Jacki O'Neill

关于

Dr Jacki O’Neill is the founding Lab Director of Microsoft Research Africa, Nairobi (formerly MARI). She is a computer scientist who is passionate about designing, building and deploying technologies which enhance agency, improve working life and contribute to sustainable futures.

She brings this passion to Microsoft Research Africa, Nairobi where she leads a multi-disciplinary research team of computer scientists, engineers and designers committed to building multi-lingual, multi-cultural, safe AI. Microsoft Research Africa’s ambitious research agenda to create Globally Equitable Generative AI requires foundational innovation in NLP and African languages, resource constrained computing, generative models and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). By grounding our research in real problems, and working with partners across Africa, we aim to both advance AI and have real-world impact.

As a committed researcher, her focus is primarily on technologies for work – with the aim of making work better. Dr Jacki has led major research projects in AI, the future of work,  financial inclusion and global healthcare. She has >50 peer-reviewed articles, two innovation awards and 16 patents. She is a British Computer Society fellow and won the ACM SIGCHI Societal Impact Award 2026.  She has served on the program and organising committees of major conferences such as CHI, CSCW, ICTD and ECSCW for many years.

Outside of work her passions include running, hiking and camping.