Dr Hasnain Bokhari

Research Areas

Internationalization Digitalization Global Public Policy

Short Biography

Hasnain Bokhari is a Head of Digital Policy and Artificial Intelligence at the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy at the University of Erfurt. He currently also holds the Thüringen Fellowship for Computational Social Science in Public Policy. Dr. Bokhari's academic interests lie in critical areas such as digital inclusion policies, bridging the digital divide, artificial intelligence and the development and implementation of eGovernment systems, as well as social media analytics, with a particular focus on the Global South. His work also explores the role of information and communication technologies (ICT) in sustainable development, investigating how digital solutions can drive equitable access. Additionally, he examines the implications of digital entrepreneurship in both urban and rural contexts, analysing how digital innovations can empower communities across diverse regions.

Currently, Dr. Bokhari serves as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy (Emerald). He is also an External Associate at the Centre for Digital Development at the University of Manchester. His scholarly contributions have been featured in various reputable journals, including Convergence (Sage) and the Journal of Health Communication (Taylor and Francis). Dr. Bokhari has authored two books on the topic of ICTs and digitalisation, including Information and Communication Technologies in Pakistan: History and Analysis of Electronic Public Services (2019, disserta Verlag) and Contemporary Debates on Electoral Technologies in Pakistan: Challenges and Opportunities of Electronic Voting Machines (2023, FES).

Dr. Bokhari has been teaching at the Brandt School since 2011. He has been the Principal Investigator of several third-party funded projects, including Social Media in Muslim Countries (funded by the German Academic Exchange Service), Peace Education (German Federal Foreign Office), and Internationalisation and Digitalisation of Education (Thuringian Ministry of Science, Economics, and Digital Society). Additionally, he has worked as an independent consultant for the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, the Hanns Seidel Foundation, as well as for the KfW/GFO-funded project. He was also the cofounder of an IT startup 1000WB GmbH based in Erfurt, leveraging his expertise to foster technological solutions for local and global challenges.

Dr. Bokhari holds a Ph.D. from the University of Erfurt, supported by the Heinrich Böll doctoral fellowship. He also holds a Master's in Public Policy from the University of Erfurt and a Master’s in Informatics from Bahria University, Islamabad.