The World Wide Web (WWW) Foundation has appointed Dr. Catherine Adeya as its director of research.
She takes over from Carlos Iglesias, who has served as interim Research Director, on August 17th, 2020.
Dr. Adeya has over 20 years of working in technology and development. One of her most recent roles is in leading the development of the East Africa Centre for Internet Governance and Policy (CIGAP) at Strathmore University in Nairobi.
In 2013, Dr. Adeya became the founding CEO of the Konza Technopolis Development Authority.
She previously oversaw research work in Africa as a Research Fellow at the United Nations University’s Institute for New Technologies and the Research Manager at the African Technology Policy Studies Network.
The World Wide Web Foundation aims to deliver digital equality by securing policy change by influencing relevant policies and rules and regulations for a safe web.
She will lead and coordinate a research team dedicated to interrogating and understanding the most critical barriers to achieving the vision of a web that is safe and empowering for everyone.
Dr. Adeya believes the web and digital technologies must expand opportunities and drive development.
She has pursued this mission within the public, private and civil society sectors and at international organizations, including the United Nations, IDRC, and the World Bank.
“Dr. Adeya has demonstrated a deep understanding of the power of technology and the web throughout her career to driving profound social change, rooted in robust and insightful research. I’m thrilled to be welcoming Catherine to the Web Foundation leadership team,” said Web Foundation President and CEO Adrian Lovett.
Dr. Adeya, who is also a non-executive director at Standard Chartered Bank and Adrian Kenya Limited, is also a Senior Consultant at Strathmore University.
She is the former Non-Executive Chairperson of Kenya Accreditation Service (KENAS) as well as Senior Representative East Africa of Fieldstone Africa International.
She holds a degree from the Yale School of Management and a Ph.D. in Information and Development from Edinburgh Napier University.
She also possesses a Bachelor of Science degree in information sciences from Moi University.
Dr, Catherine Adeya said: “The push for the web’s power to be a force for good and the need for meaningful connectivity resonates with me.”
The World Wide Web, commonly known as the Web, is an information system where documents and other web resources are identified over the internet by Uniform Resource Locators, which may be interlinked by hypertext.
English engineer and computer scientist Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989.
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