Dr Hasnain Bokhari

hasnain.bokhari@uni-erfurt.de

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0944-173X

Head of digital policy and artificial intelligence (Willy Brandt School of Public Policy)

Contact

C19 – research building "Weltbeziehungen" / C19.02.09

+49 361 737-4648

hasnain.bokhari@uni-erfurt.de

Visiting address

Willy Brandt School of Public Policy
C19 – research building "Weltbeziehungen"
Max-Weber-Allee 3
99089 Erfurt

Mailing address

Universität Erfurt
Willy Brandt School of Public Policy
Postfach 90 02 21
99105 Erfurt

Research Areas

Internationalization Digitalization Global Public Policy

Short Biography

Hasnain Bokhari is Head of Digital Policy and Artificial Intelligence at the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy, University of Erfurt, where he leads the Master of Public Policy specialisation in Digital Policy and AI. His research examines how governments use and regulate artificial intelligence, and what happens to accountability and citizen participation when AI systems take over tasks previously done by people. This builds on long-standing work on digital inclusion, electronic government and digital participation, with a particular focus on the Global South.

He holds Thüringen Fellowships for Generative AI in Public Policy and Computational Social Science in Public Policy. With colleagues in applied computer science, he co-developed an open-source Socratic AI tutor, hosted on university servers, which asks students questions rather than providing answers and is now piloted in the Brandt School.

Dr. Bokhari has led and coordinated externally funded projects for the German Academic Exchange Service, the German Federal Foreign Office, the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space, the Thuringian state government and the European Commission (Erasmus+), building partnerships with universities in Austria, Mexico, Pakistan and Malaysia. He supervises student capstone projects for public clients, four for the Digitalagentur Thüringen, on the state’s digitalisation strategy, open data, digital skills in the state administration and vocational education, and currently one for the OECD on the economic cost of cybersecurity regulation.

He is Associate Editor of the Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy and an External Associate of the Centre for Digital Development at the University of Manchester. He has spoken at the United Nations Public Service Forum, and organised panels on AI and public policy at International Public Policy Association conferences. His work appears in journals including Convergence, Taylor & Francis and the Journal of Health Communication, and in the proceedings of the International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance.

He holds a PhD from the University of Erfurt (Heinrich Böll Foundation fellowship), a Master of Public Policy from Erfurt and a Master of Computer Science from Bahria University, Islamabad.

Research

Research Interests

Digital Inclusion and Divide
Artificial Intelligence
eGovernment
Digital Entrepreneurship
Social Media Analytics

Projects

Computational Social Science in Public Policy
funded by the Thuringian Ministry of Economics, Technology and Digital Society

Internationalisation and Digitalisation of Education
funded by the Thuringian Ministry of Economics, Technology and Digital Society

Pluralism and Ethics of Peace
funded by the German Federal Foreign Office

Changing Role of Social Media
funded by the German Academic Exchange Service

Memberships

International Public Policy Association IPPA

Member: Senate Committee for Information Technology and Digital Processes University of Erfurt

Associate Editorship

Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy

Capstone Projects

Digitalisation Strategy for the State of Thuringia [link]
Digital Transformation in Vocational Education in Thuringia [link]
Strengthening Digital Competence in Thuringian State Administration [link]
Open Data Strategy for Thuringia [link]

Publications

Journal article

Hasnain Bokhari, & Bettina Hollstein. (2025). Experiential Learning for Sustainable Development. Perspektiven auf Lehre. Journal for Higher Education and Academic Development. https://doi.org/10.55310/jfhead.64

Hasnain Bokhari, & Evans T Awuni. (2024). Digital inequalities in North Africa: Examining employment and socioeconomic well-being in Morocco and Tunisia. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies. https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565231209673

Ittefaq, M., Zain, A., & Hasnain Bokhari. (2023). Opioids in Satirical News Shows: Exploring Topics, Sentiments, and Engagement in Last Week Tonight on YouTube. Journal of Health Communication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2023.2176575

Book

Bokhari, H. (2020). Information and Communication Technologies in Pakistan. In disserta Verlag.

Book chapter

Bettina Hollstein, & Hasnain Bokhari. (2025). Gelingensbedingungen für eine praxisorientierte BNE: Service Learning mit Unternehmen. In Theorie und Praxis der Nachhaltigkeit. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-71601-4_15

Bisma Iftekhar, & Hasnain Bokhari. (2022). Channelising Digitalisation Amidst COVID-19 Outbreak: Case of Multichannel ICTs in Pakistan. In ICT Analysis and Applications. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5655-2_35

Komal Ramdey, & Hasnain Bokhari. (2022). Digital Storytelling and ICTs for Education to Foster Sustainable Development. In ICT Systems and Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5987-4_46

Komal Ramdey, & Hasnain Bokhari. (2021). ICT4D in Channelling Welfare Services in India: Case Study of Haqdarshak. In Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8289-9_80

Charlotte Lydia Bock, & Hasnain Bokhari. (2020). Implementing Open Government: Lessons from Germany. In Communications in Computer and Information Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67238-6_9

Conference paper

Hasnain Bokhari. (2022). Digital Financial Inclusion of the Informal Sector: The case of Raast Platform in Pakistan. 15th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance. https://doi.org/10.1145/3560107.3560136

Hasnain Bokhari. (2010). Multi-channel electronic public service delivery mechanisms in developing countries. Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance. https://doi.org/10.1145/1930321.1930372

Courses taught at the Brandt School

Summer Semester 2025

Artificial Intelligence and Public Policy
Research Colloquium
Advanced Data Analytics (Independent Study Unit)
Data Analytics for Public Policy (Independent Study Unit)

Winter Semester 2024/25

Advanced Data Analytics
Project Group: Digital Transformation and Competence: Strengthening Digital Competencies in Thuringian State Administration

Summer Semester 2024

Data Analytics for Public Policy

Winter Semester 2023/24

Artificial Intelligence and Public Policy
Capstone Project: Digital Transformation in Vocational Education. Emerging Trends and Prospects for the German State of Thuringia

Winter Semester 2022/23

Advanced Methods (together with Achim Kemmerling)
NPM/GPP: Governance and Human Rights in Digital Age
Capstone Project: Comparing digital strategies in Germany with a focus on content, structure and monitoring for the German state of Thuringia

Winter Semester 2020/21

SPM: Governance and Human Rights in the Digital Age
Cyber Security and Public Policy

Winter Semester 2019/20

PNM: Design and Implementation of eGovernment

Winter Semester 2018/19

PNM: Digital Entrepreneurship

Winter Semester 2017/18

IACD: Sustainable Development Goals

Winter Semester 2016/17

CSM: Media, Conflict and Society

Summer Semester 2016

PNM: Design and Policy Implications of eGovernment

Winter Semester 2015/16

PNM: Digital Entrepreneurship

Summer Semester 2015

PNM: CSM: Media, War and Conflict

Summer Semester 2014

PNM: Summer School - Cyber Culture (with Jamal Malik)
PNM: CSM: Social Media in Conflict Regions

Winter Semester 2013/14

PNM: Fall School - Internet Politics (with Jamal Malik)
PNM: Design and Implications of eGovernment in Developing Countries

Summer Semester 2013

PNM: CSM: Social Media in Conflict Regions

Winter Semester 2012/13

PNM: Information and Communication Technologies for Sustainable Human Development
PNM: Political Communication (with Jamal Malik)

Winter Semester 2011/12

PNM: Political Communication and Communication Management of NGOs

Summer Semester 2006

Public Policy in Muslim Context (with Jamal Malik)