OxGen23 Advisory Board

Dr. Keegan McBride is an expert on topics such as digital government, digital innovation, the use of AI in the public sector, digital well-being and happiness, and government interoperability and data exchange. He is an active member of the scholarly community, participating in several high-level digital government focused conferences and publishing in leading peer-reviewed digital government focused journals. In his research he aims to develop an understanding about the future trajectory of the state in the digital age by exploring the complex and co-evolutionary relationships between technology, society, and the state.

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Outside of these academic interests, Keegan is actively working with NGOs, particularly those that focus on reimagining a better, open, human-centric, and equitable digital future, he can additionally be found consulting and working with governments and private sector organizations on the topic of governmental digitalization. Keegan received an MSc in e-Governance Technologies and Services and completed his doctoral studies in public administration –both at the Tallinn University of Technology in Tallinn, Estonia.

Kate is senior advisor on digital innovation at global agency, Burson Cohn & Wolfe (BCW), where she previously served as European managing director of digital. She also advises the team behind BCW Navigate, which supports C-suite clients in all aspects of AI consultancy, in partnership with WPP’s expert partner, Satalia. Kate’s work extends into academia as a Wellcome Trust scholar and doctoral researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute’s Programme on Democracy & Technology (DemTech). She serves as senior digital advisor to the Vaccines and Society Unit (VAS), a multidisciplinary research centre within Oxford’s Department of Paediatrics that studies actors’ attitudes and behaviour towards vaccination in society, policy, and media.

Kate’s doctoral research project deploys mixed methods—including digital ethnography and content analysis—to explore the contextual influence of online misinformation upon vaccine hesitancy in the UK. She began researching vaccine misinformation in 2015, leading a multi-author study investigating the scope and sources of online misinformation about the polio vaccine in endemic countries, chiefly Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria. The research, which focused on digital content analysis, alongside semi-structured interviews with regional experts and local community leaders, was commissioned by Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) partners: the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

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Kate commenced her DPhil in Information, Communication and the Social Sciences after more than 15 years in digital and health communications. She holds a BA (Hons) in English Language and Literature from the University of Oxford and an MA with Distinction in Area Studies (Latin America) from the University of London’s Institute of Latin American Studies, School of Advanced Study. She has also studied advanced Spanish language at King’s College, London, and holds an Honours Diploma in Freelance and Travel Writing from the London School of Journalism.

Ece Ozkan is a tech professional in the Trust & Safety space, specializing in policy development, program management, and team leadership. With a strong commitment to promoting ethical behavior and user-centric experiences, for over 10 years Ece has been dedicated to striking the right balance between fostering innovation and upholding responsible tech practices, and creating safer digital environments.

In her career, Ece served in different roles including leadership, policy development, and project management.

Academically, Ece is a Fulbright scholar who completed an MA in Politics at New York University, and an MA in European Union and a BA in Social and Political Sciences at Sabanci University.

Andreas Kirsch brings a wealth of experience from his previous roles at DeepMind and Google as a Performance Research Engineer and Software Engineer. As a recent DPhil graduate from the University of Oxford, his focus areas include Bayesian deep learning, information theory, and data efficient machine learning, and he has contributed to top-tier conferences and journals such as CVPR, AISTATS, NeurIPS, and TMLR. As a Clarendon Scholar, he enriched his expertise as part of the AIMS CDT program. Apart from these academic pursuits, Andreas is also a prolific writer, conveying his knowledge and perspectives on a broad range of topics, from atheism and blockchain to autonomous weapons, speech generation, and information theory.

Outside of academia, he is passionate about science communication and has shared his insights on diverse topics ranging from atheism and blockchain to autonomous weapons, speech generation, and information theory. While a fellow at Newspeak House, he organized the AI & Politics meetups to foster dialogue about the intersection of AI and public affairs.

Andreas Kirsch brings a wealth of experience from his previous roles at DeepMind and Google as a Performance Research Engineer and Software Engineer. As a recent DPhil graduate from the University of Oxford, his focus areas include Bayesian deep learning, information theory, and data efficient machine learning, and he has contributed to top-tier conferences and journals such as CVPR, AISTATS, NeurIPS, and TMLR. As a Clarendon Scholar, he enriched his expertise as part of the AIMS CDT program. Apart from these academic pursuits, Andreas is also a prolific writer, conveying his knowledge and perspectives on a broad range of topics, from atheism and blockchain to autonomous weapons, speech generation, and information theory. Outside of academia, he is passionate about science communication and has shared his insights on diverse topics ranging from atheism and blockchain to autonomous weapons, speech generation, and information theory. While a fellow at Newspeak House, he organized the AI & Politics meetups to foster dialogue about the intersection of AI and public affairs.Andreas Kirsch brings a wealth of experience from his previous roles at DeepMind and Google as a Performance Research Engineer and Software Engineer. As a recent DPhil graduate from the University of Oxford, his focus areas include Bayesian deep learning, information theory, and data efficient machine learning, and he has contributed to top-tier conferences and journals such as CVPR, AISTATS, NeurIPS, and TMLR. As a Clarendon Scholar, he enriched his expertise as part of the AIMS CDT program. Apart from these academic pursuits, Andreas is also a prolific writer, conveying his knowledge and perspectives on a broad range of topics, from atheism and blockchain to autonomous weapons, speech generation, and information theory. Outside of academia, he is passionate about science communication and has shared his insights on diverse topics ranging from atheism and blockchain to autonomous weapons, speech generation, and information theory. While a fellow at Newspeak House, he organized the AI & Politics meetups to foster dialogue about the intersection of AI and public affairs.

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Max is a strategic communications consultant at Brunswick Group where he advises multinational corporations on critical reputational issues by communicating with media, government, investors, and other audiences, specializing in the technology sector. Prior to his career in consulting, he worked at high-growth startups such as Deliveroo. Max holds an AB in Political Science from Brown University. He will be commencing his MSc studies at the Oxford Internet Institute in the fall. He speaks English, Cantonese, and Mandarin.

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 Zoe has worked on technology policy in think tanks, politics, industry, and as a diplomat. Most recently, Zoe was a member of Amazon's global public policy team, representing the company on global cross-industry initiatives such as the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism and the Technology Coalition. During her time in government, Zoe oversaw the design of Australia's Online Safety Act as Adviser to the Minister for Communications and was one of the drafters of Australia's first International Cyber Engagement Strategy at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Zoe is currently completing an MSc in Social Science of the Internet at the Oxford Internet Institute, where she is also contributing to Professor Vili Lehdonvirta's research project on the political geography of artificial intelligence. Zoe is passionate about responsible technology and serves as a pro bono Strategic Adviser to the Alliance for Universal Digital Rights. 

Esther is a published novelist and Doctoral Scholar who believes that imagination and creativity should play a central role in addressing 21st-century global challenges. Her research focuses on global social media regulation through international criminal law, with the goal of creating a future where technology positively impacts societal progress.

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Esther has made significant contributions to various NGOs, institutes, and think tanks. She served as a legal adviser to the European Union Delegation to the United Nations in New York and conducted research for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the Spielberg's Shoah Foundation, and the Peres Centre for Peace and Innovation. Additionally, Esther taught the course on the future of Internet Regulation in the Technology, Media, and Telecommunications Law LLM program at Queen Mary University of London. In the private sector, she previously worked as a consultant and program manager for the boutique consultancy Blue Globe Innovation. Currently, she is a visiting researcher at the United Nations International Law Commission in Geneva as part of her ongoing PhD.

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Esther holds a degree in Global Challenges and International Justice from Leiden University College in The Hague, as well as an LLM in Public International Law from Queen Mary University of London. Currently, she is a PhD representative and is in her third year of the PhD Law program at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies at Queen Mary University of London. Her research is funded by the Konrad-Adenauer Foundation, one of the world's leading democracy think tanks.