Groupthink: Are we collectively ruining democracy?

Speaker Bios

Sanjana is currently reading for his PhD at the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Otago, New Zealand. An experienced teacher and trainer, he is widely recognised as an innovator, designer and critical thinker around ICTs and media eco-systems anchored to countering violence extremism, peacebuilding, online dispute resolution, conflict transformation and crisis response. Untill recently, he was Senior Researcher at the Centre for Policy Alternatives, Colombo, Sri Lanka, where he oversaw the work of the Centre’s pioneering Civic Media Unit and founded Groundviews (www.groundviews.org), an award-winning web-based civic media initiative. At present, he is a Special Advisor to the ICT4Peace Foundation based in Geneva, Switzerland. He is a TED Fellow alumnus.

Josie is Director of the Council for International Development. She has held communications roles at NZAID and for the OECD Development Assistance Committee in Paris. She has also run her own public affairs consultancy, has provided communications support to the Prime Minister’s Office, for government ministers, and for international organisations like the OECE, the Global Development Network and NGOs. She is regularly sought as a political and current affairs commentator.

Kim Connolly-Stone is the Policy Director at InternetNZ. She leads a team of policy advisors who seek to influence Internet policy and regulation in New Zealand to achieve an Internet for All and an Internet for Good. Kim is a policy wonk with a legal background. She was formerly the Digital Economy Policy Director at the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment, a Treaty settlement negotiator for iwi, and the Chief Advisor Intellectual Property for the Ministry of Economic Development.