Dr. Boubakar Barry is CEO of WACREN, the West and Central African Research and Education Network, since 2013.

Prior to joining WACREN, he was the Coordinator of the newly established Research and Education Networking Unit at the Association of African Universities (AAU) from 2006 to 2013.

During his tenure at the AAU, Dr. Barry helped develop a strategy for access to more and affordable bandwidth for African higher education and research institutions.

He has served several years in different international advisory and decision-making bodies, including the World Bank’s Development Gateway Foundation, the Internet Society Community Grants Selection Committee and the 1net Initiative on Internet governance (representing the academic community).

Since 2007, he is Convener of AfREN, a platform on research and education networking in Africa, with meetings held annually in the framework of the Africa Internet Summit (AIS).

Dr. Barry holds a MSc in Nuclear Physics and a PhD in Nuclear Electronics, both from Technical University of Dresden, Germany.