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.