Tim Unwin, UNESCO Chair in ICT4D and Emeritus Professor of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London

Tim Unwin is UNESCO Chair in ICT for Development (ICT4D) and Emeritus Professor of Geography at Royal Holloway, University of London. He was Secretary General of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) from 2011-2015, and was Chair of the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission from 2009-2014, having been a Commissioner since 2004. He serves on the ITU's m-Powering Development Advisory Board, the UK Department for International Development's Digital Advisory Panel, the UN University - Computing and Society International Advisory Board, and the World Economic Forum's Internet for All initiative's Steering Committee. He is also Honorary Professor at Lanzhou University in China. He has written or edited 15 books and more than 200 academic papers and chapters, many of which focus on the use of technology in development practices. He was appointed Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George in 2016.

"At the core of Unwins work is the question of why information and communication technologies (ICTs), which were predicted to substantially help the poor worldwide, have failed to do so. This work largely focuses on the extremely poor and marginalized internationally, and examines ICTs and the formal and informal structures surrounding these populations...Recommended." - K. J. Whitehair, CHOICE