Web Summit 2026
Northwestern Qatar Schedule
February 2-4
Stand: #E428 | Doha Exhibition & Convention Center (DECC)
Main Stage
Monday, February 2, 2025
AIM LAB
10:00 - 10:30 a.m.
Understanding Online Communities with AI: The SCOPE-TRA Method for Developing Follower/Fan Personas with Large Language Models
George Anghelcev
Professor in Residence
Northwestern University in Qatar
Temesgen Tewolde '22
Guest Speaker
Sports clubs, media organisations, and marketers have long tried to understand fan communities, but traditional approaches (surveys, interviews, focus groups) can be slow, limited in depth, and hard to generalise beyond small samples. This session introduces SCOPE-TRA , a large language model (LLM) protocol that analyses high volumes of fan-generated social media content to produce fan personas —data-driven profiles of distinct supporter subgroups surfaced directly from the data. Designed to be simple to use and requiring no technical expertise, SCOPE-TRA delivers richer insight at scale than conventional methods. The talk will outline the core steps and show how persona-based insights can support more targeted sports marketing and more meaningful communication.
Keywords: fan research, social media analysis, personas, LLMs, sports marketing
Media Majlis Museum
11:00 - 11:30 a.m.
Designing the in-between
Sjoerd Mol
Designer
Superposition
How do you make the abstract tangible? For the exhibition What's Between, Between?, design studio Superposition collaborated with the Media Majlis Museum to build interactive worlds. This session breaks down the journey from conceptual sketch to a live Unreal Engine environment. We move past the tech spectacle to explore a unique take on Gulf Futurism. Learn how a close partnership between curators, creatives and technologists can turn complex cultural themes into an immersive, visceral and above all personal experience.
11:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Agency as Storytelling: Participation, Responsibility, Impact
Dana Atrach
Assistant Professor in Residence
Northwestern University in Qatar
Interactive formats are now a core language of communication—shaping product onboarding, museum experiences, AI chat, and immersive brand activations. This session demystifies interactive storytelling by focusing on craft rather than technology, exploring how participation can shape responsibility, empathy, memory, and meaning. The talk introduces three simple "engines" of interactivity: choice (select a path), proximity (move closer to reveal layers), and conversation (dialogue systems). It concludes with a quick, live, no-tech micro-demo showing how different options can reveal values and character—not just change the plot.
Keywords: interactive storytelling, participation, agency, experience design, narrative craft, conversation design
#IAS_NUQ
12:00 - 12:30 p.m.
International Support for Digital Identification in the Global South
Harsha Man Maharjan
Global Postdoctoral Scholar, #IAS_NUQ
Northwestern University in Qatar
Digital IDs are becoming increasingly common across the Global South, helping governments and service providers confirm people's identities and enable access to services. These systems often rely on biometrics, unique ID numbers, and personal data. This talk examines the role of international actors—such as development agencies and large technology companies—in supporting national digital ID schemes. It asks: who are these actors, what are their interests, and what conditions or expectations can accompany their involvement? Drawing on evidence from Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, the presentation highlights how financial and technical support is shaping digital ID systems within wider development and digital economy contexts.
Keywords: digital ID, biometrics, development policy, Global South, international actors, digital governance, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh
MEDIA MAJLIS MUSEUM
1:00 - 1:30 p.m.
From Interpretation Plan to Immersive World: AI-Generated Experiences for Museums
Farouk Essalhi
Digital Multimedia Specialist, Media Majlis Museum
Northwestern University in Qatar
Every exhibition begins with an interpretation plan, themes, metaphors, and conceptual frameworks that shape the visitor experience. But this curatorial vision remains invisible, trapped in documents. This session demonstrates a new workflow: translating curatorial concepts into explorable 3D worlds using Marble AI (World Labs), then deploying them as immersive experiences on Apple Vision Pro.
Using Media Majlis Museum’s Gulf Futurism exhibition “What’s Between, Between?” as a live case study, attendees will see how interpretation plan text becomes spatial prompts, how generated worlds embody abstract concepts like liminality and in-betweenness, and how these experiences extend exhibition life beyond physical gallery dates. The session includes a live Vision Pro demonstration; attendees see exactly what the presenter sees inside a generated world built from curatorial vision.
Keywords: Generative AI, Creative Workflow, Campaign Development, Adobe Tools, Moodboarding, Visual Identity, Social Content, Creative Direction
EXECutive EDucation: IDEAS IN PRACTICE
1:30 - 2:00 p.m.
Artificial Intelligence in Government Communications (Arabic)
Ibrahine Mohammad
Professor in Residence
Northwestern University in Qatar
Government communication is changing quickly as AI becomes a practical tool that can support day-to-day work across ministries and departments—helping teams engage citizens more effectively and at scale. In the Gulf region, advances in AI offer opportunities to improve messaging, streamline workflows, and strengthen analysis and insight, reducing bureaucratic bottlenecks, and modernising communication functions.
At the same time, important challenges remain, including limited Arabic-language data, a shortage of professionals trained to use AI effectively, and public trust concerns linked to cybercrime and misinformation. This session outlines key trends, major risks, and best-practice approaches for using AI responsibly in government communications.
MEDIA MAJLIS MUSEUM
2:00 - 2:30 p.m.
Memes, Machines & New Realities
Alfredo Cramerotti
Director, Media Majlis Museum
Northwestern University in Qatar
At Web Summit Qatar 2026, the Media Majlis Museum presents Media Futures: Memes, Machines & New Realities, a three-zone interactive off-site exhibition that examines how media, technology, and storytelling are reshaping contemporary culture. Designed as a dynamic extension of the museum's research-driven practice, the experience positions the museum not only as an exhibition space, but as an active platform for learning, experimentation, and dialogue.
The Meme Zone explores the power and darker implications of viral culture through a curated stream of global memes, revealing how humor, politics, and misinformation travel across borders and influence public perception. The Machine Zone presents 20 real-world case studies that demonstrate how artificial intelligence and machine learning are transforming journalism, authorship, and information ethics, prompting visitors to question who controls truth in an algorithmic age. The New Realities Zone features the immersive VR film Remember This Place: 31°20′46″N 34°46′46″E, inviting audiences into deeply human stories of memory, displacement, and belonging.
Complementing the exhibition, the Media Majlis Museum will host a series of micro-workshops and short-format learning sessions at the booth. These hands-on activations, ranging from media literacy and public storytelling to AI ethics and digital creation, extend the exhibition's themes into participatory experiences.
AIM LAB
3:00 - 3:30 p.m.
AI-Powered Text Moderation: Building a Practical Python Pipeline
Zaid Almahmoud
Postdoctoral Scholar, AIM Lab
Northwestern University in Qatar
Social platforms face ongoing challenges in identifying harmful or unsafe content at scale. This session offers a practical introduction to how modern AI can support text moderation, using a lightweight Python workflow as a real-world example. The presentation walks through an end-to-end pipeline—from working with raw comments and preparing data, to selecting a model and evaluating performance—showing how AI-driven moderation tools can be built and tested efficiently.
Keywords: content moderation, NLP, text classification, Python, model evaluation, platform safety
DEMO SESSION
3:30 - 4:00 p.m.
Deconstructing Legacy of Light: Advanced Workflows in AI-Driven Cinema
Spencer Striker
Professor in Residence
Northwestern University in Qatar
This session unveils Episode 1 of Legacy of Light: The House of Wisdom, an animated docudrama supported by the Doha Film Institute. The showcase features an exclusive screening of the pilot episode, bringing audiences into the world of Al-Khwarizmi and the intellectual surge of 9th-century Baghdad during the Golden Age of Science in the Islamic world.
Rendered in a distinctive "Poetic Noir Realism" aesthetic, the series blends rigorous historical storytelling with next-generation generative AI techniques—pushing what cinematic animation can look and feel like. Positioned as high-fidelity, evidence-based storytelling emerging from the Global South, this session serves as a launch moment for an ambitious new AI-powered series, following the momentum of earlier WSQ showcases that helped projects reach wider global audiences.
Tuesday, February 3, 2025
EXECUTIVE EDUCATION: IDEAS IN PRACTICE
10:00 - 10:30 a.m.
Digital Threats & Safety
Lila Hassan
Assistant Professor in Residence
Northwestern University in Qatar
A rising tide of threats poses significant challenges in the online environment—from identifying and responding to misinformation to malicious activities such as doxxing, disinformation, cyberstalking, and cyberbullying. For journalists in particular, adversaries ranging from private actors to paid instigators may track online activity and look for statements, affiliations, and networks to exploit. This masterclass helps participants strengthen their digital wellbeing by assessing current security guardrails, understanding who is most likely to target personal or professional profiles (and why), and adopting practical tools, techniques, and routines to reduce online harassment and protect their online presence. Participants will learn how to assess their digital health and manage online wellness.
Keywords: digital safety, online harassment, misinformation, disinformation, doxxing, journalists, cyberbullying, cyberstalking, digital wellbeing
EXECUTIVE EDUCATION: IDEAS IN PRACTICE
10:30 - 11:00 a.m.
First Look: Legacy of Light | The Next Frontier of AI-Driven Cinematic Animation
Spencer Striker
Professor in Residence
Northwestern University in Qatar
This session unveils Episode 1 of Legacy of Light: The House of Wisdom, an animated docudrama supported by the Doha Film Institute. The showcase features an exclusive screening of the pilot episode, bringing audiences into the world of Al-Khwarizmi and the intellectual surge of 9th-century Baghdad during the Golden Age of Science in the Islamic world.
Rendered in a distinctive "Poetic Noir Realism" aesthetic, the series blends rigorous historical storytelling with next-generation generative AI techniques—pushing what cinematic animation can look and feel like. Positioned as high-fidelity, evidence-based storytelling emerging from the Global South, this session serves as a launch moment for an ambitious new AI-powered series, following the momentum of earlier WSQ showcases that helped projects reach wider global audiences.
11:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Humanitarian Logistics in a Changing World
Karen Smilowitz
Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education
James N. and Margie M. Krebs Professor in Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences & Operations Department, Kellogg
Northwestern University
Humanitarian logistics presents a series of unique and urgent challenges. At the core of disaster response lies the effective and equitable distribution of life-saving supplies to those in need. In such high-stakes environments, operations research holds significant potential to support decision-making—helping relief organizations save lives and resources while upholding principles of fairness, humanitarianism, and transparency. In this talk, we will discuss humanitarian logistics in a range of settings. This talk will present opportunities and challenges related to research that strives for positive social impact in a constantly changing world. In such settings, the objectives are often more difficult to quantify since issues such as equity and sustainability must be considered, yet efficient operations are still crucial. The talk will be both a look back over several decades of influential research and a look forward at the challenges ahead. We will explore how new platform technology is changing both the practice and study of humanitarian logistics.
Dr. Karen Smilowitz is the James N. and Margie M. Krebs Professor in Industrial Engineering and Management Science at Northwestern University, with a joint appointment in the Operations group at the Kellogg School of Management. She also serves as the Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education at the University. Dr. Smilowitz is an expert in modeling and solution approaches for logistics and transportation systems in both commercial and nonprofit applications.
AIM LAB | Innovation Development
12:00 - 12:30 p.m.
Lugha.ai: Adaptive AI Tutor for Integrated MSA and Dialect Arabic Learning
Olzhasbek Zhakenov '26
Undergraduate Innovator, AIM Lab
Northwestern University in Qatar
S. Venus Jin
Professor in Residence
Director, AIM Lab
Associate Dean for Education
Northwestern University in Qatar
Lugha.ai is an AI-powered language learning app designed to address the core pedagogical challenge of Arabic diglossia. Unlike many market solutions that require learners to choose between "Book Arabic" (Modern Standard Arabic) and "Street Arabic" (dialects), Lugha.ai teaches both in parallel. Powered by a data-driven adaptive AI engine, the app uses contrastive analysis to scaffold dialect learning on top of MSA literacy. The result is a unified, personalised learning pathway that helps non-native beginners become both literate and conversationally fluent.
Keywords: Arabic learning, diglossia, MSA, dialects, adaptive learning, AI tutor, language education
Executive Education: Ideas in Practice
12:30 - 1:00 p.m.
Strategic Media Presence: Executive Spokesperson Training
Christina M. Paschyn
Assistant Professor in Residence
Northwestern University in Qatar
This NU-Q Executive Education short masterclass prepares senior leaders to communicate with confidence, credibility, and composure during periods of heightened public scrutiny. Drawing on real-world case studies and advanced media-training simulations, the session immerses participants in the realities of crisis communication through mock journalist calls, press-conference simulations, and on-camera interviews. Participants practice delivering clear, transparent, and empathetic responses under pressure—strengthening message discipline, tone management, and decision-making during challenging questioning. The session also covers practical skills such as reviewing and approving holding statements, coordinating with crisis management and PR teams, and responding to misinformation in a 24-hour media environment. Designed for boards, executive committees, and senior managers, this masterclass distils key elements of the full course to build leadership presence, media fluency, and strategic communication resilience.
Keywords: crisis communication, media training, executive spokespeople, message discipline, misinformation, leadership presence
AIM LAB
1:00 - 1:30 p.m.
NU-Q AURORA Part I
Ramazan Zhetpysbayev '26, Malika Assanseitova '26, Akzhunis Atabay '28, Ayushi Jha '27
AURORA Grantees/Mentees, AIM Lab
Northwestern University in Qatar
S. Venus Jin
Professor in Residence
Director, AIM Lab
Associate Dean for Education
Northwestern University in Qatar
This session led by the Founding Director of the AIM-Lab showcases AURORA Grantees' cutting-edge R&D projects: "Eterna: AI-Assisted Contextual Memory Preservation", "Adaptive Storytelling as a Real-Time System", "Socratic Questioning and AI: Rethinking Mental Health Conversations", and "Imitation Stardom: Measuring the Impact of AI-Powered Influencers".
Meet-Up SESSION
1:30 - 2:30 p.m.
Conversations at the Frontier: Connecting Media, AI, and Storytellers
Dean and CEO Marwan M Kraidy is hosting an exclusive session proposing a different posture at Web Summit Qatar—one that pauses the velocity of innovation to ask harder questions about meaning, power, and responsibility.
This call is for leaders from academia, AI, technology, policy, and the creative industries, the conversation begins with opening remarks and introduction by Dean Kraidy to explore how media and AI frontiers are being shaped today, whose perspectives are centered, and how emerging frameworks might better reflect realities from the Global South as well as the Global North.
The session is conceived not as networking, but as shared inquiry: a space for attendees to surface tensions, align values, and forge relationships grounded in intellectual exchange. It is an opportunity for visitors to meet and engage with NU-Q scholars delving in the multidisciplinary spaces of storytelling excellence, creative practices, artificial intelligence scholarship, museum curatorial expertise, executive education and industry partners.
2:30 - 3:00 p.m.
Self-Driving Hearing Wellness
Sumitrajit (Sumit) Dhar
Professor; Hugh Knowles Chair in Hearing Sciences
School of Communication
Northwestern University
Hearing loss is one of the largest health burdens in the world today with 20% of the world's population impacted. Uptake and utilization of hearing loss treatment can be improved significantly by leveraging modern-day methods and tools that allow individuals to self-manage their hearing wellness. The talk will describe lab-built and field-tested technologies that are changing the practice of hearing care by focusing on the individual and on wellness and prevention.
Sumit Dhar is the Hugh Knowles Professor of Hearing Science at Northwestern University. He also serves as the Associate Provost for Faculty at the University. For over two decades his laboratory has made significant strides in understanding the physiology of hearing and developing innovative solutions to make hearing care more affordable and accessible.
EXECUTIVE EDUCATION: IDEAS IN PRACTICE
3:00 - 3:30 p.m.
Influential Public Speaking
Scheherazade Safla
Assistant Professor in Residence
Northwestern University in Qatar
Join a transformative short session on mastering public speaking taught by a former news presenter and senior reporter who has worked for five television channels in four countries, including Qatar. Her expertise in presenting and moderating across diverse international platforms provides a wealth of experience for developing effective, practical strategies to overcome nerves and communicate with clarity, confidence, and cultural sensitivity.
This session on Influential Public Speaking has broad applicability for improving competence in public communications, leading meetings, and moderating events with an emphasis on maintaining authenticity while elevating impact. In today's interconnected world, effective communication is a powerful tool for exercising leadership, influencing people, and inspiring action. The session distills a comprehensive course that client organizations in Qatar have found valuable and uniformly evaluated as an excellent tailored training for their organizations.
#IAS_NUQ
3:30 - 4:00 p.m.
Design Journalism in the Age of AI
Shakeeb Asrar
Assistant Professor in Residence
Northwestern University in Qatar
This masterclass introduces practical tools and approaches for interactive and visual journalism, with a focus on evidence-based storytelling from and about the Global South. Participants will explore how design, data, and emerging AI tools can support clearer narratives, stronger audience engagement, and more accessible reporting across digital formats.
Keywords: visual journalism, interactive storytelling, data journalism, AI tools, audience engagement, Global South
Wednesday, February 4, 2025
Journalism and Strategic Communications
10:00 - 10:30 a.m.
The Future of Content Creation and Civic Journalism in the Global South
Nasr ul Hadi
Executive Committee Member
ICFJ+
Ilhem Allagui
Associate Professor in Residence
Director, Journalism and Strategic Communication Program
Northwestern University in Qatar
Drawing on ICFJ+’s work across journalism and civic technology, this session shares practical insights from collaborations with newsrooms, creators, and technologists worldwide. It explores how AI and data are being applied in real contexts, what is delivering impact, and what remains experimental, particularly across the Global South.
Keywords: Journalism innovation; Civic technology; AI in news; Data for impact; Newsroom collaboration; Creator economy; Global South; Applied AI.
THe Dean's Global Forum
10:30 - 11:00 a.m.
AI, Media and Tech: The Future of Government Communication
Marwan M. Kraidy
Dean and CEO
Northwestern University in Qatar
Sheikh Jassim bin Mansour bin Jabor Al Thani
Director
Government Communications Office
His Excellency Sheikh Jassim bin Mansour bin Jabor Al Thani, director of Qatar’s Government Communication Office and chairman of the Permanent Web Summit Organising Committee, joins Dean and CEO Marwan M. Kraidy for a special edition of the Dean’s Global Forum at Web Summit Qatar 2026.
Drawing on his role at GCO, Sheikh Jassim will discuss how government and institutional communication navigate an evolving media landscape, examining emerging trends, including artificial intelligence, and the challenges and opportunities they present. He will also offer insights into the future of the sector, informed by his experience shaping national and international communication strategies.
11:00 - 11:30 a.m.
Questioning Technology: Waking Up from Technological Somnambulism
Anto Mohsin
Assistant Professor in Residence
Northwestern University in Qatar
Are we consciously shaping technology—or drifting into the future it dictates? This 20-minute micro class introduces the idea of technological somnambulism: our tendency to adopt new technologies without fully questioning their wider impacts or unintended consequences.
Drawing on David E. Nye's Technology Matters, the session explores six big questions about technology's role in society: Does it control us? Is it predictable? Does it promote cultural uniformity or diversity? Does it support sustainability—or ecological crisis? Does it expand consciousness—or contain it? Using examples such as AI, social media, VR/AR, driverless cars, 3D printing, GMOs, and more, participants will reflect on how these tools shape everyday life—and how to move from passive adoption to active, informed engagement.
AIM LAB
11:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
AI-Powered Text Moderation: Building a Practical Python Pipeline (Arabic)
Zaid Almahmoud
Postdoctoral Scholar, AIM Lab
Northwestern University in Qatar
Social platforms face ongoing challenges in identifying harmful or unsafe content at scale. This session offers a practical introduction to how modern AI can support text moderation, using a lightweight Python workflow as a real-world example. The presentation walks through an end-to-end pipeline—from working with raw comments and preparing data, to selecting a model and evaluating performance—showing how AI-driven moderation tools can be built and tested efficiently.
Keywords: content moderation, NLP, text classification, Python, model evaluation, platform safety
EXECUTIVE EDUCATION: IDEAS IN PRACTICE
12:00 - 12:30 p.m.
Artificial Intelligence in Government Communications
Ibahrine Mohammad
Professor in Residence
Northwestern University in Qatar
Government communication is changing quickly as AI becomes a practical tool that can support day-to-day work across ministries and departments—helping teams engage citizens more effectively and at scale. In the Gulf region, advances in AI offer opportunities to improve messaging, streamline workflows, and strengthen analysis and insight, reducing bureaucratic bottlenecks, and modernising communication functions.
At the same time, important challenges remain, including limited Arabic-language data, a shortage of professionals trained to use AI effectively, and public trust concerns linked to cybercrime and misinformation. This session outlines key trends, major risks, and best-practice approaches for using AI responsibly in government communications.
AIM LAB
1:00 - 1:30 p.m.
Rewriting With AI in the Classroom
Sam Meekings
Associate Professor in Residence
Northwestern University in Qatar
This session offers a hands-on guide to using tools like ChatGPT and Copilot to strengthen student writing through editing, synthesis, and analysis. It focuses on practical classroom strategies for re-drafting, revision, and helping students develop clearer thinking and stronger final drafts.
AIM LAB
1:30 - 2:00 p.m.
NU-Q Aurora Part II
Areesha Usman '28, Aizere Yessenkulova '26, Fan Wu '26
AURORA Grantees/Mentees, AIM Lab
Northwestern University in Qatar
S. Venus Jin
Professor in Residence
Director, AIM Lab
Associate Dean for Education
Northwestern University in Qatar
This session led by the Founding Director of the AIM-Lab showcases AURORA Grantees' cutting-edge research projects: "Gen Z Perceptions of AI News Anchors", "Searching the Story", and "From Humor to Harm: Political Memes, Generative AI, and Disinformation in Chinese-Related Instagram Reels".
#IAS_NUQ
2:00 - 2:30 p.m.
Rethinking Multimodality with and Beyond Technology
Zeest Marrium
Communications Coordinator, #IAS_NUQ
Northwestern University in Qatar
Clovis Bergère
Director, #IAS_NUQ
Northwestern University in Qatar
Using case studies from #IAS_NUQ Undergraduate Fellows, this masterclass explores how multimodal and digitally mediated methods can support evidence-based storytelling in and about the Global South. It highlights grounded, research-led approaches, multilingualism, and ways to rethink storytelling with technology—while also considering what meaningful storytelling looks like beyond digital tools.
AIM LAB
2:30 - 3:00 p.m.
Inside MARSAD: AI for Understanding the Arab Digital Sphere
Wajdi Zaghouani
Associate Professor in Residence
Northwestern University in Qatar
This session introduces MARSAD, a project that uses AI to study what people are talking about online in Arabic. It shows how AI can help make sense of large amounts of digital content—spotting topics, trends, and changing conversations across the Arab digital sphere.
#IAS_NUQ
3:00 - 3:30 p.m.
Multimodal and Digital Research on History and Heritage from the Global South
Olzhasbek Zhavenov '26, Al Anoud Al-Shammari '26
Undergraduate Fellow, #IAS_NUQ
Northwestern University in Qatar
Clovis Bergère
Director, #IAS_NUQ
Northwestern University in Qatar
Two IAS_NUQ Undergraduate Fellows present their digital projects and reflect on key lessons learned through the research and production process. Zhavenov's project is an educational video game that enables users to experience and learn about the 1986 Zheltoksan protests in Kazakhstan—an important moment in the lead-up to the Soviet Union's eventual collapse. Al-Shammari's project uses poetic, interactive multimedia storytelling to celebrate Qatari heritage and offer a nuanced portrait of nomadic life today, anchored in family stories and lived realities.
Keywords: digital humanities, multimodal research, heritage, interactive storytelling, video games, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Global South
DEMO SESSION
3:30 - 4:00 p.m.
Deconstructing Legacy of Light: Advanced Workflows in AI-Driven Cinema
Spencer Striker
Professor in Residence
Northwestern University in Qatar
This session unveils Episode 1 of Legacy of Light: The House of Wisdom, an animated docudrama supported by the Doha Film Institute. The showcase features an exclusive screening of the pilot episode, bringing audiences into the world of Al-Khwarizmi and the intellectual surge of 9th-century Baghdad during the Golden Age of Science in the Islamic world.
Rendered in a distinctive "Poetic Noir Realism" aesthetic, the series blends rigorous historical storytelling with next-generation generative AI techniques—pushing what cinematic animation can look and feel like. Positioned as high-fidelity, evidence-based storytelling emerging from the Global South, this session serves as a launch moment for an ambitious new AI-powered series, following the momentum of earlier WSQ showcases that helped projects reach wider global audiences.
