Prof. J.V.J. van Hoboken

Joris van Hoboken is a Full Professor at the Institute for Information Law (IViR), Faculty of Law, University of Amsterdam. At IViR, he is appointed to the chair Information law, with special emphasis on Law and Digital Infrastructure. Joris works on questions related to law and digital infrastructure, including at the intersection of fundamental rights protection (data privacy, freedom of expression, non-discrimination) and the governance of platforms and internet-based services. He is currently leading a new research group on the law and governance of quantum technologies (Quantum Delta NL), a project on the regulation of platforms and content moderation (DSA Observatory), is a contributor to the AlgoSoc NWO Gravitation project, and co-leading the Digital Transformation of Decision Making initiative at the Amsterdam Law School (part of Sectorplan Digital Legal Studies). He is also a Professor of Law at Brussels School of Governance at the Vrije Universiteit Brussels (VUB), where he is affiliated with the Interdisciplinary Research Group on Law Science Technology & Society (LSTS).

Joris has published widely in legal journals as well as interdisciplinary venues and is a regular speaker at national and international events and conferences. His work has been widely covered in national and international media and he is a sought after commentator on new developments in technology policy and platform regulation.

Joris has conducted research made possible by a diverse set of funding sources, including institutional, science foundation, and industry and foundation funding. Among other roles, Joris is part of the Management Team of the Institute for Information Law (from 2017). He is on the Management Team of Action Line 4 of Quantum Delta NL (on the legal societal and ethical aspects relating to quantum technologies), and chair of the Legal and Societal Sounding Board of the Quantum Software Consortium. He is a member of the ICT for Research Committee (IOC) of the University of Amsterdam. He is on the Organizational Board of the Critical Infrastructure Lab (2022) and served on the advisory board of the DECODE project (2017 – 2020), the Data Justice Project (Cardiff, 2018 – 2023). Joris was an appointed member of the EU’s Observatory on the Online Platform Economy (2018 – 2021), and a member of the Steering Group of the Transatlantic High-Level Working Group on Content Moderation Online and Freedom of Expression.

Previously, Joris was appointed (part-time) to the Chair ‘Fundamental Rights and Digital Transformation’ at the Vrije Universiteit Brussels (until Sept 2022), a chair established at the VUB with the support of Microsoft. From 2013-2016, Joris was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Information Law Institute (ILI) at New York University, School of Law, a Visiting Scholar at the NYU Stern Center for Business & Human Rights (2015-2016) and a lecturer at CornellTech (2016). From 2016-2017, he was an affiliate scholar at the Center for Internet & Society (CIS), Stanford Law School. In 2008, he was a visiting scholar at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.

Joris obtained his PhD from the University of Amsterdam on the topic of search engines and freedom of expression (2012) and has graduate degrees in Law (2006, University of Amsterdam, cum laude) and Theoretical Mathematics (2002, University of Amsterdam, cum laude). He has first-year degrees in Theoretical Mathematics (1997, cum laude) and Physics and Astronomy (1997, cum laude). For his PhD thesis, he received the prestigious thesis award of the Praemium Erasmianum Foundation in the Netherlands.

Joris has extensive experience working in and with relevant societal stakeholders in the technology policy domain, including government, industry and civil society.  He worked as an advisor to the Dutch Data Protection Authority (2007-2008), conducted studies for the Dutch government (including the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs), the European Commission (including DG Connect, JRC), ENISA and UNESCO. In 2006, Joris was a co-director at the Dutch organization Bits of Freedom, a leading digital rights organization in the Netherlands and Europe, and one of the founders of European Digital Rights (EDRi). From 2007-2017, he served on the Board of Directors of Bits of Freedom, including as Chair. He is an observer at Edri and serves on the Panel of Experts of the Digital Freedom Fund (DFF), a strategic litigation fund established in 2017.