Payal Arora is a digital anthropologist, TEDx speaker, and award-winning author of several books, including ‘The Next Billion Users’ with Harvard Press. She is a Professor of Inclusive AI Cultures at Utrecht University and Co-Founder of FemLab.co, a feminist future of work initiative.
She comes with two decades of ethnographic experience looking at everyday media practices of young people in the Global South, with expertise in digital cultures, cross-cultural AI ethics, and inclusive design. About 150 international media outlets have covered her work including the BBC, Financial Times, 99% Invisible, The Economist, Quartz, Tech Crunch, The Boston Globe, F.A.Z, The Nation and CBC. Forbes named her the “next billion champion” and the “right kind of person to reform tech.” She has consulted for numerous organizations including IDEO, Adobe, UNHCR, GE, HP, Interpol, UNDP, and Spotify. She has given more than 350+ talks on inclusive design and innovation alongside prominent thought leaders like Jimmy Wales and Steve Wozniak. She sits on several boards such as Columbia University Earth Institute and World Women Global Council in New York and is a Rockefeller Bellagio Residency Alumni. She did her MA at Harvard University and PhD at Columbia University in Language, Literacy and Technology studies. She currently lives in Amsterdam.