UNESCO
Dr. Xianhong Hu is UNESCO’s Programme Specialist at the Sector of Communication and Information. She joined UNESCO through its competitive Young Professionals Program in 2006.
She serves on the Secretariat of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Program of Information for All (IFAP) since 2021 and had led UNESCO project of Internet Universality R.O.A.M principles (Rights, Openness, Accessibility, Multi-stakeholder) indicators during 2013 – 2021.
She has followed the UN led processes of the World Summit of the Information Society (WSIS) and Internet Governance Forum (IGF) since 2006. Her policy work relates to humanistic digital governance and transformation, the ethical implications of Artificial Intelligence and other emerging technologies and building humanistic and inclusive Knowledge Societies.
She observed the IGF Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) and Missions Publiques. She serves on the Steering Committee of member of European Dialogue of Internet Governance (Eurodig) and the International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (ICEGOV).
She received a Ph.D from School of Journalism and Communication at Peking University in China in 2007 and was an affiliate of Harvard University Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society (2021 – 2022). She is an alumni in the professional area of Internet governance of the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) as invited by the U.S Department of State in 2016.
She authored +20 publications and articles and recently lead-authored UNESCO policy study Steering AI and Advanced ICTs for Knowledge Societies: A ROAM Perspective’(2019).
She gave guest lectures in a number of Universities including Science Po, Bordeaux University Montagne, University of Malta, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Macao University, Peking University, China Communication University, etc.
She initiated UNESCO Series Publication on Internet Freedom in 2011, which has captured the complex dynamics of global Internet governance by studying policy issues of online freedom of expression, privacy, Internet intermediaries, digital safety, Artificial Intelligence, etc. She has conducted UNESCO Series Publication on investigative journalism including “Story-Based Enquiry: A Training Manual for Investigative Journalism” and “Global Casebook of Investigative Journalism”.