Our Board
PAUL DE HERT
Paul De Hert is a full-time professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and associated professor at Tilburg University. He is a human rights and law and technology scholar working in the area of constitutionalism, criminal law, data protection and surveillance law. At the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Paul De Hert holds the chair of ‘European Criminal Law’. He is Director of the Research Group on Fundamental Rights and Constitutionalism (FRC), Director of the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies of Law (Metajuridics), Co-Director of the Brussels Privacy Hub and Co-Director of the Research Group Law Science Technology & Society (LSTS). He is an associated-professor at Tilburg University where he teaches “Privacy and Data Protection” at the Tilburg Institute of Law, Technology, and Society (TILT). He has written several reports on behalf of the European Parliament and the Commission and often delivers talks at various gatherings, such as the International Working Group on Data Protection in Telecommunications, and the Council of Europe Committee on Data Protection, among others.
ULRICH SELDESLACHTS
Ulrich is executive director of LSEC, a not for profit industry association focused on Information Security and Privacy in Europe, based in Belgium and with operations in the Netherlands, UK and Germany. LSEC vzw brings together experts in Cyber Security within LSEC and runs the 3IF.be digital transformation for manufacturing companies platform. Prior to LSEC, Ulrich was responsible for the corporate development of a US-European Broadband wireless operator (Sprint-Clearwire), a broadband internet operator (Orange), a security engineering company, and many other innovative projects. Ulrich holds a BA in Communication Sciences, postgraduates in Computer Sciences and Economics and an MBA from LBS. Within LSEC, Ulrich supports a team of 13 experienced professionals supporting the development of it security in Europe, and paving the way for a more secure industrial internet.
MARLEEN WYNANTS
Marleen Wynants has a MA in English philology and a M.A. in Social Studies, KULeuven. She started out at the official Belgian Radio & Television in its pre-commercial stae. While continuing as a freelance journalist on music, art and gender, she ran the post-punk magazine Fabiola together with Jan Vanroelen, both leaving the scene in 1988, the year Hillel Slovak, Chet Baker, Divine, Sylvester and Roy Orbison died. Wynants continued publishing for major media groups in Belgiu amongst HHD Ogilvy, Grey International, Roularta, De Morgen, De Standaardgroep, Financieel Economische Tijd, De Persgroep and Best of Publishing. She was a regular contributor to Janus, the magazine launched by Jan Fabre. She authored several children books, short stories and articles on arts, sciences, gender whistleblowing and impact of digitization. In 2003 she founded the exchange platform Crosstalks at Vrije Universiteit Brussels. Some books: We can change the weather (2010), Age (2016), Go with the Flow and Stay with the Trouble (2020). She is an advisor for the Department of Culture and a board memeber of Kaaitheater.
Jo Pierson
Jo Pierson, Ph.D, is Full Professor of Responsible Digitalisation at Hasselt University (Hasselt, Belgium) and Professor of Media and Communication Studies in the Faculty of Social Sciences & Solvay Business School at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Brussels, Belgium). He is head of the Faculty School of Social Sciences and staff member of the research group R4D (Research for Digitalisation, Diversity & Democracy) at UHasselt. He is also affiliate of the research centre imec-SMIT (Studies on Media, Innovation and Technology) at VUB. His main research expertise is in socio-technical research of artificial intelligence, data privacy, digital platforms, edtech, public values in data-driven technologies, and user innovation. He has been an expert for various government initiatives on European, Belgian and Flemish level regarding policy, design and usage of digital technologies. He is founder and chair of the independent advisory board of Smartschool (EdTech organization in Flanders/Belgium). He is also member of the Scholarly Review Committee and Legal Committee of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR).