Melinda Crane

Journalist and Moderator

Deutsche Welle TV

Melinda Crane moderates events and discussions for a wide range of intergovernmental institutions, ministries and civil society organizations. Formerly Chief Political Correspondent at DW TV, she also hosts the DW talk show “To the Point” and is a frequent guest and commentator on German media. Her journalistic experience includes work for leading US and German publications. A Harvard-trained lawyer and political economist, she wrote her PhD at the Fletcher School on development cooperation.

Carl Miller

Founder of the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media

Demos

Carl Miller founded the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media at Demos in 2011 and CASM Technology in 2014, and has spent the last decade researching disinformation, social media intelligence (SOCMINT), extremism, online electoral interference, radicalisation, digital politics, conspiracy theories, cyber-crime, and Internet governance. He is the author of The Death of the Gods: The New Global Power Grab (Penguin Random House), and the presenter of Power Trip: The Age of AI (Intelligence Squared).

Paula Gori

Secretary General, Coordinator

European Digital Media Observatory

Paula Gori is the Secretary-General and Coordinator of EDMO. She joined the School of Transnational Governance at the European University Institute in 2017 where she is a member of the management team. Prior she was the Coordinator of the Florence School of Regulation – Communications and Media and she collaborated with the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom, which she coordinated during the initial set-up phase back in 2012.

Felix Kartte

Mercator Senior Fellow

Felix Kartte, a Mercator Senior Fellow, is an expert in EU and tech policy. With a background in journalism, he has developed strategies to regulate tech companies and counter digital threats like disinformation. At the European Commission, he worked on initiatives such as the European Democracy Action Plan and Digital Services Act. He later led Reset.Tech’s European operations and advised NGOs on safeguarding democracy in the digital age.

Hallie Stern

AI and Technology Policy Translation Fellow

McCain Institute

Hallie Stern specializes in computational social science, focusing on how emerging technologies impact global societal dynamics. At the McCain Institute, as the AI and technology policy translation fellow, she aligns technology and policy to uphold ethical standards. As a member of the Integrity Institute’s leadership board, she promotes collaboration between policymakers and trust professionals. Hallie holds degrees from the University of Redlands and NYU, presenting research at the Nobel Prize Summit, UNGA, and DefCon.

Jonathan Stray

Senior Scientist

Center for Human Compatible AI, UC Berkeley

Jonathan Stray is a Senior Scientist at the Center for Human-compatible AI at UC Berkeley, where he works on the design of AI-driven media with a particular interest in well-being and conflict. Previously, he taught the dual masters degree in computer science and journalism at Columbia University, worked as an editor at the Associated Press, and built document mining software for investigative journalism.

Brando Benifei

Member of the European Parliament

Brando Benifei is an Italian MEP serving his third term at the European parliament. He was co-Rapporteur for the Artificial Intelligence Act, as a Member of the Committee for the Internal Market and Consumer Protection. He works on digital, international trade, legal and constitutional affairs. In March 2024, he won the best MEP of the legislature award for his work as co-Rapporteur of the Artificial Intelligence Regulation.

Oliver Marsh

Head of Tech Research

AlgorithmWatch

Oliver leads AlgorithmWatch’s research work and associated partnerships on policy areas including the Digital Services Act and the AI Act. He is also responsible for integrating research strategy into campaigning and advocacy. Oliver previously worked on counter-disinformation in Downing Street in the UK, and as an analyst for organisations including The Institute for Strategic Dialogue and CASM Technology. He holds a PhD in sociology of social media from University College London.

Lucie-Aimée Kaffee

EU AI Policy Lead & Applied Researcher

Hugging Face

Dr. Lucie-Aimée Kaffee is the EU Policy Lead and Applied Researcher at Hugging Face, working on the intersection of policy and AI technology. Equipped with a Computer Science PhD, her research focuses on harnessing AI to support online communities, such as Wikipedia. Driven by a commitment to community-driven decision-making, she integrates her expertise in machine learning, AI ethics, and policy in her work.

Daniel Holznagel

Judge

Appellate Court of Berlin (Kammergeric ht)

Daniel Holznagel is a judge at the appellate court of Berlin (Kammergericht). Previously, he worked as a Legal Officer at the German Federal Ministry of Justice, where he was involved in drafting the German Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG) and its enforcement. He teaches courses on platform regulation law, regularly publishes in this area and supports NGOs in this field (e.g. HateAid).

Bianca-Ioana Marcu

Deputy Director for Global Privacy

Future of Privacy Forum (FPF)

Bianca-Ioana Marcu is the Global Privacy Policy Manager at the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF), focusing on data protection, privacy, and AI regulation globally. She was previously the Managing Director of the Computers, Privacy and Data Protection Conference, and Researcher at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. As a research assistant, Bianca supported the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. She holds a LLM in International Law, Globalisation and Human Rights from Maastricht University.

Paddy Leerssen

Postdoctoral Researcher

University of Amsterdam

Paddy Leerssen is a postdoctoral legal researcher at the University of Amsterdam’s Institute for Information Law (IViR). His research focuses on social media governance, with a particular emphasis on questions of transparency and data access. Paddy is part of the DSA Observatory project, which monitors the implementation of the EU’s new Digital Services Act.

Brandi Geurkink

Executive Director

Coalition for Independent Tech Research

Brandi Geurkink is the Executive Director of the Coalition for Independent Technology Research, a coalition studying the impacts of technology on society. Formerly, she led advocacy campaigns at the Mozilla Foundation, enhancing researcher access to data and auditing tech platforms. Her work is widely cited in digital regulation discussions including in the Wall Street Journal, NPR, the New York Times, Der Spiegel, the Times of India, WIRED, and Fast Company.

Alex Sängerlaub

Founder and Director

Futur eins

Alexander Sängerlaub is the director and founder of the Berlin-based Think & Do Tank futur eins. Alex prefers to take a holistic approach to digital public spheres and the question of how the utopia of an informed society can be achieved. He has been invited as an expert to the German Bundestag, among others, and is in demand as a speaker from New York to Rotterdam. Additionally, he was the founder and publisher (2014) of Germany’s first constructive political magazine.