Dr Shafika Isaacs
Chief of Section:Technology and AI in
Education
United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
Panellist: Thursday, 30 July 2026
Student Support and Co-Curricular Activities CNA
Venue: Senate Hall, 2nd Floor, Winnie-Madikizela-Mandela Building, Muckleneuk Campus, Pretoria.
AI, human agency and future skills
How is AI reshaping education and the skills learners will need?
Dr Shafika Isaacs is a long-standing advocate, researcher and practitioner committed to equitable digital learning and social justice in education. For more than two decades, her work has focused on building bridges between high-level theory, policy decision-making and actionable classroom-level interventions. She currently leads UNESCO’s Section for Technology and AI in Education at its headquarters in Paris, where she guides human-centred, ethical and equitable technology-in-education policies and practices, and oversees flagship initiatives such as UNESCO’s annual Digital Learning Week.
Deeply committed to developing emerging generations of researchers, Dr Isaacs also serves as Professor of Practice at the University of Johannesburg, where she supports postgraduate research on digital learning in African contexts. Before joining UNESCO, she spent 15 years in an advisory capacity for various UN agencies, governments, technology companies and philanthropic organisations, providing strategic guidance for large-scale interventions. This work became particularly important during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Her recent contributions include serving as an expert for UNESCO’s AI Competency Framework for Teachers, advising UNICEF on AI and children policy guidelines, and leading a research team on AI and primary school education in Africa with the LINK Centre at the University of the Witwatersrand. Previously, as the Founding Executive Director of SchoolNet Africa, she pioneered appropriate, equitable and inclusive technology integration across 16 countries and served as Schools Executive for Mindset Network, a pan-African education television channel.
Dr Isaacs holds a PhD in Education, an Executive MBA with distinction and, as a Mandela Scholar, a Master's in Science and Technology Policy. She has published widely in digital education, reflecting a career-long commitment that has earned her numerous distinctions in the field.