SwitzerlandI am a Communication Systems engineer who graduated from EPFL in 1995. I worked in 1997-98 on the Advanced Rural Telephone System (ARTS), a wireless ad hoc network especially designed for rural areas in developing countries, which is where I first became aware of the issues related to the use of telecommunication in the Least Advanced Countries and in crisis contexts.
After that experience, I worked during three years in California as an IT consultant, designing and developing enterprise communication systems (for Cisco, AFC etc.), and two years at Infodesign, a Geneva-based company developing strategic web-based applications.
I then travelled throughout India, and worked for 3 months in Varanasi as a volunteer in a relief organisation.
Before joining the EPFL in order to work on "Mobile Information and Communication Systems in Emerging Countries", I collaborated 4 months with Media Action International, developing communication and media projects for Afghanistan. My main goal is to confront my technological background with human, social and economic sciences, in order to find concrete and relevant applications of ICTs for development, thus helping to bridge the so-called digital divide.
Present at: LIFT07