People

Walid Al-Saqaf is a member of the Internet Society’s Board of Trustees and a full-time postdoc researcher in the media studies department of Stockholm University, researching Internet use, in particular Twitter, during times of conflict. A leading journalist in his home country of Yemen, he was the publisher and editor-in-chief of Yemen Times from 1999-2005, and founder of Alkasir as a global Internet censorship mapping and circumvention solution that was used extensively during the Arab Spring. Featured by CNN, the Guardian, the Huffington Post, and other media, Walid’s work in promoting freedom of expression online was recognised by institutions including Orebro University, which awarded him the 2010 Democracy Prize and TED, which awarded him a senior fellowship in 2012. He has participated in ICANN, RIPE, the Arab IGF, and the World Wide Web Foundation. Walid has actively promoted youth engagement in innovation and technology in Yemen through initiatives that he started, including ISOC-YE, TEDxSanaa and the Sanaa Hub, which is part of the Global Shapers Community of the World Economic Forum.