Team Members
Prof. Julio Cesar Gaitan Bohorquez
Universidad del Rosario
Julio Gaitán is Professor of Constitutional Law and director of the Internet and Society center at the Universidad del Rosario - ISUR-, in Colombia. His approach is transdisciplinary and collaborative research on topics of juridical anthropology, juridical pluralism, sociology of knowledge, open and participatory science, access to knowledge and public interest.
Prof. Oscar Javier Maldonado Castañeda
Universidad del Rosario
Oscar Javier Maldonado Castañeda is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Universidad del Rosario (Bogotá, Colombia). His area of research is the social studies of science and technology. He is currently Director of the Digital and Inventive Methods Laboratory (DiSoR-LAB).
Juan Camilo Ortiz-González
Universidad del Rosario
Juan Camilo Ortiz-González is a sociologist, master in STS with special interest in the computation and measurement of life and the human and non-human actors that are part of various infrastructure that enable distinct processes of subjectivation in the configuration of our era.
Mohammad Amir Anwar (Principal Investigator)
Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor), University of Edinburgh
Mohammad Amir Anwar is Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in International Development at the University of Edingburgh where he currently leads the Planetary AI project. He is co-author of 'The Digital Continent' (OUP, 2022) and has co-edited a Special Issue on 'Datafied Development' with Big Data and Society (2026). He is also a Senior Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg and a Visiting Fellow of the Trinity College Dublin.
Anita Gurumurthy
Executive Director and Senior Fellow - Research & Policy Engagement, IT for Change.
Anita Gurumurthy is a founding member and Executive Director of IT for Change where she leads research and advocacy on data and AI governance, platform regulation, and feminist frameworks on digital justice. She serves as an expert on various bodies – including as co-chair of the T20’s digital transformation working group on platform governance and has been part of the High Level Committee of the NetMundial+10 under Brazil’s leadership , the UN Secretary-General’s 10-Member Group on Technology Facilitation, and the Paris Peace Forum’s working group on algorithmic governance.
Nandini Chami
IT for Change
Nandini Chami's work largely focuses on research and policy advocacy in the domains of digital rights and development, and the political economy of women’s rights in the information society She is part of the organisation’s advocacy efforts around the 2030 development agenda on issues of ‘data for development’ and digital technologies and gender justice. She also provides strategic support to IT for Change’s field centre, Prakriye. She has a Master's in Urban and Rural Community Development from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.
Srravya Chandhiramowuli
Research Fellow and Thematic Lead on Data Work
Srravya Chandhiramowuli is a researcher studying dataset production in AI, with a focus on the human labours involved in building and maintaining AI systems. Her research builds on scholarship in Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and Science and Technology Studies (STS) and seeks to contribute towards just and equitable tech futures.
Shobhit S
IT for Change
Shobhit is Lead - Research and Policy Engagement at IT for Change. His work studies the political economy of digitalisation, focussing on labour in the digital economy, data and AI governance, and digital trade. Trained in law at the National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata, he also engages in policy advocacy to advance just pathways for digitalisation and development, particularly in the Global South.
Mophat Okinyi
Co-Founder, Tech Worker Community Africa
Mophat Okinyi, Founder & CEO of Techworker Community Africa, is an AI and human rights activist advocating for the fair treatment of tech workers, content moderators, and data trainers. Recognized by TIME100 AI 2024, Mophat envisions an equitable future where AI benefits all, championing respect, fair practices, and inclusivity for all workers.
Richard Mathenge
Co-founder, Tech Worker Community Africa
Richard Mathenge, Co-Founder & Chief Operations Officer of Techworker Community Africa is a leading advocate for tech workers and content moderators. Recognized globally, he has championed better working conditions and human treatment in the AI industry, earning accolades like _*TIME's Top 100 Most Influential People in AI*_ and _*Top 100 Kenyans 2023* for his efforts to inspire the international community, sparking invitations from around the world.
Dr. Beatrice Bonami
Research Fellow and Thematic Lead on Data Centres
Beatrice is a STS scholar, educator, and technology decolonization specialist. At Planetary AI, she will be leading the work package on materiality of AI, where she will be conducting grounded research on the environmental costs associated with data centres and resistance to them in the Global South.
Eshani Vaidya
IT for Change
Eshani is a lawyer by training and a Senior Research Associate at IT for Change. At IT for Change she works on the intersections of digital infrastructures, labour, citizen relations with the State. She is particularly interested in questions of community-led alternatives to top down digital systems, from community-first governance mechanisms to alternative design approaches.
Dr. Uma Rani
Senior Economist, International Labour Organisation
Uma Rani is Senior Economist at the Research Department of the International Labour Office (ILO) in Geneva and joined the organisation in 2008. Prior to joining the ILO, she held the position of Associate Professor at Gujarat Institute of Development Research, Ahmedabad, India and Visiting Fellow positions in numerous locations including Japan, India Switzerland, and France.
Between 2017 and 2019, she was part of the ILO Technical Secretariat for the Commission on Future of Work. She is a board member of the Women in Informal Employment Globalising and Organising (WIEGO) network.
She holds a Ph.D in Development Economics from University of Hyderabad, India and has published in Journals and edited volumes, and has co-authored books.
Between 2017 and 2019, she was part of the ILO Technical Secretariat for the Commission on Future of Work. She is a board member of the Women in Informal Employment Globalising and Organising (WIEGO) network.
She holds a Ph.D in Development Economics from University of Hyderabad, India and has published in Journals and edited volumes, and has co-authored books.
Ashnah Kalamera
Programme Manager, Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA)
Sadhana Sanjay
IT for Change
Sadhana Sanjay has a background in law and holds a master’s degree in international law and development from Leiden University. At IT for Change, she researches the digital economy, with a focus on labour and worker well-being, algorithmic management, the political economy of data, Big Tech regulation, and digital trade. On these issues, she works closely with global and regional coalitions, and engages with national, regional and multilateral policy consultations. She takes a keen interest in how community and people-led alternatives can build a just and inclusive digital economy, while challenging the corporate capture of digital spaces.
Advisory Board Members
Dr. Milagros Miceli
Research Group Lead, Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society
Milagros Miceli is a sociologist and computer scientist researching how data for AI technologies is produced. Her research focus is on labor conditions, power dynamics, and worker agency in data work integrating perspectives from sociology, information science, and critical algorithm studies to examine the socio-technical systems that underpin artificial intelligence. Milagros leads the research group Data, Algorithmic Systems, and Ethics at the Weizenbaum Institute and is a Senior Researcher and Research Lead at the DAIR Institute.
As the Principal Investigator of the Data Workers’ Inquiry (DWI) project, she has developed a methodology to engage data workers in AI research. DWI helps create a collective repository addressing critical topics such as worker mental health, gender discrimination, unpaid time, and wage theft in the AI supply chain.
Dr. Alex Hanna
Director of Research, Distributed AI Research Institute
Dr. Alex Hanna is Director of Research at the Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR). A sociologist by training, her work centers on the data used in new computational technologies, and the ways in which these data exacerbate racial, gender, and class inequality. She also works in the area of social movements, focusing on the dynamics of anti-racist campus protest in the US and Canada. She holds a BS in Computer Science and Mathematics and a BA in Sociology from Purdue University, and an MS and a PhD in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Dr. Julian Posada
Assistant Professor, Yale University
Julian Posada is an Assistant Professor of American Studies at Yale University. His research integrates theories and methods from information science, sociology, and human-computer interaction to examine how technology is developed and used within various historical, cultural, and social contexts.
His current book project investigates the dynamics between human labor and data production in the artificial intelligence industry. Incorporating Latin American critical thought, this study emphasizes the experiences of workers in the region who are employed by digital platforms to produce machine learning data and validate algorithmic outputs.
Posada obtained his Ph.D. in Information Science from the University of Toronto. He also holds a maîtrise in the Humanities from Sorbonne University and a master’s degree in Sociology from the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS).
His current book project investigates the dynamics between human labor and data production in the artificial intelligence industry. Incorporating Latin American critical thought, this study emphasizes the experiences of workers in the region who are employed by digital platforms to produce machine learning data and validate algorithmic outputs.
Posada obtained his Ph.D. in Information Science from the University of Toronto. He also holds a maîtrise in the Humanities from Sorbonne University and a master’s degree in Sociology from the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS).
Dr. Michel Wahome
Lecturer (Assistant Professor), University College London
Michel is lecturer in the Dept of Science & Technology Studies, UCL. Her research is on technological and scientific knowledge production in Africa by applying transdisciplinary approaches, decolonial practice and epistemic pluralism. She is the author of two books and numerous articles. She holds an Honours Bachelor of Environmental Studies degree at the University of Waterloo in Canada, an MSc in Environmental Policy from Bard College, US and a PhD from the University of Edinburgh. She was a Co-Investigator on the GCRF Tomorrow's Cities Hub and was also a research fellow on the GCRF One Ocean Hub at Strathclyde University. In addition, she has held a research position at the Oxford Internet Institute.
Dr. Yousif Hassan
Assistant Professor
Yousif is an assistant professor at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. His work examines the social, economic, and political implications of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, and big data focusing on the relationship between race, digital technology, and technoscientific capitalism. Hassan’s interest is at the intersection of social and racial justice, and technology policy. His most recent project investigates the development of AI and its innovation ecosystem across multiple African countries focusing on data governance and the sociotechnical knowledge production practices of the state, scientists, and the tech industry.