Dr. Xianhong Hu is UNESCO's Programme Specialist at the Sector of Communication and Information since 2006. She serves on the Secretariat of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Program of Information for All (IFAP) and leads UNESCO project of Internet Universality R.O.A.M principles (Rights, Openness, Accessibility, Multi-stakeholder) indicators.

She is an affiliate and alumni of Harvard University Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society (2021-2022). She is an alumni in the professional area of Internet governance of the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) as invited by the U.S Department of State in 2016.

Her expertise and responsibilities are in the areas of freedom of expression, access to information, privacy, journalism, media development, Internet governance, digital transformation and AI governance. She has followed the UN led processes of the World Summit of the Information Society (WSIS) and Internet Governance Forum (IGF). Her policy work relates to apply ROAM principles to govern the Artificial Intelligence and other emerging technologies, through her recent co-authored UNESCO study Steering AI and Advanced ICTs for Knowledge Societies: A ROAM Perspective.

She initiated UNESCO Series Publication on Internet Freedom which has captured the complex dynamics of global Internet governance by studying policy issues of online freedom of expression, privacy, Internet intermediaries, digital safety, Artificial Intelligence, etc. She has conducted UNESCO Series Publication on investigative journalism including “Story-Based Enquiry: A Training Manual for Investigative Journalism” and “Global Casebook of Investigative Journalism”. She received a Ph.D from School of Journalism and Communication at Peking University in China in 2007.