Our Team
THIERRY VANDENBUSSCHE
Executive Director Privacy Salon, Privacytopia and Directo ad interim of CPDP
Thierry Vandenbussche has been organizing CPDP and Privacy Salon events since 2019. He is experienced for organising events and curating thought provoking exhibitions since the turn of the century when he launched Courtisane, a platform for film and audiovisual arts and later Outlandish (photography), stilll gallery and stilll office. In 2019 he co-curated the exhibition 'Festival of Control', a show actually dealing with issues like privacy and data control. He reinforces the team with vivid enthusiasm and a healthy sense of urgency. Thierry is Privacy Salons Art Director, coordinating both the general management tasks and curatorial projects.
Contact: thierry.vandenbussche@privacysalon.org
TABEA WAGNER
Communication and Production Manager
Tabea Wagner is a Master Graduate of the Erasmus Mundus program “Digital Communication Leadership” at the University Salzburg and VUB. In her role as Communication and Production Manager, Tabea spreads and distributes her magic in projects that are either academic or artistic, proving her versatility, insight and passion for the projects we develop within the community of data professionals and for a wider audience. Tabea looks after the side events for CPDP and helps managing all aspects of the Social Media strategy, including Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram communication, panel updates and speaker communication. Tabea has more than 5 years of experience in non-profit Event Management. Prior to starting her position at Privacy Salon, she spent 3 years as the head of Event Management at her local TEDx in cologne and helped organizing the World Business Dialogue in 2019 in cologne.
Contact: tabea@privacysalon.org
JONAS BREUER
Research and Partnership Manager and Directo ad interim of CPDP
Jonas joins Privacysalon with much enthusiasm as Research and Partnership manager to support the growth and execution of new and existing projects. Before, he has been immersed in critical research on data at the Research Group Studies in Media, Innovation and Technology (SMIT) at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. His research always centred around the question what role ‘normal’ citizens can play in shaping our rapidly datafying cities and societies, and how we can reinforce their agency concretely. His Phd research in particular focussed on data protection rights and data protection impact assessments, and whether these legalistic instruments could make a real difference for citizens in their everyday lives.
Contact: jonas@privacysalon.org
DARA HALLINAN
CPDP Programme Director
Dara Hallinan is a legal academic working at FIZ Karlsruhe. His specific focus is on the interaction between law, new technologies – particularly ICT and biotech – and society. He studied law in the UK and Germany, completed a Master’s in Human Rights and Democracy in Italy and Estonia and wrote his PhD at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel on the better regulation of genetic privacy in biobanks and genomic research through data protection law. He is Programme Director for the annual Computers, Privacy and Data Protection conference, Editor of the Data Protection Insider bi-weekly newsletter and author of the OUP book 'Protecting Genetic Privacy in Biobanking through Data Protection Law'.
KARIN NEUKERMANS
Financial administrator
Having built a solid and extensive experience in the field of accounting, in 2016 Karin joined the Privacy Salon. She is currently dealing with administrative and financial matters on part-time basis. The rest of the time, Karin is pursuing her and her husband’s dream – the Finca San Vicente Bed & Breakfast in Colombia.
DIANA DIMITROVA
CPDP programme assistant
Diana Dimitrova joined Privacy Salon in 2017 to support the programming of the annual Computers, Privacy and Data Protection (CPDP) conference. She is also a research associate in the Intellectual Property Law Unit at FIZ Karlsruhe. Her research focuses on data protection and privacy, particularly in the Area of Freedom Security and Justice. Her previous work experience includes a research associate position at the Faculty of Law, KU Leuven and an internship at the Supervision and Enforcement Unit of the European Data Protection Supervisor. Diana holds an LL.M. degree in European Law from the University of Leiden, the Netherlands.
Ferre Vander Elst
Arts & Production Assistant for Privacytopia and Avatar.fm
After achieving his Master in Architecture at Sint-Lucas Ghent, Ferre graduated from the Advanced Master of Research in Art & Design at Sint Lucas Antwerp. Here he has been developing research that investigates how new narratives about ‘surveillance’ are created through character-design within a (non-)fictional magical world. Ferre is fascinated by the impact of technology on society and the additional processing of data. He creates a fictional world where magical creatures help us re-imagine surveillance.