Alexandra Pardal
Interim Co-Executive Director
UK
Alexandra is Interim co-Executive Director of Digital Action, leading on campaigns, programmes, partnerships and fundraising. She has over 24 years’ experience in international non-profits and politics, leading campaigns, investigations and policy reforms. Her work has generated positive impacts including reforms to a billion-euro EU trade and development programme and financial restitution to communities in Africa, and been reported on by international media outlets like The Times, The Guardian, Le Monde, El Pais and Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Prior to working in non-profits, Alexandra spent a decade working in European politics. She is a native speaker of English, Spanish and French, a barrister with training in international human rights law, and has qualifications in law, European politics and history.
Bruna dos Santos
Global Campaigns Manager
Germany
Bruna is a digital rights activist working on advocacy, regulation and policy-making of new and incoming technologies and Internet Governance. She’s actively contributed to the development of internet legislation in Brazil such as the Civil Rights Framework for the Internet in Brazil and the Brazilian General Data Protection Legislation, as well as advocacy campaigns and stakeholder engagement regarding topics such as data protection, the risks of State Surveillance and freedom of expression and platform regulation. Previously she was a guest researcher at the Berlin Social Science Centre (WZB) and, as a recipient of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation’s German Chancellor Fellowship for future leaders (Bundeskanzler-Stipendium), has worked with lead CSOs in Brazil such as Data Privacy Brazil. She is a member of the UN’s Internet Governance Forum’s Multistakeholder Advisory Group and a Generic Names Supporting Organization councillor at ICANN.
Bulanda Tapiwa Nkhowani
Campaigns and Partnerships Manager, Sub-Saharan Africa
Zambia
Bulanda is a public policy and development professional focusing on Human Rights, Technology and Governance. She has over 6 years of experience in digital rights and inclusion advocacy, research, campaigning, communications, coalition building and project management. Prior to joining Digital Action, Bulanda led pan- African policy and capacity-building programs focused on digital rights and inclusion at Paradigm Initiative. Additionally, she has been a Google Policy Fellow and Young Professional at AUDA-NEPAD (African Union) under the e- Africa Program. Bulanda is actively involved in Internet governance policy discussions within her region and beyond, a co-convenor of the Zambia Internet Governance Forum (Zambia IGF) and an Africa School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG) Alumni. Bulanda holds a B.A. (Hons) Degree in Media Studies and Sociology from the University of Namibia.
Gillian Williams
Interim Co-Executive Director
Gillian is Interim Co-Executive Director of Digital Action, leading on internal systems and organizational development. She has over 30 years of experience in helping organisations and people achieve results that matter to them. Her work internationally with nonprofits, educational institutions, philanthropy, and government agencies weaves together organisational leadership and development during inflection points. She has started and led nonprofits that support the people who spark change and seek outcomes that make their communities more just and equitable places.
Gillian’s work has been reported on in places like The New York Times, CBS Sunday Morning, National Public Radio, The Atlantic Magazine, and The New Yorker. She was also a bilingual teacher and a principal in the South Bronx in New York City.
Liz Carolan
Founder and Advisor
Ireland
Liz has been working at the intersection of technology, governance and democracy for over 10 years. Her work with government has included supporting elected leaders at the Institute for Government in the United Kingdom and working in the President’s Office in Sierra Leone. She established the Open Data Institute’s international program, supporting accountability efforts in 30 countries, including leading an open elections project in Burkina Faso. She later helped get the Open Data Charter off the ground as Director of Strategy. In 2018, Liz founded the Transparent Referendum Initiative (TRI) during Ireland’s referendum on abortion. TRI built an open database of online political advertising, through a partnership of voters, civic tech groups, academics, parliamentarians and journalists to help uncover disinformation campaigns and attempts at overseas interference.
Mona Shtaya
Campaigns and Partnerships Manager (MENA) and Corporate Engagement Lead
Palestine
Mona has been working for a decade in non-profit organizations to enhance transparency, and integrity, and hold governments and big tech accountable. Her advocacy and campaigning has resulted in exposing digital discrimination against oppressed people, building coalitions, and mobilizing groups toward holding governments and tech giants accountable. Mona is also a non-resident fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP) focusing on surveillance and digital rights in the MENA region. Additionally, she’s a non-resident scholar for the Middle East Institute (MEI) in the Cyber Security and Emerging Technology Program and the Palestine-Israel program. She previously worked as the Advocacy and Communications Manager at 7amleh- The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media, and as the community outreach specialist and Social Media Specialist at Transparency Palestine, the national chapter of Transparency International. She holds a MA in Social Media and Digital Communication from the University of Westminster.
Marta Kasztelan
Consultant
Poland
Marta is an investigative journalist and documentary filmmaker focused on human rights, radical groups and environmental issues in Europe and Southeast Asia. She’s spent the last decade exposing wrongdoings and rights abuses by state and non-state actors for The Guardian, Al Jazeera, Vice News, POLITICO Europe, Foreign Policy and others.
Whether uncovering cyber slavery in Cambodia or following the money of German alt-right extremists to their hiding place in Poland, Marta’s investigations have shone a light on under-reported stories of public interest.
She has been researching tech harms to democracy and human rights since 2019, when she investigated Russian and far-right disinformation ahead of the European Parliament elections for the online activist group Avaaz.
Before turning to journalism, Marta researched corporate-related human rights abuses in Europe and Asia for the London-based Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. She also worked as a legal advisor at Human Rights Law Network in India, where her team secured a historic judgment holding India accountable for preventable maternal death.
Marta holds a BA (Hons) degree in Law from London’s Queen Mary University and an LLM in International Human Rights Law from University of Essex. Languages are her superpower: She’s bilingual in English and Polish, with very strong French, German and proficient Khmer. After twenty years living and working abroad, including a decade in Cambodia, Marta relocated to Poland in 2023.
Vladimir Cortés Roshdestvensky
LATAM Manager
Chile
Vladimir Cortés Roshdestvensky is a human rights specialist focusing on freedom of expression, digital rights, journalism, AI and Internet Governance. With a master’s degree in Human Rights and Democratisaton from the University of Padua, he has extensively researched the impact of artificial intelligence on free speech and electoral integrity. Vladimir’s professional experience includes roles as Digital Rights Program Officer at Article 19 Mexico and Central America, policy advisor consultant for Meta, and country analyst for Freedom House’s annual report ‘Freedom on the Net’. His work encompasses investigating internet dynamics during Latin American protests, content moderation effects, and AI policy development in Mexico. Vladimir has been recognised with the “Nicola Tonon” Scholarship on Technology and Human Rights and the LACNIC Líderes Program award. His insights are regularly published in media outlets and human rights journals, contributing valuable perspectives to the intersection of technology and human rights.
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