We advise that team members are visible in “who is behind this” description on the NGI exchange site. If you wish to be included, feel free to add your 1-paragraph bio in a comment below.
Alberto Cottica @alberto
Co-Founder and Research Director , Edgeryders
Data/Network scientist and economist. Passionate about participatory processes and how they harness collective intelligence. Following a “long hunch” about the mathematical signatures of human dynamics since 2009. Former low-grade rockstar. Runner.
Filip Simonovski @anon82932460
Social Media Manager, Edgeryders
Filip is not your average marketing geek. Just like the other “not-your-average” geeks at Edgeryders. Although excelling in web-development, web project management, digital strategy creation, community management, digital analytics & content creation, Filip loves driving change with the work he does most. Having worked with larger corporations, hard-hitting NGOs, and small business owners, he knows what works best for who. At Edgeryders, he’s passionately growing the community and the visibility of the people and conversations in it.
Hugi Ásgeirsson @hugi
Co-Director and Outreach Events Manager, Edgeryders
Positioned between technology and participatory culture and politics, Hugi is interested in how people can collaborate better together today and in the future, online and offline. He currently works from Stockholm, where he co-founded the participatory culture center and social enterprise Blivande. As a co-director of Edgeryders, he runs the development lab Participio developing software for participatory culture and is involved in a number of projects exploring how technology can enable participation, social cohesion and resilience. Hugi has a background in informatics and analytics and has a degree from KTH Royal Institute of Technology where he studied biotechnology engineering.
Inge Snip @inge
Content Curator , Edgeryders
Multimedia journalist and communications expert Inge believes that telling stories that inspire change are the only stories worth telling. She has worked with a variety of organizations - including Forbes, National Geographic and UNICEF - producing and curating both video and written content to tell extraordinary stories, build communities and engage large audiences. At Edgeryders, Inge has previously helped build and manage communities of innovative activists in Georgia for the Futurespotters and Futuremakers projects. She currently splits her time between producing and managing content at the award-winning journalism initiative Coda Story and curating and editing content at Edgeryders.
John Coate @johncoate
Co-Director and Community Manager , Edgeryders
John was employee number two at The WELL, where he was instrumental in creating the online community that Wired Magazine called the “world’s most influential”. There he was the first to work as what is now known as an “online community manager” and he wrote the first treatise on building online community. He co-founded the first major news website, sfgate.com, which today has more than thirty million monthly visitors and more than 340K Twitter followers. He was the online manager of a teen social network and game site that had thousands of members. He managed a regional media organisation that combined terrestrial radio and the internet in innovative ways. Through it all the core of his community knowledge comes from direct personal experience living and working with others who are consciously building lasting relationships as the building blocks of community.
Maria Euler @MariaEuler
Community Manager, Edgeryders
Interdisciplinary artist and design researcher as well as a community manager for edgeryder with a background in physics, fine art and a Master in Information Experience Design from the Royal Collge of Art. She searches for points of connection and entry, between disciplines, complex scientific concepts, discussion, emotional and tangible experiences and people. She worked with the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Inclusive Design and the Financial Education startup Gimi as a researcher and UX Designer. She also was part of multiple successful art-science collaborations as for example with the Bristol Laboratory for Quantum Computing and exhibited interactive installations at venues and festivals across Europe such as Sonar+D, I-Gem and VrSci. Her goal is to enable different approaches and connections to increase the diversity and creativity of the discourse on art, science and technology.
Marina Batinic @marina
Project Manager , Edgeryders
Marina is a project manager, specialised in cultural education, art, creativity and cultural heritage. Trained in knowledge management (European Commission, DG DEVCO), experienced in European project management (project coordinator at the Historical Research Center on Mediterranean Societies, University of Perpignan) and international cooperation (Ecole de Chaillot, Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine, Paris). Co-founder of the Culture Hub Croatia which aims to strengthen the local cultural and creative sector and foster cross-sectorial innovation.
Matthias Ansorg @matthias
Co-founder and CTO, Edgeryders
Matthias is a computer scientist and technology generalist with a long experience in open source software and hardware development. A social innovator and digital entrepreneur who has studied alternative value measurement and non-monetary economic exchange mechanisms extensively for his award-winning commons funding platform PayCoupons (former Makerfox). Solid expertise in software development, integration and maintenance; has built the edgeryders.eu online platform.
Nadia E.N.@nadia
Co-Founder and Outreach director, Edgeryders
Engineer and designer born in Sweden to African parents, raised in Europe and Asia. A bridge person between activist networks of marginalised groups, artists, civil society, entrepreneurs, media and government. Nadia’s role in Edgeryders to serve our global community of brilliant misfits via the not-for-profit company that builds and managers the infrastructure sustaining it. In practice this translates into laying out the vision, building strategic partnerships, driving flagship projects and managing crews on different projects. Named Minister of Labour in a “dream government of New Thinkers” imagined for Sweden by the leading financial newspaper in Scandinavia.
Rob Van Kranenburg @RobvanKranenburg
Director, Resonance Design
Rob van Kranenburg, @robvank, is the Founder of Council_IoT and #iotday; co-founder of Bricolabs.
He has authored The Internet of Things: A Critique of ambient technology and the all-seeing network of RFID (2007); co-author of Situated Technologies Pamphlets 8. He is Director of Resonance Design BV, partnering in the NGI CSA Strategy NGI Forward.
Katja Bego @katjab
Principal researcher and data scientist, Nesta
Her work focuses on studying the impact of emerging technologies such as AI on our societies, and how these new innovations can be harnessed for social good and for the benefit of everyone. Katja is the coordinator of the European Commission-funded NGI Forward project, tasked with helping shape the strategy and policy agenda of the Next Generation Internet initiative, the EU’s ambitious new flagship programme which seeks to build a more democratic, inclusive and resilient future internet by 2025, and previously also led the EU Engineroom project, also under the NGI umbrella. She regularly comments on topics relating to the future internet in outlets such as Wired, the BBC, Financial Times and The Guardian. Before joining Nesta, Katja worked as a data scientist in the private sector and as a researcher at the MIT Media Lab. She has a degree in economics and political science from Wellesley College in the US.
Heshani Jayaratne @Heshanij
Project Manager for NGI Forward, Nesta
Heshani oversees partner management, compliance and project delivery. Prior to joining Nesta, Heshani worked as a project manager running European Commission- funded projects on a variety of different topics spanning from education and intercultural competences, to immigration and anti-discrimination. Apart from her background in project management, she also has experience as a trainer and event organiser. Heshani holds an MA in Conflict, Security and Development from King’s College London and an MA from the University of Trento in Italy. She is also an alumnus of the University of Malmö. It was during her time at the War Studies Department at King’s that she first became interested in the interaction between technology and conflict, and the ethical questions behind this link.
Harry Armstrong
Head of Technology Futures, Nesta
He leads Nesta’s futures work, exploring the potential impacts of emerging technology and innovations, like Artificial Intelligence, on industry, society and the economy with a goal to supporting responsible innovation in a wide range of sectors. His research has covered everything from machine learning, cybersecurity and the internet of things to nanosatellites and the emergence of local energy systems. He also is in charge of Nesta’s thinking on the ethical and responsible development of AI and machine learning tools, participatory futures methods and ‘Anticipatory Regulation’. Before joining Nesta, Harry completed a PhD in Molecular Biology at Cambridge University, focusing on epigenetic gene regulation. At Cambridge, he was also one of the founding members of Cambridge University Science and Policy Exchange (CUSPE) which helped connect and bridge the gap between early career researchers and early career policy makers from the civil service.
Anja Bechmann
Professor, Aarhus University and Research Director of Datalab
Anja Bechmann’s research examines social media communication and collective behavior using large-scale data collection and applied machine learning. Her field of research are digital sociology, privacy, critical algorithmic and AI studies and digital news studies. She is board member of the Danish Council for IT Security and ATV’s Digital Sages and appointed member of the Academy of Technical Sciences. She acts as a supervisor for MA and PhD theses within the area of digital social research. She is member of several editorial boards, reviewer for international high-ranked journals within her field and has acted as assessment committee member for grant applications, professorships and PhD defenses. Her research has been funded by national and international research councils such as the Danish Council for Independent Research, Swedish Research Council, Danish Agency for Science and Innovation, Horizon 2020 and Aarhus University Research Foundation.
Lynge Asbjørn Møller @lynge
Research Assistant, Aarhus University and Project Coordinator at Datalab
Lynge Asbjørn Møller holds a MA in Media Science from Aarhus University and is a member of AOiR (Association of Internet Researchers). He is a researcher and the center coordinator at the research center Datalab directed by Anja Bechmann, where he manages all research project at the center and engages himself in research in social media and digital information disorder.
Kristoffer Laigaard Nielbo
Associate Professor, Aarhus University and Co-Director of Datalab
As a humanities researcher, Kristoffer Nielbo has specialized in applications of quantitative methods and computational tools in analysis, interpretation and storage of cultural data. He has participated in a range of collaborative and interdisciplinary research projects involving researchers from the humanities, social, health, and natural sciences. His research covers two areas of interest of which one is more recent (automated text analysis) and the other (modeling of cultural behavior) has followed me during his entire academic career. Both interests explore the cultural information space in new and innovative ways by combining cultural data and humanities theories with statistics, computer algorithms, and visualization.
Peter Vahlstrup
Associate Professor, Aarhus University and Lead Programmer at Datalab
Peter Vahlstrup is teaching associate professor in JAVA and high-level programming and is the lead-programmer in the research center Datalab directed by Anja Bechmann. He is an expert in API-based data collection and has been lead-developer of the Digital Footprints software used for extracting social media data. Peter is daily manager of the Digital Footprints software package and administrate access, database storage and management of 465 researchers in 13 countries.
Tamas Erkelens
Program Manager of Public Tech, Municipality of Amsterdam
He aims to enhance public control over technology in the city, by creating open tech solutions and policy innovations. An example: Open source machine learning to automatically distribute 250.000 issues reported by residents annually, and auditing the algorithm making sure it does not discriminate. Amsterdam was awarded as European Capital of Innovation 2016-2017 for its digital social innovation approach. Previously, Tamas – graduated with honours as Research Master of Quantitative Social Sciences – has worked for ING as a Product Owner. In his spare time Tamas is co-founder of Data Mission, a foundation connecting big data analysts to mission driven organizations.
Dr Katarzyna Śledziewska
Executive Director, DELab, University of Warsaw
Katarzyna has been working with the University of Warsaw since 2000 and since 2014 is also the Executive Director at DELab. She coordinates the Digital Market research program. Katarzyna is Professor at the Faculty of Economic Sciences at the University of Warsaw, where she is giving lectures on the theory of economic integration and regional economic cooperation, and teaches empirical methods for macroeconomic analysis. In the past, she worked as an expert at the Ministry of Economy, National Council of Entrepreneurship and the Committee for Strategic Economic Policy. She also cooperated with the School of Economics at University of Nottingham and Economic Education Foundation. Katarzyna has a wide array of research interests, with main focus on the role of digital technologies in new economic models, the international aspects of digitalisation, the Digital Single Market strategy, and other aspects of economic integration. She is member of Readie-Europe’s Research Alliance for a Digital Economy. She has taken part in multiple national and EU-wide projects both as a key expert and as a coordinator.
Dr Maciej Wilamowski
Programme Coordinator, DELab, University of Warsaw
At DELab, Maciej coordinates research in the area of Data Science. In particular, he is responsible for analytical problem solving,forming analytical DELab team and enhancing corresponding skills of the team. Maciej monitors current and emerging Data Science trends as well as keeps track of the new Machine Learning solutions. In his spare time, Maciej enjoys developing his skills develops as a “kaggler”. His research interests lie primarily in the area of behavioral economics. Maciej works in DELab since January 2017. He works at the Faculty of Economic Sciences, where he is giving lectures on Data Science, Python and SQL, as well as Machine Learning.
Kristóf Gyódi @kristof_gyodi
Analyst, DELab, University of Warsaw
Kristóf is an analyst at DELab UW, research employee and a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Economic Sciences at the University of Warsaw. He is member of the Smart Economy and Digital Market research teams. In his research he focuses on the potential of digital economy and new business models in Central Europe. He is co-author of numerous DELab UW reports on e-commerce and digitalization of SMEs, currently he is engaged in research on sharing economy. He is member of the Readie Network (Europe’s Research Alliance for a Digital Economy) and the Digital Transformation Working Group at the Polish Ministry of Economic Development.
Michał Paliński @mpalinski
Analyst, DELab, University of Warsaw
Michał is a researcher at DELab UW, research employee and a PhD student at the Faculty of Economic Sciences at the University of Warsaw and a proposed research assistant for this project. At DELab UW, he is a member of the EU Digital Single Market (DSM) research team aiming at determining the changes in market opportunities and challenges that entrepreneurs face due to the implementation of DSM. Michał’s research interests focus on the digital economy, especially on the role online platforms are playing in solving market failures. In addition to his academic work, Michał is a member of the Digital Transformation Working Group at Polish Ministry of Economic Development.
Łukasz Nawaro
Analyst, DELab, University of Warsaw
Łukasz is a Master’s student in Data Science program at the Faculty of Economic Sciences at the University of Warsaw. At DELab UW, as a Junior Analyst, he is responsible for data analysis and processing in areas such as new technological trends and university’s students, fields of study and real estate. His main programming language is Python, but he also has experience in JavaScript (d3.js, vue.js) as a data presentation tool.
Marco Zappalorto
CEO, Nesta Italia
Marco joined Nesta in 2011. Before setting up Nesta Italia he was Head of European Development at Nesta and contributed to the set-up of the Challenge Prize Centre. He led most of the Centre’s European and international work, coordinated capacity building activities as part of the prizes and contributed to the design of some related initiatives, such as the European Social Innovation Competition. Prior to Nesta, Marco worked for OmniCompete (now Innocentive), managing the execution of prize competitions in a wide range of sectors for both the public and the private sector. He also worked for the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry where he provided advice to SMEs on European issues and opportunities. Marco holds an MSc in European Political Economy from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Simona Bielli @sbielli
Head of Programmes, Nesta Italia
Simona is Head of Programmes at Nesta Italia. She leads a portfolio of activities in the areas of education, inclusion, emerging tech, health and arts and culture. Before joining Nesta Italia, Simona spent three years in London working as Research and Programme Manager for the Digital Startup team at Nesta, where she managed a number of European-funded projects, including the European Digital Forum, aimed to fostering digital entrepreneurship in Europe. Prior to Nesta, Simona was Head of Operations at Mind the Bridge. She was responsible for managing multiple activities both in Europe and US aimed to support ICT startups to scale-up.
Matteo Colombino
Innovation Manager, Nesta Italia
Matteo is the Innovation Manager at Nesta Italia. Matteo has the role of guiding innovation within the organization by contributing to the design, development, and delivery of projects and research on emerging technologies. In addition to this, he supports the director in business development activities. Before this role, he was responsible for the coordination, communication and general management of Nesta Italia’s projects in the healthcare and technology sector, including also the research and experimenting phases.
Roberta Marà
Communications Manager, Nesta Italia
Roberta is Communications and Stakeholders Engagement Manager at Nesta Italia. She leads the planning and delivery of all Nesta Italia’s campaigns and is responsible for building and nurturing relationships with key stakeholders. Roberta has almost 10 years’ experience in corporate communications, media relations, brand strategy and digital. Before Nesta Italia, Roberta worked in the Entertainment industry - Sony Music and prior to that for the Turin based start up Sounday - specializing in digital transformation for the music sector, and for different start ups, focusing on strategic communications planning and brand development. Roberta also worked as a consultant for communications agencies both in London and Italy.
