roads, irrigation and dams.

In a personal capacity, Sivaaji set up an NGO in 2005 soon after the tsunami ravaged in Sri Lanka. The Education Rehabilitation Monitor (TERM) was Sivaaji’s brainchild as a response to the Government’s need to rehabilitate the Education system that had been ravaged by the tsunami. TERM helped the government raise almost $400 million for the affected education system and partnered with the largest global NGO’s, such as UNICEF, World Vision, Save the Children etc. and partnered directly with several governments directly including Swiss, German, Singaporean and Greek to name a few. He continues to devote much of his time in philanthropic activities.

Sivaaji has served on the Regional Board of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO), and was a past Chair of YPO Colombo. He currently is the Chair of the Social Impact Council of YPO International and serves on the Networks Committee. YPO is the premier global leadership network that connects successful young business leaders in a global context. The YPO was founded in 1950 in New York City and has since grown to include just over 27,000 business leaders in over 130 countries and now jointly represent over $9 trillion in combined revenue, making it one of the most formidable business organization. Following a shared mission: Better Leaders through Education and Idea Exchange, it is the largest network of peers that connects members to exchange ideas, pursue learning and share strategies to achieve personal growth and professional success.

Freerk Teunissen M.A. (1970) is (psycholinguistic) advisor

He analyzed psycholinguistic techniques employed by journalists in de United States of America and the Netherlands and analyzed their effect on readers. Purpose: analyse in which ways journalists captivate their readers in the best possible ways. He is the author of three books of which journalists in the Netherlands wrote they are ‘profound’, ‘creative’ and ‘a relief’. He presented his findings at numerous conferences, such as conferences of the Dutch Language Society (Genootschap Onze Taal), Amsterdam University and the NACV.

From websites for hospitals to writing education systems based on gamification and appreciative inquiry to training for journalists and editors in the Netherlands and abroad: NICJ – the company Freerk Teunissen co-founded – offers allround language service.