Anirban Sarma is Director of the Centre for Digital Societies at the Observer Research Foundation. His research explores issues of technology policy, with a focus on the AI, the digital economy, platform governance, digital public infrastructure, sectoral applications of ICTs, and the future of work.

Anirban is the co-author of GeoTechnoGraphy: Mapping Power and Identity in the Digital Age (Penguin Viking, 2025). He was a chair of the Think20 task force on digital affairs during the Indian and Brazilian G20 presidencies of 2023 and 2024 respectively.

Anirban was the Chief International Outreach and Communications Officer at the National Digital Library of India. He earlier served at UNESCO, where he led the organization’s initiatives on tech for development across South Asia for nearly a decade.