Biography

Walid Al-Saqaf is a Senior Lecturer in Journalism and Media Technology at Södertörn University in Stockholm where his interests revolve around the intersection of journalism and technology including blockchain, artificial intelligence, robotics, and big data. He has a BSc degree in computer engineering and a PhD in media studies, which enabled him to pursue interdisciplinary research in applied and social science fields. He serves on the Board of the Internet Society (ISOC), is the Chair of the Middle East Strategy and Adjoining Countries Working Group of the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN and is a co-founder and Vice President of the ISOC Blockchain Special Interest Group. He is a frequent speaker and trainer in the scope of blockchain technology and journalism and has given presentations on and has written about its potential applications in the field of journalism and media. Apart from his ongoing academic career, Walid also has a professional journalism background as the Publisher and Editor in Chief of Yemen's first English language newspaper Yemen Times (1999-2005) and was an editor at the Washington DC Bureau of the Wall Street Journal in 2005. Walid's unique position as a scholar based in Sweden as well as a software developer of Arab background has helped him develop a wide a range of networks and expertise to contribute to technical and policy discussions around Internet-related issues on several platforms such as ISOC, ICANN, the Internet Governance Forum and the World Wide Web Foundation. This helped him build bridges between developing and developed countries when it comes to addressing key issues that concern Internet users around the world. Beyond research, Al-Saqaf's interests focus on the non-commercial use of ICTs and its impact on and promotion of economic development.