Soumaya Ben Dhaou is a Research Specialist at the United Nations University (UNU-EGOV) since 2016.
Her expertise lies in Digital Governance, digital government, emerging technologies, smart cities, digital innovation, and research policy.
She leads the research line on "Digital transformation, innovation, and emerging technologies", where she explores the potential of emerging technologies like Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, IoT, and Data Analytics. Her work investigates the impact of these technologies on transforming urban centres, settlements, and government and public services. Soumaya and her team are actively researching "leapfrogging strategies with emerging technologies in Africa" and exploring the implications of recent Govtech, emerging technologies such as Metaverse and Generative AI on government and public service, and open data and government and public services capabilities.
Committed to advancing smart cities and digital governance for sustainable development, Soumaya's work encompasses various dimensions of urban transformation. She is involved in several global projects and research initiatives. Currently, she is the project lead of the global survey assessing the responsible use of AI in cities in collaboration with UN-HABITAT and IDRC, which examines the implementation, use and governance of cutting-edge technologies for urban development.
As the lead contact for UNU-EGOV's collaboration with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Soumaya has spearheaded various working groups under the U4SSC (United 4 Smart Sustainable Cities Communities). She led the “Blockchain 4 Cities” and co-led the "Simple Ways to be Smart” thematic groups, focusing on cities and digital governance for efficient, inclusive, and sustainable urban development.
Her work extends to collaboration with various organisations, universities, and local and national governments from member states. She recently advised the government of Uzbekistan on its strategic approach to introducing blockchain technology, studied the digital transformation for social security in China, and researched next-generation solutions for data management, identity management, and digital signatures, among other areas.
Currently serving as an invited professor at the University of Minho, Soumaya coordinates the joint master's program on technology and governance between UNU-EGOV and the University. She is also a visiting professor at the South Mediterranean University, where she coordinated the master's Degree in Big Data, technologies and analytics.
Soumaya holds a Ph.D. in Information Systems and Technology and Digital Governance from a joint program of the University of Quebec in Montreal, Concordia University, HEC Montreal, and McGill University in Canada. Additionally, she earned a Ph.D. in Management of Information Systems from Paris-Dauphine University.