Speaker Series

The HCTIA sponsors speakers throughout the year who represent the cutting edge in research, policymaking and on-the-ground initiatives that are at the crossroads of technology and international affairs.

2022-2023 | 2021 – 2022 | 2020 – 2021 | 2019 – 2020| 2018 – 2019 | 2017 – 2018 | 2016 – 2017 | 2015 – 2016 | 2014 – 2015 | 2013 – 2014  |  2012 – 2013  |  2011 – 2012  |  2010 – 2011  |  2009 – 2010  |  2008 – 2009

2022-2023

• The 12^th Annual Hitachi Center Research Colloquium
• Career Opportunities in Public Interest Technology and International Affairs
• The Future of Tech: Opportunities and Challenges in the Private Sector
• Cyber Policy in a New Age India
• Fletcher Reads the Newspaper: TikTok: To Block or Not Block? Untying the Complex Knot of Geopolitics, Culture & Technology
• Defeating Disinformation: Advancing Inclusive Growth and Democracy through Global Digital Platforms
• Scaling Next-Generation Energy Solutions: The Nuclear Approach
• Toasting Women Who Tech with The Hitachi Center: Fireside Chat with Dr. Shikoh Gitau
• Is Space Exploration Really For All?

2021 – 2022 

• 10th Annual Hitachi Center Research Colloquium (March 22, 2022)
• Reimagining Social Media with Ethan Zuckerman (September 29, 2021)
• Improving Health through Digital Technologies with Steve Ollis & Netsanet Animut (April 23, 2021) 
• Coded Bias Screening (October 15, 2021) 
• Talk on Platform Livelihoods with Jonathan Donner (November 22, 2021)
• 11th Annual Hitachi Center Research Colloquium (January 26, 2022) 
• The Survival Nexus: Science, Technology, and International Affairs with Dr Charles Weiss (February 7, 2022)
• The Geopolitics Behind Data Routing with Dr. Frederick Douzet (February 9, 2022)
• Tech for Peace with the Murrow Center with Dr. Martin Wählisch (February 11, 2022) 
• Big Tech vs. Democracy: The Future of Tech Governance at the Murrow Conference (February 18, 2022) 
• Breached! Why Data Security Law Fails and How to Improve It with Dr. Woodrow Hartzog (March 2, 2022)
• Digital Media and Democracy with Glenda M Gloria (April 8, 2022
• New Technologies, New Digital Risks at the Political Risk Conference – (April 15, 2022)
• 12th Annual Research Colloquium (November 3, 2022) 
• Future of Tech: Opportunities and Challenges for Students Considering Careers in the Private Sector (November 9, 2022)
• Career Opportunities in Public Interest Technology and International Affairs (November 10, 2022)

2020-2021

• The 2nd Annual Murrow Conference on New Media, Tech & Democracy
• Sameer Boray, Ellysse Dick, David Mbai, Automated Racism Panel: How Algorithmic Bias Can Drive Inequality
• Monica Anderson, PEW Research, Mutale Nkonde, AI for the People and Berkman Klein Center, and Nicole Turner-Lee, Brookings Institution, Digital Inequality: A Discussion of Technology, Race and Politics in America
• Fati Tahiru Lecturer, Ho Technical University, Ghana, Gender Disparities in ICT Access and Usage: The Case of Rural Residents in Ghana
• Dr. Safiya Noble, UCLA, Thenmo zhi Soundararajan, Equality Labs, & Anjuan Simmons, Minority Tech, Tech for Decolonization, panel in the Decoloizing IR Conference, 
• Munish Puri, Director, Cyber Risk, NYC Cyber Command 
• 10th Annual Research Colloquium
• Ann Mei Chang, Toasting Women Who Tech 2021
• Steve Ollis and Netsanet Animut, Improving Global Health through Digital Technologies

2019-2020

• Gill Bennett OBE, Former Chief Historian, British Foreign Commonwealth Office, Disinformation in the Digital Ag
• Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan, cofounders of Agentura.ru and authors of The Red Web: The Kremlin’s Wars on the Internet, Russian Internet Sovereignty
• 8th Annual Research Colloquium
• Greg Chen, Lead Policy, CGAP, Open Data and the Future of Banking
• Christopher Calabia, Senior Advisor for Supervisory & Regulatory Policy, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Technology Policy and Financial Inclusion
• Balkanization of the Internet: The Growing Popularity of the Chinese Firewall, Panel, The Future of Democracy in the Age of Disinformation: Innovating Policy Solutions for a Networked World
• Jim Baker, Former General Counsel of the FBI, A Conversation on Cryptography

2018-2019

• Vulnerability Disclosure, Panel in Protecting Civilian Institutions and Infrastructure from Cyber Operations Conference: Angela McKay, Susan Landau, and Christina Ayiotis
• Eugenio Galdon, Technology & Telecom: A 3^rd Revolution? (5G in Mexico)
• Research Colloquium
• Clint Watts
• Social Media and Democracy Panel

2017-2018

• Dr. Susan Landau Toasting Women Who Tech (Sep. 27, 2018)
• Andrea Renda, College of Europe and Center for European Policy Studies, Digital Policy and Innovation in Europe (Oct. 6, 2018)
• Farah Pandith (F95), US Dept. of State Special Representative to Muslim Communities (2009-2014), Is Technology the Answer to Defeating the Extremists? (Oct. 16, 2018)
• Greg Chen, Head of Policy CGAP, India’s Stack (Oct. 27, 2018)
• Hitachi Center Summer Research Grant Recipients, 7th Annual Hitachi Center Research Colloquium (Oct. 30, 2018)
• Michael Tarazi, World Bank, Mobile Money (Nov. 9, 2018)
• Laura Scanlon, Director, TEGA (Technology Enabled Girl Ambassadors) (Dec. 4, 2018)
• Cathy O’Neil, author of Weapons of Math Destruction (Dec. 7, 2018)
• Greta Bull, CEO, CGAP, Telecommunications Interoperability (Jan. 30, 2018)
• Mexico Event: Marcela Torres, CEO and Founder, Hola <code>, Tech Skills for Returned Migrants (Mar 19, 2018)
• Water in Humanitarian Emergencies: Technology Solutions Panel (Apr. 6, 2018)
• Miranda Bogen, Upturn, Governing Automated Decisions (Apr. 12, 2018)
• Alexander Kostura, ConsenSYS Labs, Blockchain and International Development (Apr. 23, 2018)

2016-2017

• Rhiannan Price, Digital Globe, Intersection of satellite imagery, data and development
• 6th Annual Hitachi Center Research Colloquium
• Alec Ross, Industries of the Future
• Nimit Sawhney and Jennifer Brody (F16), Voatz: Revolutionary mobile voting
• Kwan Lin (F14), Rapid7, From Fletcher to Cybersecurity Data Science
  Faizan Diwan, Doability, Working in digital research and the development space
• Colin Crowell, Twitter Vice President of Global Public Policy & Philanthropy, Twitter Diplomacy
• Harvard, MIT & Tufts Student Hacking Teams, Hello world: International Development Hackathon 2017 Demonstrations

2015-2016

• Carlos Lopez-Moctezuma, Director of Digital Financial Services at BBVA, Digital Financial Services (November 5, 2015)
• Matthew Homer and Christine Martin, Digital Financial Services Team at USAID, USAID’s Approach to Digital Finance and Financial Inclusion (Flyer) (October 27, 2015)
• Irene Wu, Senior Analyst at the US FCC, Forging Trust Communities: How Technology Changes Politics (Flyer) (October 12, 2015)

2014-2015

• Hitachi Center Summer Research Grant Recipients, Research Colloquium (Oct. 27)
• Emily Parker, author of Now I Know Who My Comrades Are: Voices from the Internet Underground (Nov. 4)
• Dr. Matthias Scheutz, Tufts Department of Computer Science, The Transcendant Man and discussion (Nov. 13)
• Frances Colon, Deputy Secretary of State for Science and Technology, Roundtable (Dec. 5)
• Marc Frankel (‘12) and Stephen Heitkamp (‘08), Palantir Corporation, “Big Data Practical Skills Workshop”(Jan. 4-8)
• Joi Ito, MIT Media Lab, How the Internet has changed the world: Civic engagement, innovation, learning and technology today” (Jan 30)
• Rusty Tunnard, Social Networks and Gender Analysis: Applications and Opportunities Discussion (Feb 10)
• Olaf Groth, Silicon Valley Roundtable (Mar 25)
• Patrick Meier, Digital Humanitarians (Mar 31)
• Sam Mendelson, Arc Finance, Innovations in Energy Access Distribution and Finance  (Apr 8)

2013-2014

• Shane Greenstein, Kellogg Chair of Information Technology and Professor in the Management and Strategy Department at the Kellogg School of Management, Innovation From The Edges (Flyer) (Mar 5, 2014)
• Google’s Eric Schmidt & Jared Cohen moderated by Bhaskar Chakravorti, The New Digital Age: Transforming Nations, Business and Our Lives (Feb 26, 2014)
• Chris Doten, Senior Program Manager for NDI’s Information and Communication Technology Programs, Making Mugabe Play Whackamole – Civil Society, Technology and the Story of a Fraudulent Election (Mar 5, 2014)
• Eva Orner, Director, Film Screening of “The Network” (Oct 16, 2013)
• Ignacio Mas, Senior Fellow at the Fletcher School’s Center for Emerging Market Enterprises at Tufts University, Senior Research Fellow at the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford, Associate with Bankable Frontier Associates, Everyday Mobile Money – What’s Stopping It? (October 30, 2013)

2012-2013

• Dalia Ziada, Executive Director, Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies (Cairo, Egypt), The Impact of Technology on Women’s Rights in the Arab World (Oct 4, 2012)
• Magda Ismail, Senior Knowledge Management Officer, International Finance Corporation, An Informal Discussion on Communication and Information Technology and Development (October 17, 2012)
• Marian Porges, Senior Director of News Standards and Practices at NBC News, Election Aftermath: Why Should I Believe What I See on the News (November 9, 2012)
• Rubayat Khan, Co-Founder and Director of mPower, CEO at DevIntel, Tech-savvy Social Enterprises: A Paradigm Shift in Development (November 28, 2012)
• Steve Maing, Director, and Crocker Snow, Director of the Edward R. Murrow Center of Public Diplomacy at The Fletcher School, Viewing of “High Tech, Low Life” (February 26, 2013)
• Rebecca MacKinnon, Senior Fellow, New America Foundation, Consent of the Networked: The Worldwide Struggle for Internet Freedom (March 6, 2013)

2011-2012

• Patrick Meier, Director of Crisis Mapping at Ushahidi, Do ‘Liberation Technologies’ Change the Balance of Power Between Repressive Regimes and Civil Society? (Oct 4, 2011)
• Inspire the Next: Research Colloquium, Discussion of current Hitachi Research Institute projects and Fletcher student and faculty funded projects by HCTIA (Oct 19, 2011)
  • Rachel Fredman: The Dictator’s Dilemma and the Politics of Telecommunications in Cuba: A Case Study
  • Prashanth Parameswaran: Beyond Damnation: Nam Theun 2 and the Future of Hydropower in the Mekong
  • Jim Platte: National Decision Making and the Nuclear Fuel Cycle in Japan: An Analysis of Influences
  • Elizabeth Yepsen: The Geography of Fiber Optics Infrastructure and GDP Growth: A Cross-Country Analysis
• Japan Round Table 2011, The Great East Japan Earthquake: Innovating for the Future, For details on the conference presentations and discussions, please see the conference summary. (Nov 18, 2011)

2010-2011

• David Porteous, Director, Bankable Frontier Associates LLC, Mobile Financial Services in Africa: On to the Third Generation (Sep 22, 2010)
• Inspire the Next: Research Colloquium, Discussion of current Hitachi Research Institute projects and Fletcher student and faculty funded projects by HCTIA (Oct 6, 2010)
• Alec Ross, Special Advisor for Innovation in the Office of Secretary Of State Hillary Clinton, 21^st Century Statecraft (Nov 2, 2010)
• Nicco Mele, Founder and Director, EchoDitto, Democracy and Foreign Policy in the Digital Age (Mar 29, 2011)
• Mikel Maron and Erica Hagen, Frontline SMS, Community Information and Empowerment: Map Kibera and Grand Truth Initiative (Apr 12, 2011)
• Drew Bennett, Smart Grid Industry Analyst, U.S. Dept of Commerce, International Trade Administration, Building the Clean Energy Super Highway: The Development of the Global Smart Grid and the Next Innovation Infrastructure (Apr 25, 2011)

2009-2010

• Jonathan Zittrain, Professor of Law, Harvard Law School and Co-director of Berkman Center for Internet and Society, A Mutual Aid Treaty for the Internet (Mar 10, 2010)
• Japanese Business and Technology Roundtable, Japanese Corporations and Bottom-of-the-Pyramid Business (April 2, 2010): Program, Summary, Report

2008-2009

• Nicholas Negroponte, founder of the MIT Media Lab and chairman of One Laptop per Child, Advancing the Power of Innovation (Oct 23, 2008)
• Prof. Partha Ghosh, Visiting Professor of Strategic Management at the Fletcher School Strategic Approaches to Innovation