Advisory Council

OTF’s Advisory Council comprises a diverse array of subject matter experts who understand various fields and issues relevant to internet freedom. In their capacity as Advisory Council members, they provide strategic guidance to OTF, including by reviewing proposals.

Abigail Cabunoc Mayes

GitHub Open Source Maintainer Programs Lead

Abigail Cabunoc Mayes (@abbycabs) leads GitHub’s open source maintainer programs where she helps maintainers – and the open source ecosystem – thrive. Before joining GitHub, Abby led Mozilla’s open source engagement for MozFest and trustworthy AI. She founded and led Mozilla Open Leaders, a program that has worked with over 600 open projects globally. Abby […]

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amanda casari

Google Open Source

amanda casari is an engineer and researcher who has worked in many technical disciplines for over 20 years, including developer relations, data science, and underwater robotics. She leads the Contributor Experience and Open Source + AI teams in Google’s Open Source Programs Office. Her community work includes Open Source Stories, a community-led effort with the […]

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Amira El-Sayed

Director of Global Programmes, Luminate

Amira leads Luminate’s global Participation & Dissent work, focused on making political power more inclusive and ensuring those who challenge power can do so safely and effectively. She previously managed the foundation’s global Civic Empowerment grants and investments. Before joining Luminate, Amira was the Director of Strategy and Programmes at a global social impact organisation, and worked […]

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Ashnah Kalemera 

Ashnah coordinates multi-country projects promoting the use of ICT in democratic processes and for citizen participation, including training for citizen journalists, mainstream media and government officials. She holds an MSc in Informatics with a major in Electronic Government (Örebro University, Sweden) and a BSc in Computer and Management Sciences (University of Warwick, United Kingdom), and […]

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Bernard Tyers

Interaction Designer and User Researcher

Bernard is a user centred designer focusing on user research, and interaction design. He works on open source software and digital public services where privacy, security, identity, accessibility, and inclusion are important. He’s lead international user research, and designed services for vulnerable user groups. He’s contributed to numerous open source software projects, most recently GNU […]

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Chad Hurley

Director, Office of Internet Freedom, Broadcasting Board of Governors

Chad joined the Broadcasting Board of Governors’ Office of Internet Freedom in 2018. As the Director, Chad is responsible for strategy development and the day-to-day operations. Chad has accumulated nearly 20 years experience utilizing his technology and security knowledge to advance the capabilities of pro-democracy journalists and human rights activists from around the globe. Prior to […]

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Cheekay Cinco

Specialist in Information & Communication Technologies

Cheekay Cinco has been involved in the strategic use of technologies for activism since 1998. She works primarily with feminist movements and communities, specifically located in the Global South. She is a trainer, evaluator and facilitator. She is based in the Philippines. She was part of the team that organised and hosted the Women´s Electronic […]

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David Huerta

Freedom of the Press Foundation

David Huerta is a senior digital security trainer at Freedom of the Press Foundation, where he trains journalists in privacy-enhancing technology to empower a free press. He’s taught hundreds of trainings across the world and has previously organized the digital security track at the National Association of Hispanic Journalists conference. He’s also spoken on the […]

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Dr. Siân Brooke

Leverhulme Fellow in Computational Social Science

Dr Siân Brooke (she/her) is a Researcher in the Department of Methodology (previously an LSE Fellow in Computational Social Science) and Research Associate at the University Oxford (Oxford Internet Institute). Siân has been awarded the Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship, to investigate sexism on collaborative computing platforms. He project will combine cultural and computational methods to […]

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Edin Omanovic

Open Society Foundations

Edin is Program Manager of the Technology program at the Open Society Foundations where he works with partners around the world to protect societies against tech-driven authoritarianism and rights abuses. Previously, he was Advocacy Director of London-based Privacy International and has worked in research and policy roles at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute and […]

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Elizabeth Eagen

Deputy Director, The Citizens and Technology Lab

Elizabeth Eagen is Deputy Director of the Citizens and Technology Lab at Cornell University, which works with communities to study the effects of technology on society and test ideas for changing digital spaces to better serve the public interest, so that digital power is guided by evidence and accountable to the public. Previously, she established […]

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Ellery Roberts Biddle

Journalist and Researcher

Ellery is a journalist who specializes in technology and the ways it affects people’s lives and rights. She has worked as the managing editor at Coda Story, the advocacy director at Global Voices, and as the director of projects at Ranking Digital Rights. From 2014-2017, Ellery was a fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for […]

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Eric Wustrow

Associate Professor of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering at the University of Colorado

Eric Wustrow is an Associate Professor of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. His work focuses on creating and deploying new censorship circumvention techniques and tools, including Refraction Networking schemes like Tapdance and Conjure, used by millions of censored users around the world. He has also published on emerging network […]

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Eriol Fox

Senior designer

Eriol is a multi-skilled, lead/senior designer with 14+ years of experience in design, technology and human rights and has been leading projects and teams for the last 9 years. They have focused on human centered or problem-centered experience (UX) design and research projects. Problem-centered experience design acknowledges that humans are not always the key beneficiary […]

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Felicia Anthonio

Access Now

Felicia Anthonio is #KeepItOn Campaign Manager at Access Now, a global campaign of over 300 organizations that fights against internet shutdowns. She has authored and co-authored several publications on  internet shutdowns featured on Access Now, Yale University, CIPESA and Bloomsbury Collections websites. Felicia hosted The Kill Switch podcast and was featured on The Shutdown documentary by BBC World Service. Felicia is an Advisory Council member […]

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Fieke Jansen

Postdoc Researcher at the Data Justice Lab, Cardiff University

Postdoc Researcher at the Data Justice Lab at Cardiff University Fieke Jansen is a postdoc researcher at the Data Justice Lab at Cardiff University, where she is researching the relationship between datafication on labour in the Netherlands. In her PhD she looked at the institutional and societal implications of data-driven risk scoring and biometric recognition […]

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Fiona Krakenbürger

Co-Founder, Sovereign Tech Fund

Fiona is Co-Founder of the Sovereign Tech Fund, an initiative funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action, to support Open Source Infrastructure in the Public Interest. Previously, Fiona worked as a Senior Program Manager at Open Technology Fund and helped bootstrap the Prototype Fund in Germany. Fiona provides strategic counsel […]

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Gabrielle Lim

Doctoral Fellow at the Citizen Lab

Gabrielle Lim is a Doctoral Fellow at the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Toronto. Her primary areas of research are information technology and security, with a focus on media manipulation, censorship, emerging technology, and civil society. Previously, she was a researcher with the Technology and Social Change […]

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Hans-Christoph Steiner

Researcher and Hacker, Guardian Project

Hans-Christoph Steiner is a researcher and hacker with Guardian Project. He works to make private-by-design easy for all to achieve. For the past 15 years, he worked to make software as private as possible yet usable by everyone, as well as building ethical distribution systems that are resilient to unjust censorship.  This work is available […]

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Jillian C. York

Director for International Freedom of Expression, Electronic Frontier Foundation

Jillian C. York is a writer and activist whose work examines the impact of technology on our societal and cultural values. Based in Berlin, she is the Director for International Freedom of Expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a fellow at the Center for Internet & Human Rights at the European University Viadrina, and a […]

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Joanna Szymańska

Senior Programme Officer, ARTICLE 19

Joanna is a Senior Programme Officer at ARTICLE 19 Europe and Central Asia, focusing on freedom of expression issues across the Eurasia region – including media freedom, civic space, and digital rights. She is an experienced project coordinator, trainer, and researcher, having contributed to several publications on content moderation, digital authoritarianism, and hate speech. Prior […]

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Ksenia Ermoshina

Center for Internet and Society & The Citizen Lab

Ksenia is senior researcher at the Center for Internet and Society of the CNRS and The Citizen Lab (University of Toronto). She is also involved as a UX researcher with eQualit.ie and Merlinux, conducting user-research, community work, and field testing for decentralized free software projects such as Delta Chat, Ceno browser ,and Ouisync. Ksenia holds […]

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Laura Schwartz-Henderson

Founder and Principal of Curious Shapes

Laura Schwartz-Henderson is the founder and principal of Curious Shapes, a research and advocacy consultancy focused on internet policy, digital rights, and emerging tech issues. Based in Washington DC, Laura works with a range of civil society groups, philanthropies, and tech companies across the globe to conduct research, design policy frameworks, and develop communications campaigns […]

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Mallory Knodel

Executive Director, Social Web Foundation

Mallory is the Executive Director of the Social Web Foundation and she chairs the Human Rights Protocol Considerations Research Group of the Internet Research Task Force. She is a public interest technologist who advises organizations, companies, and governments on issues related to intersectional feminism, social justice, and human rights in tech.

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Mehwish Ansari

Ford Foundation

Mehwish is a program officer at the Ford Foundation's Technology & Society Program.

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Niels ten Oever

Postdoctoral Communications Infrastructure Researcher, University of Amsterdam

Niels is a postdoctoral communications infrastructure researcher at the University of Amsterdam with a particular interest in the relations between networks, power, and human rights.

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Norman Shamas

Advisory Council

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Reem Almasri

Crítica

Reem Almasri is currently a member of the Crítica team, the managing partner of the Global Network for Social Justice and Digital Resilience, where she oversees external and internal communications. Before joining Crítica, Reem worked as a journalist for over ten years at the Jordan-based magazine, 7iber, where she is currently a partner. During her tenure at 7iber, Reem […]

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Rodrigue Hajjar

VP of Engineering at Cohere

Rodrigue Hajjar is the VP of Engineering at Cohere, managing the productionization of LLMs. As a founding engineer at TunnelBear, he’s also led censorship circumvention efforts. He’s developed award winning mobile applications, and has founded a few startups, including Kwixer (a content recommendation engine). Rod holds a Masters in Computer Science, and is based in […]

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Roya Ensafi

Assistant Professor in Computer Science & Engineering, University of Michigan

Roya Ensafi is an Assistant Professor in Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Michigan, where her research focuses on computer networking, security, and privacy. She designs scalable techniques and systems to protect users’ Internet connections from disruption and surveillance. Roya is best known for her work in the area of Internet censorship, where […]

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Roya Pakzad

Founder and Director of Taraaz

Roya Pakzad is the founder and director of Taraaz, a non-profit organization working at the intersection of technology and human rights. She is also the 2023-24 Practitioner Data and Democracy Fellow at the Karsh Institute of Democracy and the School of Data Science at the University of Virginia and an affiliated scholar at UC Berkeley’s […]

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Sandra Ordóñez

Head of Team CommUNITY

Sandra is a recognized leader specializing in community building, strategic planning, DEI and innovation. One of the first Latinas to occupy a leadership position in the field of public interest technology, she served as the first Director of Communications for Wikipedia, and has served on the board of various open source and social justice organizations […]

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Sanne Stevens

Co-director of the Justice, Equity and Technology Table at the London School of Economics

Sanne is the co-director of the Justice, Equity and Technology Table, which is a collaborative network building effort to address the impact of data-driven policing on racialized communities in Europe.

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Sarah Kiden

Public Interest Technologist & Design Researcher

Sarah Kiden is a Public Interest Technologist and Design Researcher working at the intersection of technology and society. She is currently a Research Fellow at the University of Southampton. Her current research interests include the exploration of policy frameworks for emerging technologies, citizen-centric Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems, and understanding how Internet of Things (IoT) ideas […]

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Shivan Kaul Sahib

Lead, Privacy Engineering at Brave

Shivan leads the Privacy and Web Compatibility teams at Brave Software, delivering privacy-enhancing features to over 70 million users. He actively participates in standards bodies, co-chairing IETF groups on Oblivious HTTP, Key Transparency, and novel privacy research. Previously, he worked on DNS traffic encryption and consent tooling. Shivan has a strong interest in public interest […]

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Sofia Celi

Cryptography Researcher, Brave

Sofía Celi is a cryptography researcher at Brave. She also holds variousleadership positions at IETF, IRTF, and the W3C. She is interested inhelping diverse communities, and creating post-quantum andprivacy preserving algorithms.

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Stefania Milan

Associate Professor of New Media and Digital Culture, University of Amsterdam

Stefania is a researcher, writer and digital rights activist whose work explores the intersection of technology, governance and activism. She is particularly interested in infrastructures, and the possibilities of self organization, emancipation, and autonomy they open up. She works out of the University of Amsterdam, where she is Associate Professor of New Media at the […]

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Tom Ritter

Security Engineer at Mozilla

Tom Ritter is a distinguished security engineer and recovering consultant now at Mozilla, working on anti-exploitation, Tor, and other new and evolving security features. Previously, he did all manner of security consulting at NCC Group and iSEC Partners, including managing the Cryptography Services practice and pioneering the production of fully-public audit reports. While consulting, Tom […]

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Wojtek Bogusz

Head of Digital Protection at Front Line Defenders

Wojtek Bogusz is a digital information and communication protection trainer. He works with human rights defenders and activists at risk around the world in repressive environments. He is Head of Digital Protection with Front Line Defenders, a Dublin-based international foundation for the protection of human rights defenders.

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