Digital Watch experts

Dr Stephanie Borg Psaila is the Interim Director of DiploFoundation and the Geneva Internet Platform, and the Editor of the GIP Digital Watch observatory. She holds a Doctorate in Law (LL.D.), a Master's in Contemporary Diplomacy, and two law-related diplomas from the University of Malta, and her areas of interest include legal issues in Internet governance, human rights, and e-diplomacy. She holds a warrant to practice as a Notary Public in Malta, and is a former journalist with The Sunday Times of Malta.

Ms Amrita Choudhury is Director of CCAOI; President of Internet Society India, Delhi Chapter; and Asia Pacific Lead of SIG Women. She is an active member and contributor at national, regional, and global Internet governance (IG) platforms, contributing via the multistakeholder group (MSG) at the Asia Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum (APrIGF); At-large Structure (ALS) and ICANN fellow/coach; British Pakistan Foundation (BPF) Women at IGF. Amrita is one of the founding members of the India School of Internet Governance (inSIG) and advises the Youth IGF in India. She is involved in conducting studies and research on IG, on capacity building outreach to improve understanding, and on participation of communities in IG discussions. Amrita also provides regular updates on Internet governance developments from Asia for GIP Digital Watch observatory.

Brussels-based Ms Ana Maria Corrêa is working as as a researcher and writing her PhD thesis. Her research examines the challenges of regulating the digital economy and preventing discrimination in the US and European markets. Her project was awarded a four-year grant from the CAPES Foundation (Brazil). A member of the Council for European Studies and the Internet Society, she has led classes in comparative law at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and in global law theories the Goethe Universitat Frankfurt. A lawyer by training, prior to pursuing her PhD, Ana Maria earned a Master’s in Public Law from the Université Aix-Marseille III, France, and studied European Human Rights at the European University Institute, Italy.

Dr Efrat Daskal completed her PhD in Media Policy at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her thesis focused on media accountability and citizens’ power. It analysed how public complaints construct media accountability processes within media organisations. In her postdoc projects, Efrat continued to explore the topics of responsibility/accountability as well as citizens' power regarding digital policy. Her research projects include the following topics: digital rights advocacy, youth participation at the UN Internet Governance Forum, social media regulation, and cyber responsibility. Forthcoming projects will deal with IoT accountability and the effectiveness of Safer Internet Day campaigns.

Mr Andre Edwards is a Business Process Data Analyst in the Office of the CIO at Teleios Systems with over 19 years of ICT experience working on commercial solutions with Caribbean mobile network operators leveraging cloud technologies and non-profit ICT projects. On the coordinating team of Caribbean Network Operators Group Andre is involved in regional capacity building workshops and internet infrastructure research. He also provides regular updates on Internet governance developments from the Caribbean region for the GIP Digital Watch observatory. Andre has a passion for business model development, process optimization and data analytics and is completing a MBA.

Ms Noha Fathy is an independent Internet governance consultant. Her professional and educational backgrounds are orientated towards development areas with a special focus on human development, governance, and public policies. Noha has led several projects to improve Internet governance processes in the Middle East and North Africa and has conducted research on Internet policy thematic issues in the region. She also provides regular updates on Internet governance developments from Middle East and North Africa for GIP Digital Watch observatory.

With a Master’s in Governance and Politics from the University of Manchester and a Bachelor’s of Political Science from Cairo University, Noha’s academic research focuses on the role of ICTs in building knowledge-based societies as well as developing a conceptual framework that exposes modalities and indicators to examine how Internet-related policies safeguard the right to freedom of expression on the Internet.

Ms Andrijana Gavrilović works with digital policy programmes at DiploFoundation where she focuses on Internet governance and cybersecurity. A Master’s student in International Security at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Political Sciences,  Andrijana holds a BA in International Relations from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Political Sciences.

Dr Katharina (Kat) Höne researches, writes, and teaches on a number of issues related to diplomacy and the impact of technology on international relations. Over the last few years, she has focused on research at the intersection of diplomacy and technology. Kat was part of a research project on Data Diplomacy: Updating diplomacy to the big data era and the lead researcher and author of Mapping the challenges and opportunities of artificial intelligence for the conduct of diplomacy report. She holds an MA in Diplomatic Studies (University of Leicester, UK) and a PhD in International Politics (University of Aberystwyth, UK).

Originally from the Czech Republic, Dr Tereza Horejsova is currently based in Washington DC. Joining Diplo in 2012, Tereza has had an international career in academia and the non-governmental sector in the Czech Republic, the United Arab Emirates, and Switzerland. During her stay in Geneva (2012‒2016), she coordinated the activities of the Geneva Internet Platform. She holds an MA in International Area Studies and a PhD in European Studies, both from the Charles University in Prague.

Ms Pavlina Ittelson joined Diplo in 2017 and currently serves as a Program Officer at Diplo US. She also monitors the topics of jurisdiction and alternative dispute resolution for the GIP Digital Watch Observatory. Prior to joining Diplo, Pavlina was a legal project manager in the fields of international business, science, and technology. She previously worked as an Attorney in Slovakia and the Czech Republic specialising in international business transactions. Pavlina received her degree in Law from Comenius University, Bratislava, and her LL.M. in International Business Law from Central European University, Budapest. A native of Slovakia, Pavlina now resides in the Washington, DC area.

An expert in remote participation, Mr Arvin Kamberi heads up Diplo’s Webinar Team. Based in Belgrade, he has been working on webinars and other web-based remote participation since 2011. Arvin has been part of the remote participation team for many international forums, such as the IGF, EuroDIG, and local IGF events such as IGF Africa. From 2014 to 2015, he was a part of the IGF Working Group on Remote Participation (established in 2008), and involved in the elaboration of IGF remote participation guidelines.

Arvin has a keen interest in cryptocurrency and blockchain developments; first as an avid ‘miner’, then more in terms of regulation and consensus mechanisms surrounding the decentralised systems. His primary focus is on Bitcoin development, but he follows other cryptocurrency developments and the blockchain/distributed ledger technology, too. Vice President of Bitcoin Association of Serbia, Arvin writes extensively about Bitcoin and blockchains. He holds an MA in Film and Video Production from Belgrade University of Art.

Mr Mamadou Lo produces a weekly and annual web review to promote Internet governance and disseminate best practices throughout Africa and in the global francophone community. Mamadou holds two Master’s degrees (one in Marketing and Communication, and the other in Information Science with a major in IT). He is an ICANN fellow head coach, a member of the IGF Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) and a Diplo foundation alumnus.

An online moderator for remote participation and coordinator for the Geneva-based courses, Mr Marco Lotti joined DiploFoundation in early 2017. As part of the Geneva office team, Marco organises activities and events such as the Geneva Digital Talks and the Data Talks. Acurator at the Geneva Internet Platform Digital Watch observatory, he follows global developments regarding Content Policy and Cultural Diversity online. Furthermore,he reports from Internet-related conferences in the city and contributes to the work of senior researchers on Internet governance and to the GIP Digital Watch newsletter.

Marco has a BA in Political and Social Sciences from the University of Bologna (Italy) and an MA in International Affairs from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID) in Geneva (Switzerland). Prior to joining Diplo, Marco was board member of the Junior Diplomat Initiative Switzerland (2016–2017) and conducted research for the Cold War History Research Center at the Corvinus University of Budapest and the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) in Geneva.

Brazilian-born Ms Marília Maciel is currently based in Strasbourg, France. She is involved in several Internet- governance-related projects, notably on the fields of digital economy, e-commerce, and cybersecurity. She also curates the topics of e-commerce, Access and Digital Divide for the GIP Digital Watch Observatory and represents Diplo at various meetings.

Prior to joining Diplo, Ms Marília Maciel was a researcher and coordinator of the Center for Technology and Society of the Getulio Vargas Foundation (CTS/FGV) in Rio de Janeiro. She served as a councillor at ICANN´s Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) representing the Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group (NCSG). Marília is a former member of the Working Group on Improvements to the Internet Governance Forum (2011–2012), created under the auspices of the Commission on Science and Technology for Development (UN CSTD). She was also a member of the Multistakeholder Executive Committee of NETmundial and represented CTS/FGV in meetings of the Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). She served in the Consultative Chamber on Internet Security and Rights of the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br).

Marília is a PhD candidate at the University of Bordeaux Montaigne, on Information and Communication Sciences. She holds an MA in Latin American Integration from the Federal University of Santa Maria (2008) and a law degree from the Federal University of Pernambuco (2005), where she was awarded a research grant from the State of Pernambuco Research Foundation (FACEPE) to investigate issues related to taxation and electronic commerce.

Ms Aida Mahmutović is currently involved with the EUBC HUB as a Community manager for over 18 HUBS in Europe and Asia. She has been involved with Internet governance since 2011, while working for Centre for eGovernance Development (CeGD). As an Internet and feminist activist with a legal background, she collaborated with and worked for a number of organisation working on Internet freedoms, children online safety, hate speech, and women’s rights online. As program manager at OneWorld Platform she lead Internet rights and women rights projects for four years. She has been a member of the Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) of the UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF), is a former member of the South East European Dialogue on Internet Governance (SEEDIG)s Executive Committee member, and one of the organisers of the first national IGF in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 2017, she organised first edition of the Balkan School on Internet Governance. She is currently involved in the Internet Society’s Special Internet Group on Women as lead for Europe.

Aida has been curator for Geneva Internet Platform’s Digital Watch Observatory since February 2016, and has curated Privacy and Data Protection and Cultural Diversity until November 2018. Currently is curating Gender Rights Online and trend page for Migration and Technology. Apart for Bosnian as her mother tongue Aida speaks four languages, English, Spanish, Slovene, and French.

Ms Adriana Minović is a lawyer specialising in regulatory compliance issues in technology, media and telecommunications law, aviation, and the pharmaceutical industry. She has diverse professional experience in the areas of intellectual property (IP), data protection, IT law/Internet governance, competition law, and anti-money laundering gained while working for the government, private sector, academia, and NGOs. Currently Adriana heads the data protection department of a multinational company, responsible for compliance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as well as local data protection laws in different jurisdictions.

Ms Jana Mišić is a Marie-Curie PhD candidate in Ethics and Technology. Her research focuses on the governance and policy impact of digital technology on societal and ethical norms and values. She is based at the Rathenau Institute in The Hague and at the Twente University (The Netherlands). 

Jana holds an MA with honours in Global Studies from the University of Leipzig (Germany) with a focus on global governance, philosophy of technology, and digital society.

She is an alumna of the ICANN NextGen programme, the European Summer School on Internet Governance and YouthDIG. After an internship with the Executive Committee of the South Eastern European Dialogue on Internet Governance (SEEDIG) Jana remained involved in the region. She was a volunteer member of the organising teams of YouthDIG and EuroDIG 2019.

Ms Grace Mutung’u researches ICT policy in Kenya and Africa, specialising in digital rights, governance, and development. She is an associate at the Kenya ICT Action Network where she carries out ICT policy research and advocacy. Grace is an alumna of DiploFoundation’s Internet governance capacity building courses and holds a Master’s of

Arts in Contemporary Diplomacy from the University of Malta. Grace also provides regular updates on Internet governance developments from Africa for GIP Digital Watch observatory. She lives in Kajiado county Kenya and enjoys local travel and theatre.

Mr Jacob Odame-Baiden is a solicitor and barrister of the Supreme Court of Ghana. He has vast experience in technology project management and ICT for Development and has worked in technology consulting and telecommunication sectors in Ghana and other African countries.

A curator of issues related to technology access on the Digital Watch observatory, Jacob provides regular updates of on Internet governance development from the Africa region.  He holds a Master’s in Communication Technology Policy from Ohio University, USA; an LLB Law degree from the University of London; and a BA in Computer Science and Economics (Dual major) from the University of Ghana. His areas of interests include access and legal issues in Internet governance. 

Born (and currently residing) in the United States, Ms Virginia (Ginger) Paque lived in Venezuela for more than 35 years. An educator and administrator by profession, she has 25 years’ experience in business and manufacturing systems consulting. As a board member of the United Nations Association of Venezuela, her work as the Venezuelan member of the World Federation of United Nations Associations Task Force on WSIS marked her entry to the world of Internet governance (IG) during the Geneva PrepComs. Active in Civil Society discussions on IG, Ginger served as IG Caucus co-coordinator for two years. She was a member of the UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) from 2015 to 2017. Having completed a Master in Contemporary Diplomacy with a thesis focusing on the importance of IG as a new diplomatic priority, Ginger currently lectures on IG for Diplo and curates human rights topics for the GIP Digital Watch observatory.

Mr Clément Perarnaud is a PhD candidate in Political Science at University of Pompeu Fabra (UPF, Barcelona). His thesis focuses on political negotiations within the Council of the European Union.

Serbian-born Mr Vladimir (Vlada) Radunović is a lecturer in cybersecurity policy, Internet governance, and e-diplomacy on postgraduate and professional courses. He also serves as a member of the Advisory Board of the Global Forum on Cyber Expertise (GFCE) and as an expert with the Geneva Internet Platform. He served as a member of the Multistakeholder Advisory Group of the UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF) from 2012 to 2014. Vlada has been a lecturer, speaker, and resource person on a number of educational and training programmes and events worldwide, including within the WSIS and IGF processes. His professional and research focus is on Internet governance, broadband policy and net neutrality, cybersecurity and cyber-diplomacy, e-diplomacy, and capacity development. He holds an MSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Belgrade and a Master’s in Contemporary Diplomacy from the University of Malta. He is currently working on his PhD in cybersecurity. Vlada is currently member of the Board of Directors of Diplo US.

Mr Pedro Vilela Resende Gonçalves is founding director of the Institute for Research on Internet & Society. Pedro holds an LLB from the Federal University of Minas Gerais and collaborates on data protection at the Alexandre Atheniense Law Firm.

Ms Nathalia Sautchuk Patrício works as a Technical Advisor to the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br) A computer engineer with an Msc in Electrical Engineering from the University of São Paulo in Brazil, she is also an Internet Governance lecturer at Anhembi Morumbi University and a lecturer in specialisation courses at Centro Universitário Senac. Nathalia is a member of the Program Committee of the Latin American and Caribbean Network Operators Group (LACNOG), a member of the audit committee at the Brazilian chapter of the Internet Society, and one of the founding members of the Brazilian Internet Governance Academic Network.

Ms Mili Semlani has spent four years exploring and reporting in and on the Southeast Asian region as a writer and digital media consultant. She also writes tech policy white papers for UN Summits and participates in public policy debates and processes at national, regional, and global levels. A native of Mumbai, Mili is a digital nomad and has lived in Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Singapore. The thrill of lands unknown and new cultures give her an adrenaline rush. While travel is her meditation, conversations about global affairs, emerging technologies, gourmet food, and vintage collectibles keep her going.

Ms Ilona Stadnik is a PhD candidate at the School of International Relations, St Petersburg State University, Russia and is currently aa Fulbright Visiting Researcher at the Georgia Institute of Technology, USA, working with the Internet Governance Project (2018/2019).  Ilona has been a regular participant and speaker at major cybersecurity events such as the IGF (Internet Governance Forum), CyFy, and EuroDIG (European Dialogue on Internet Governance). Her research covers international cybernorm-making, Russian-US relations in cybersecurity, and global Internet governance.

Ms Sorina Teleanu is an independent consultant with expertise in Internet governance and digital policy. She currently serves as the Chair of the Executive Committee of the South Eastern European Dialogue on Internet Governance (SEEDIG), a sub-regional initiative launched in 2015. She is also a member of the Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) which provides advice to the UN Secretary-General on the programme and schedule of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) meetings. Sorina previously worked with DiploFoundation as Digital Policy Senior Researcher, and with the Romanian Parliament, as advisor dealing with ICT-related legislation and policies. Between 2011 and 2016, she served as the alternate representative of the Romanian Government to ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee. She has been a long-time volunteer to the IGF Secretariat and EuroDIG, and also worked as a fellow and consultant at the IGF Secretariat. Sorina is an alumna of DiploFoundation’s Internet Governance Capacity Building Programme, ICANN’s Fellowship Programme, the Internet Society’s Next Generation Leadership programme, and the European Summer School on Internet Governance. Her educational background is in international relations and European studies, having received a bachelor and a master's degree from the Lucian Blaga University in Sibiu, Romania.