Seminar on Human Rights and ICT Standardisation

Renate Nikolay is Deputy Director-General at DG CONNECT of the European Commission. She has extensive experience across digital, justice, trade and institutional affairs, including senior cabinet roles under Vice-President Věra Jourová. Before joining the European Commission, she served at the German Permanent Representation to the EU and the German Ministry of Economics. She is a lawyer by training, with degrees from the Free University of Berlin and Washington, DC.

Cynthia Leungo Lesufi is a policy and regulatory development manager with over 15 years of experience in the ICT sector. A Minister Counsellor at the South African Mission to the UN ITU Office, she contributes to digital policy, stakeholder engagement, and international cooperation on emerging technologies and ICT governance
 

Marek Janovský is a diplomat at the Permanent Mission of the Czech Republic to the UN. He has served as a Czech diplomat for over 20 years, with posts in Brussels, the European Commission and the European External Action Service, and now covers the digital and cyber portfolio in Geneva
 

Michel Roberto de Souza is a global digital policy and human rights expert with over 10 years of experience shaping internet governance, technology policy and digital rights advocacy. At the United Nations Human Rights Office, he coordinates initiatives to integrate international human rights into global technology standards-development processes.

Olivier Alais is a Program Coordinator at the International Telecommunication Union, where he leads efforts to integrate human rights considerations into global technical standardisation. A computer engineer by training, he brings over 20 years of experience at the intersection of technology, development and human rights across diverse international settings worldwide.

Chiara Giovannini is Senior Manager for Policy & Innovation and Deputy Secretary General at ANEC, the European consumer voice in standardisation. She has worked for ANEC since 2002, leads work on Accessibility and Digital Society, supports policy development, and contributes to relations with ISO’s Committee on Consumer Policy.

Elisabeth Staudegger is Professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Graz and Head of the “Law and IT” Section at the Department of the Foundations of Law; she is also Fellow Professor of ICT Law and Standardisation at IT:U Linz.. Her research focuses on promoting trust in IT and AI through law, including interdisciplinary work on trustworthy, humane digital transformation.

Juan-Pablo Peñarrubia is researcher at University of Valencia focused on ethics and digital citizenship. Expert in different Spanish, European and global standardization committees on Artificial Intelligence, Information Technology Trustworthiness, CEN Strategic Advisory Group ICT Standardization, ICT Professionalism etc. With experience related to human rights, ethics and social concerns in multiple standardisation initiatives.

Katja Kolman works in the Data & Digital Sector of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA). She is managing research related to several FRA activities in the area of digitalisation and artificial intelligence (AI), and regularly contributes to ongoing policy processes related to AI. Katja co-authored the FRA reports on Assessing high-risk AI and Digitalising justice and a forthcoming report on remote biometric identification. Katja is also the Deputy DPO at FRA. Before joining FRA in 2024, Katja worked as a Senior Project Officer at the European Law Institute. She holds a Master of Laws from the University of Ljubljana and an LL.M. in Information and Media Law from the University of Vienna.

Monica Cerdan Chiscano is a researcher and associate professor at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC), specialising in inclusive digital and social inclusion, autism, and trustworthy AI. Her current work in StandICT.eu focuses on cognitive accessibility metrics, human oversight, and neurodiversity-sensitive approaches to AI standardisation and governance.

Patricia Shaw is CEO of Beyond Reach Consulting Limited and has over 20 years’ experience as a lawyer in data, technology and regulatory/government affairs. A registered Solicitor in England and Wales and the Republic of Ireland, she works on AI governance, algorithmic bias, privacy, fairness, and standards-related advisory roles.

Shakira Bedoya is an advisor in Sustainable and Nature Finance at GIZ where she co-leads the Technical Assistance Green Bond Programme in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Prior to joining GIZ, she held various roles within commercial banking. She serves on several ISO committees on Sustainable Finance, Biodiversity, FinTech, distributed ledger technology and the circular economy.

Arnaud Taddei is a Global Security Strategist at the Enterprise Security Group at Broadcom and an executive advisor on security strategy and transformation. He also serves as Chair of ITU-T Study Group 17 on Security, bringing strong experience at the intersection of cybersecurity, standards and policy.

Clara Neppel is Senior Director at IEEE European Business Operations, responsible for the growth of IEEE’s operations and presence in Europe. She supports technology, engineering and public policy initiatives, and is dedicated to advancing human-centric and sustainable innovation from a scientific and technological perspective.

Gyu Myoung Lee is Professor at Liverpool John Moores University, UK. He was also Adjunct Professor at the KAIST Institute for IT Convergence, Korea, from 2012 to 2024. His research interests include internet of things, digital twin, computational trust, smart networking and services, and he has been actively working on standardisation in ITU-T, IETF and oneM2M.

Nelleke Groen is a tech lawyer, AI governance and strategy consultant, and standardisation expert. She works on algorithms, data, privacy, governance and security, and has also worked as Tech Lawyer on the legal aspects of AI systems and the governance of AI development and use.
 

Patricia Martell is a senior consultant with 20 years of experience in international standards, including ISO and ICT. She has supported organizations across Latin America in the implementation of management systems and audits, strengthening compliance, risk management, and the application of structured approaches to managing operational and organizational challenges.

Simone Onofri is W3C Security Lead at W3C, contributing to secure Web standards through threat modeling, stakeholder engagement, and consensus-building. He has over 20 years of experience in web security, with significant work in digital identity, and is a joint doctoral candidate in Commercial Diplomacy at GIOYA HEI and UPEACE.

Beatriz Gonçalves Crisóstomo Esteves is Postdoctoral Scientific Staff at Ghent University and an IMEC Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Electronics and Information Systems, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture. Her work is situated at the intersection of engineering, information systems and digital research within the university’s research environment.

Emilio Dávila-Gonzalez has coordinated ICT standardisation issues within DG CNECT since 2013, including the European Multi-Stakeholder Platform on ICT standardisation. He develops digital standardisation strategies and participates in European and international standardisation governance, drawing on earlier experience in intelligent transport systems, eCall, and SME innovation support.

Florian Feillet is EU Affairs Manager at Orange and a graduate of the College of Europe. His profile brings together European affairs, sustainability, digital policy and communication, reflecting a strong interest in the intersection of politics, technology and the EU policy landscape.

Gregorio Pellegrino, Chief Accessibility Officer at Fondazione LIA, is a software engineer with a strong focus on improving digital accessibility for visually impaired individuals. His expertise is reflected in his co-editing of key industry documents, such as W3C EPUB Accessibility 1.1, the Accessibility Metadata Display Guide for Digital Publications 2.1, the EPUB Accessibility - EU Accessibility Act Mapping, the Best Practices for Authoring MathML in EPUB and the Best Practices for Authoring Extended Descriptions in EPUB. He is also technical leader of the DAISY Consortium's "InDesign EPUB Expert Group", working with Adobe to enhance the accessibility of EPUBs exported from InDesign. He is also an invited expert of the section ISO OT UNI / CT 014 / SC 04 "Automation and documentation" and member of the AIE/AgID (Agenzia per l’Italia Digitale) table for the implementation of the EAA in Italy. Pellegrino's work with organizations like W3C, DAISY, IFLA and EDItEUR helps shape global accessibility standards Through his consulting, training, and standards development efforts, he continues to support more inclusive reading experiences in digital publishing. 

Ilaria Mariani, PhD in Design, is a researcher at the Department of Design, Politecnico di Milano. Her work focuses on design-driven innovation in the public sector, exploring how design supports digital transformation—with a current focus on AI for democracy—alongside organisational change and policy-making, primarily within European research and innovation projects.

Lorraine Finlay is Human Rights Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission, a role she has held since November 2021. She has particular responsibility for protecting and promoting fundamental rights and freedoms across Australia, and leads the Commission’s work on business and human rights, modern slavery, and technology and human rights.

Sandra Feliciano is Chair of ETSI TC CYBER EUSR, the group mandated by the European Commission to develop standards supporting the EU Cyber Resilience Act. An award-winning standards expert, auditor and professor, she has extensive experience across ETSI, CEN-CENELEC, ISO and national bodies, with a strong focus on standards-based management systems.

Aleksandra Orr is a counsellor at the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Poland to the UN Office in Geneva, where she is responsible for the digital and telecommunications portfolio. She has served as a career diplomat for over 10 years at the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A lawyer by training, she holds a Masters in International Law and Security.