AI, Regulation and Law

Leen Sevens is educatief technoloog aan de KU Leuven. Ze heeft een achtergrond als onderzoeker in Computerlinguïstiek en ontwikkelde een vertaalsysteem voor het omzetten van tekst naar pictogrammen (en omgekeerd) voor mensen met een verstandelijke beperking. Als onderwijsinnovator aan KU Leuven verdiept ze zich onder meer in de opportuniteiten en risico's van GenAI voor het hoger onderwijs en organiseert ze praktische workshops voor docenten en ondersteuners.

Expertise: Taaltechnologie, AI en Onderwijs, Humane Wetenschappen

David is passionate about education, technology, and AI. He works on creating tools that help improve how people learn and teach.

He has experience in:

1. Managing e-learning projects and online courses in AI.
2. Application of Machine Learning, Learning Analytics, and Statistical Analysis.
3. Psychological Research and counselling in higher education.

David enjoys helping others understand and use digital tools (including AI) in Education. David is always open to conversations about e-learning initiatives, AI education programs, and talks on AI in education.

E: davidfrostcruz@gmail.com

Isabela is a legal researcher at the Centre for IT & IP Law – CiTiP – imec - KU Leuven, where she works on data governance projects, currently with focus on ENACT and CEDAR. In parallel, she is working on her PhD over the intersection between open data initiatives and the right to data protection, aiming to understand how the interconnection of these systems can guarantee the right to memory. She obtained a Master’s degree in Economic and Regulatory Law from the University of Brasília (UnB, Brazil) in 2022, presenting a thesis on “The processing of personal data for marketing purposes”, which was published as a book by Ed. Fórum. She also holds a LL.B degree in Law from UnB (2019), having written her thesis on “The definition of the legitimate interest according to the GDPR and the Brazilian Data Protection Law (LGPD)”. As a recipient of the SANTANDER grant, she studied at the University of Granada (Spain) in 2016-2017.

Prior to joining CiTiP, Isabela worked as a lawyer and consultant at a prestigious Brazilian law firm and as a project manager at the CEDIS-IDP (2020-2022), where she contributed to projects such as “Effective LGPD” and “LGPD in the Courts”. She has also worked as head of Data Governance and Digital Economy” at LAPIN and as an assistant in the Brazilian Administrative Council of Economic Defense (CADE).

Isabela is interested in the following research topics:

• Ethical and legal impacts of new technologies
• Data Protection
• Regulation of new technologies
• Cybersecurity
• Data governance
• Government access to personal data
• Impact Assessments

My name is Sara Garsia and since October 2023 I have been working as a legal research associate at the Centre for IT and IP Law (CiTiP) of the KU Leuven Faculty of Law and Criminology, with a research focus on human-centered AI Governance, in the context of the EU funded project THEMIS 5.0. I’ve recently started my PhD at KU Leuven, where, along with the research of the FLEXIQ project, I will be exploring the data-driven energy transition through the lens of energy justice, focusing on the flexibility of power consumers.

Before joining CiTiP, I developed my background as a lawyer at the intersection of law and technology, private and company law in an Italian law firm, while engaging in several academic activities at LUISS University (lecturing, teaching assistance and tutoring) in the areas of virtual currencies, trust services and company law.

I hold a master’s degree in law cum laude from LUISS University and an advanced LL.M. of IP and ICT Law magna cum laude from KU Leuven. I am admitted to the Italian Bar.

I see law as a means to have an impact on the pressing societal and environmental challenges we are facing, and I’m committed to conduct meaningful and socially impactful legal research!

Jan De Bruyne is a research expert at CiTiP KU Leuven on liability law and AI, and active within the Flemish Knowledge Centre for Data & Society. He is the editor of Autonome motorvoertuigen: een multidisciplinair onderzoek naar de maatschappelijke impact” (Vanden Broele, 2020), “Artificiële intelligentie en Maatschappij” (Gompel&Svacina, 2021) and “Artificial intelligence and the law” (Intersentia, 2021).

Abdullah graduated from Bilkent University, Faculty of Law. He is a qualified lawyer in Turkey who is experienced in privacy and data protection law. As a Jean Monnet scholar, Abdullah completed his master's degree at Leiden University, specialising in Law and Digital Technologies.

He is interested in biometrics and data protection, with a particular focus on the effects of new technologies on vulnerable groups. Before joining CiTiP, Abdullah was actively involved in The Netherlands Red Cross, 510 initiative’s works, and he contributed to several projects to ensure the responsible use of data and digital technologies in the humanitarian sector while respecting fundamental human rights and data protection standards.

Abdullah joined CiTiP in October 2021 as a legal researcher, where he is primarily involved in the Horizon 2020 project iMars and The Research Council of Norway-funded SALT Project.

Research interests: regulation of AI, GDPR, fundamental rights impact assessments, cyber security, biometrics, synthetic data, emotion recognition, eID legal framework