Carla Aerts

Carla is an international transdisciplinary thought leader and innovator engaged in the Futures of Education with AI EdTech. She was Director of Futures at UCL – Institute of Education and Global Digital Director of Education at Cambridge University Press.  She instigated and ran an interdisciplinary EdTech Think Tank, the Tmrw Institute, engaging with politicians, policy makers, academia, educators, NGOs, Foundations, EdTech and practitioners tackling international key challenges and digital trends in education and learning, ecosystems and contexts for the future of education.

Carla ran the Next Billion EdTech Prize for start-ups in resource-poor contexts and the Global South. She was a member of the advisory board of ErasmusX, Erasmus University Rotterdam where she is has been involved in strategic innovation and the development of AI strategy. Carla is a member of the DEFI (Digital Education Futures Initiative) Oversight Committee at Cambridge University Hughes Hall, WEF’s Expert Network for AI and the working group on AI and Youngsters. She is an expert on the Brookings Institution Centre for Universal Education – GenAI taskforce.She is also a Trustee at Big Education.

She has been instrumental in developing and delivering on digital strategies and products for Learning and Teaching, developed, directed and managed Edtech-enabled transformation programmes, innovation and culture change for incumbents.