Emma Ruttkamp-Bloem

Professor Emma Ruttkamp-Bloem is a philosopher of science and technology, an AI ethics policy advisor, and a machine ethics researcher. Currently at UP, she is the UNESCO Chair in AI for Community Resilience, Head of the Department of Philosophy, and a senior faculty fellow of the African Institute for Data Science and AI. Emma also leads the AI ethics group at the South African Centre for AI Research (CAIR). She is the current Chairperson of the UNESCO World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST), a member of UNESCO’s AI Ethics Experts without Borders Network, and joined the WEF’s Global Future Council on Autonomous Systems in 2025. She has been a member of the Global Academic Network, Centre for AI and Digital Policy, Washington DC since 2023, and has worked on AI governance projects with the African Union Development Agency and the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights. She is a scientific advisor for the African Centre for AI, and a member of the international advisory board at the Global Centre on AI Governance. She is a member of various other international AI ethics advisory boards ranging from academia (e.g., the Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Programme Human Sciences, hosted by Umeå University, Sweden), the inter-governmental sector (e.g., WEF and UNESCO), to the private sector (e.g., SAP SE, EthicEdge). She is an associate editor for Science and Engineering Ethics.