{"id":13815,"date":"2023-10-04T10:39:17","date_gmt":"2023-10-04T08:39:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oeb.global\/oeb-insights\/?p=13815"},"modified":"2023-10-04T18:17:53","modified_gmt":"2023-10-04T16:17:53","slug":"meet-the-oeb23-speakers-tim-unwin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oeb.global\/oeb-insights\/meet-the-oeb23-speakers-tim-unwin\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the OEB23 Speakers: Keynote Tim Unwin"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Tim Unwin is Emeritus Professor of Geography at Royal Holloway, University of London, and also an Honorary Professor at Lanzhou Univeristy in China. He was Secretary General of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) from 2011-2015, and was Chair of the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission from 2009-2014, having been a Commissioner since 2004.  He has written or edited 17 books and more than 250 academic papers and chapters, many of which focus on the use of technology in development practices. We caught up with Tim to discover the person behind the speaker…<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n



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Who, or what, was your most important teacher?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I have learnt from many \u201cteachers\u201d.  As a teacher in the traditional sense, it was my geography teacher at school, Chris Joseph.  In the mid-1970s, I then had the immense privilege of working with Sudhir Wanmali in rural India, and I learnt so much about poverty and development from him and all those I met with him in what was then South Bihar, now Jharkhand.  Intellectually, I have long been inspired by the work of J\u00fcrgen Habermas.  Personally, I continue to learn most from my wife and three children.

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What was your most important lesson?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As a leader and manager, you cannot please all of your staff\/team all the time.  You are there to make the tough decisions, and then live by their consequences.

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If you could try out any job for a day, what would you like to try?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Secretary General of the United Nations (or of the Commonwealth of Nations).

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A genie gives your three wishes \u2013 what are they and why?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n