Joris van Hoboken, senior researcher at IViR, has been appointed to the Chair “Fundamental Rights and the Digital Transformation” at Vrije Universiteit Brussel. VUB has established the new Chair within the interdisciplinary Research Group on Law Science Technology & Society (LSTS), with the support of Microsoft.

The aim of the Chair is to contribute to a better understanding of the transformation of society due to developments in digital technologies and their deployment in various sectors, and the European regulatory response to these developments. The Chair’s research and activities will place special focus on transatlantic relations and related international regulatory dynamics in the field of internet-based services and digital technologies. The Chair will make efforts to engage in conversation and collaboration with other scientific disciplines, policy makers, civil society and industry. The Chair will also be engaged in the supervision of PhD students in the field.

Van Hoboken’s appointment at VUB is part time (50%). He will remain a Senior Researcher at the Institute for Information Law (IViR), where he is currently working on data privacy in smartphone ecosystems, fairness in news recommendation systems and the potential of the GDPR to address data-driven discrimination. Van Hoboken works on the intersection of fundamental rights protection (data privacy, freedom of expression, non-discrimination) and the governance of platforms and internet-based services. He is a specialist in European data protection, algorithmic governance and the regulation of internet intermediaries.

An event for the launch of the Chair will take place March 1^st, 2018.