Jacki O'Neill
Director of Microsoft Research Africa, Nairobi
About
Dr Jacki O’Neill is the founding Lab Director of Microsoft Research Africa, Nairobi (formerly MARI). She is passionate about designing technologies which enhance agency, improve working life and contribute to sustainable futures. She brings this passion to Microsoft Research Africa where she leads a multi-disciplinary team, combining research, engineering and design to solve local problems globally.
MSR Africa is pursuing an ambitious research agenda to create Globally Equitable Generative AI. This involves building culturally and linguistically sensitive AI tools and platforms and requires foundational innovation in NLP and African languages, resource constrained computing, Generative models and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). MSR Africa aims to drive innovation in order to make the best possible technologies for work, health and society.
An ethnographer by trade, and a committed researcher of the socio-technical, her focus is primarily on technologies for work – with the aim of making work better. Dr Jacki has led major research projects in AI, the future of work, including new labour platforms and gig work, financial inclusion and global healthcare. She has >50 peer-reviewed articles, two innovation awards and 16 patents, and is a British Computer Society fellow. She has served on the program and organising committees of major conferences such as CHI, CSCW, ICTD and ECSCW for many years. Outside of work her passions include running, hiking and camping.