Jacki O'Neill
Director of Microsoft Research Africa, Nairobi
About
Dr Jacki O’Neill is the founding Director of Microsoft Research Africa (formerly MARI). She is passionate about designing technologies which enhance, rather than remove, agency and create sustainable futures. She brings this passion to Microsoft Research Africa where she is building a multi-disciplinary team, combining research, engineering and design to solve local problems globally. An ethnographer by trade, in her research career so far she has focused on technologies for work – with the aim of making work better; and technologies for societal impact, with the aim of supporting underserved communities. The inspiration for MARI came out of this desire to create technologies to enhance work and society globally. Before leading the MARI, she was a Principal Researcher in the Technology for Emerging Markets (TEM) area at Microsoft Research India. She has led major research projects in the future of work from new labour platforms to workplace AI and chat; digital currencies and financial inclusion; and Global Healthcare. She has ~50 peer-reviewed articles, two innovation awards and 16 patents (from new interaction mechanisms to crowd-sourcing). She has served on the program and organising committees of major conferences such as CHI, CSCW, ICTD and ECSCW for many years.