Mathias is a co-founder and director of AWO, a law firm and strategy consultancy specializing in AI, data protection, online safety and other digital policy topics. Mathias brings more than 15 years of experience as a strategy advisor, expert and organizer at the intersection of law, policy and new technologies. Earlier he worked as an advisor to the Mozilla Foundation, where he developed initiatives to improve independent researcher access to data and open-source auditing of consumer technology platforms in Europe and the United States. From 2014 to 2019, Vermeulen worked as a digital policy advisor to MEP Marietje Schaake in the European Parliament. During this time, he also completed his PhD in European privacy law at the VU Brussel (2017), where he is currently a fellow at the Centre for Law, Science, Technology and Society. Earlier in his career, Vermeulen was the lead investigator to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Protection of Human Rights While Countering Terrorism for three years. He began his career at the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Commission of Jurists in Geneva and the European University Institute. His work has been featured in prominent publications such as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Post, and has been cited by the US Federal Trade Commission, the European Commission and others as evidence to change laws and policies.

LK [ɛlka] Seiling have an academic background is in psychology, cognitive systems, and human factors and are currently responsible for the coordination of the #DSA40 Data Access Collaboratory, a joint project by the European New School of Digital Studies (ENS) and the Weizenbaum Institute. Since 2020, they have been working for the Weizenbaum Institute, where they co-led the Privacy Icons Project and are maintaining a framework for the collection of behavioral data on simulated newsfeeds. LK's research interests include data access and research engineering as well as technologically mediated risks and risk prevention for individuals, society, and science.

Dr Kirsty Park is an Assistant Director of Research at Coimisiún na Meán, Ireland's media regulator and Digital Services Coordinator. Her work focuses on the implementation of the vetted researcher provisions under Article 40 of the DSA. She was previously Policy Lead at EDMO Ireland and a postdoctoral researcher at Dublin City University’s Institute of Future Media, Democracy and Society where she focused on disinformation and media policy, specialising in the Digital Services Act and the Code of Practice on Disinformation.

Paddy Leerssen is a postdoctoral researcher in law at the University of Amsterdam’s Institute for Information Law (IViR). His research focuses on social media governance, with a particular emphasis on questions of transparency and data access. Paddy is part of the DSA Observatory project, which monitors the implementation of the EU’s new Digital Services Act.