Testimonial: Matthias Vierstraete
LL. M. in IP / ICT Law
Programme faculty
The programme prides itself in having combined the expertise of a renowned faculty of experts in ICT, IP and Media law, coming from academia, regulatory authorities, European and national administrations and agencies, as well as major companies and leading law firms.
Adam Watson Brown (European Commission)
Adam is a Head of Sector in the Audiovisual and Media Policies Unit of DG Information Society (INFSO/A1). The unit is responsible for the “Television without Frontiers Directive” and its successor the Audiovisual Media Services Directive. Within this group, he runs the Task Force for the Co-ordination of Media Affairs, a small team set up to handle three tasks (1) to act as a sounding board for all Commission policy affecting the media (2) to develop the Commission’s economic understanding of media industries and (3) to act as a contact point for external enquiries about media policy. The Task Force focuses primarily on unlicensed media, while addressing horizontal issues that affect all media. The Task Force launched the Commission's 3-step approach to improve the monitoring of media pluralism in January 2007, upon the instructions of Commissioner Reding.
Until September 2004, Adam was heavily involved in electronic communications regulation and was Head of Sector for digital broadcasting. He was involved in all major regulatory and associated policies affecting digital television from the MAC television standards in the early 1990s up until the Multimedia Home Platform debate. Files include the TV Standards Directive 95/47, the Wide-screen TV Action Plan, Convergence, Digital Switchover and TV aspects of the Communications Directives.
Adam started his career in advertising and marketing after graduating from Cambridge University; then segued into management consultancy via a specialist IT consultancy which seconded him to the European Commission for three years during the 1980s to assist with policy orientation of EU’s then recently-launched IT and telecoms research programmes. (ESPRIT, RACE)
Career highlights
• Jan 2007 to present - development of media pluralism monitoring strategy;
• policy work on digital broadcasting aspects of the Communications Directives; lead official in debate on mandating MHP standard 2002-4; Communication on Digital Switchover (September 2003) and follow up Communication on national switchover plans (2004);
• Commission representative on DVB Steering Board 2000-2004;
• policy work in the digital TV area - Use of TV Standards Directive 95/47; helped initiate the Convergence Green Paper (1997); group co-ordinator of the Information Society Forum’s Convergence Task Force;
• co-managed 1993-97 EU promotional programme to help with the introduction of the 16:9 wide-screen TV format in Europe; drafting of Commission Staff Working Paper on The contribution of wide-screen and high definition to the global roll-out of digital television (2003); also responsible for many audiovisual policy inputs;
• veteran of the EU’s notorious MAC/analogue HDTV strategy 1986-92.
Caspar Bowden (Microsoft)
Caspar Bowden is Microsoft's Worldwide Technology Officer for Privacy, providing advice on technology policy matters concerning privacy in over 40 countries, with particular focus on Europe and regions with horizontal privacy law. His goal is to ensure that users of Microsoft products and services are in control of their personal data and that fair information practices are respected. He is a specialist in data protection policy, privacy enhancing technology research, identity management and authentication. He was formerly director of the Foundation for Information Policy Research, an independent think-tank that studies the interaction between computers and society, and promotes public understanding and dialogue between UK and European civil society and policy-makers in the fields of e-commerce, copyright, law enforcement and national security, e-government, cryptography and digital signatures. He was appointed expert adviser to the UK parliament for the passage of three bills concerning privacy issues, and was co-organizer of the influential Scrambling for Safety public conferences on UK encryption and surveillance policy. His previous career over two decades ranged from investment banking (proprietary trading risk-management for option arbitrage), to software engineering (graphics engines and cryptography), including work for Goldman Sachs, Microsoft Consulting Services, Acorn, Research Machines, and IBM.
Catherine Rutten (BIPT Council)
Catherine Rutten (1969) was appointed as a Member of the BIPT Council in 2003 for a six-year term. In 2009 she has been reappointed for another six-year term.
She received her law degree from the University of Leuven (Belgium) (1992) and holds an LL.M. (1993) in European Law from the College of Europe (Bruges) and a LL.M. (1994) in Intellectual Property Law from the London School of Economics.
She began her career in 1994 as a lawyer at the Brussels Bar, advising clients on media, telecommunications, IP/IT and commercial law at Loeff Claeys Verbeke.
In 1997 she joined BT where she was in charge of regulatory affairs in Belgium and Luxembourg and member of the Management Team.
Christopher Kuner (law firm Hunton & Williams, Tilburg and Copenhagen Universities)
Christopher Kuner is a partner in the Brussels office of the international law firm Hunton & Williams, as well as being a visiting researcher at the Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society in the Netherlands, and a research assistant in the law faculty of the University of Copenhagen where he teaches a course on international data protection and privacy law. Mr. Kuner is chairman of the Data Protection Task Force of the International Chamberf of Commerce (ICC), and chairman and founder of the European Privacy Officers Forum (EPOF). He is author of the book "European Data Privacy Law: Corporate Compliance and Regulation” (2nd ed. Oxford University Press 2007), and has been a fellow of the Oxford Internet Institute. Mr. Kuner is editor-in-chief of the journal "International Data Privacy Law" published by Oxford University Press, and is currently a consultant to the OECD on the topic of international data transfers.
Dr. Anna Herold (European Commission)
Anna Herold holds a Ph.D. from the European University Institute in Florence, and currently serves as an official in the Audiovisual and Media Policies Unit of the Directorate-General for Information Society and Media of the European Commission, where she is dealing with the implementation and the development of the European regulatory policy in the audiovisual field. She has published widely on issues related to audiovisual policy, cultural diversity, competition law and international trade law.
Dr. David Stevens (ICRI)
David Stevens is researcher (since 1998) and research coordinator (since 2005) at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Law & ICT (www.icri.be) of the Faculty of Law (www.law.kuleuven.be) of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (part of the Flemish Institute for BroadBand Technology, www.ibbt.be).
His expertise relates to the evolving role of governments and national regulatory authorities in the telecommunications and media sectors. The most important projects on this subject were funded by the Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek Vlaanderen (Fund for Scientific Research Flanders), the federal and regional governments and private and public market players. In 2009, David defended his PhD on this matter. He regularly publishes on communications and media law in Belgian, European and international journals and is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences. Since 2010, he is a member of the editorial board of Computerrecht, a Dutch-Belgian journal on law & informatics published by Kluwer.
David is also actively involved in a number of government advisory bodies in the Belgian media and communications sectors, such as the ‘Raadgevend Comité voor de Telecommunicatie’ (as chairman since 2007, www.rct-cct.be) and the 'sectorraad media' of the 'Raad Cultuur, Jeugd, Sport en Media (as chairman since 2008, www.sarc.be). These committees are permanent advisory bodies to resp. the federal Minister for Telecommunications and the Flemish minister for the Media.
Dr. Eleni Kosta (ICRI)
Eleni obtained her law degree at the University of Athens in 2002 (magna cum laude) and in 2004 she obtained a Masters degree in Public Law (summa cum laude) at the same University. In the academic year 2004-2005 she participated in the Postgraduate Study Programme in Legal Informatics (Rechtsinformatik) at the University of Hanover (EULISP) with a scholarship from the Greek State Scholarships Foundation (IKY) and she obtained her LL.M. (magna cum laude). During the Summer Term 2005, she came to the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven as an exchange student. Eleni is preparing a PhD on "Consent as a legitimate ground for data processing in electronic communications" under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Jos Dumortier.
During her studies Eleni worked as a project assistant at the Diplomatic and Historical Archive of the Greek Ministry for Foreign Affairs and at the legal department of the Greek Council for the Refugees (United Nations High Commission for Refugees). She worked as a tutor of Public and European Law at a private tuition centre and is a member of the Iraklion BAR Association, with work experience in administrative and civil law.
Eleni joined ICRI in the summer of 2005, where she conducts research in the field of privacy and identity management, specialising in new technologies. She worked on the European Project PRIME (Privacy and Identity Management for Europe), which finished in May 2008 and was involved in the FIDIS Network of Excellence (Future of Identity in the Information Society NoE). She is current working on the European Project PICOS (Privacy and Identity Management for Community Services) and is also involved in the Thematic Network PrivacyOS.
In May 2006, Eleni won the award for the Best Academic Paper for the paper “Data ‘re-tensions’ in the European electronic communications sector” at the 1st LSPI Conference (Hamburg – Germany, 30 April – 3 May 2006). During the 45th FITCE Congress (Athens – Greece, 30.08.2006 – 02.09.2006) she won the award for the Best Presentation by a Young ICT Professional for her presentation on “Data retention directive: What the Council cherishes, the privacy advocates reject and the industry fears…” and in the 46th FITCE Congress (Warsaw – Poland, 30.08.2007 – 01.09.2007) she won the award for Best Written Paper for the paper “RFID Technology: When Innovation Brings Along Data Protection Challenges”.
Dr. Eva Lievens (ICRI - Course Director)
Eva Lievens obtained her law degree at the University of Ghent in 2002 (magna cum laude). In 2003, she obtained a Masters degree in Transnational Communications and Global Media at Goldsmiths College, London. In August 2003, she also attended the PCMLP/Cardozo Summer Course 'Legal responses to new communications technologies' at Oxford University.
Eva has been a member of ICRI's Communications Law department since 2003. She obtained her PhD in law titled 'Regulatory instruments for content regulation in digital media - A prospective study on the protection of minors against harmful content' in June 2009. Other media law related research she is involved in deals with legal challenges posed by new communication phenomena, such as the regulation of audiovisual media services, user-generated content, and virtual networks (IBBT project ISBO VIN) and social networks. Eva has also worked on research projects concerning the new regulatory framework for the electronic communications networks and services, notably the implementation of the Electronic Communications Directives of 2002 in Belgium. A 2004 research project in this area analysed the new SMP regime in the mobile sector (study commissioned by Belgacom Mobile/Proximus, published by Edward Elgar under the title "EU Communications Law - Significant Market Power in the Mobile Sector").
Eva is a member of the Advisory Committee of the BINSI-project (EU Safer Internet Plus Programme - www.saferinternet.be), the Advisory Committee for Telecommunications ("Raadgevend Comité voor de Telecommunicatie") and the Belgian Film Evaluation Committee ("Commissie Filmkeuring"). She has also been a member of the Advisory Committee of the CoBeNo-project (EU Safer Internet Plus Programme) and various working groups advising the Federal and Flemish government (for instance with respect to the right to reply in the digital media environment, cyberbullying and the adoption of a labeling and classification system for audiovisual content).
Eva regularly publishes, presents and lectures about her research interests, and is a member of the editorial board of Praktijkboek Recht & Internet (Vanden Broele) and of the editorial committee of Auteurs & Media (Larcier).
She is the Course Director of the K.U. Leuven’s Postgraduate Studies in ICT & Media Law Programme.
Dr. Katleen Janssen (ICRI)
Katleen (°1978) obtained her law degree at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in 2001 (cum laude). From February until June 2000, she studied as an exchange student at the University of Melbourne in Australia. After graduating, she joined ICRI in August 2001. While working at ICRI, she also completed a DES-degree in corporate law at the K.U.Brussel. From August 2009 until January 2010, she worked as a policy advisor for the Geographic Information Policy Cel of the Ministry of the Flemish Goverment.
Katleen specialises in access to and use of Public Sector Information, and SDI- and GIS-matters. This includes policies promoting the availability of information and policies restricting such availability, e.g. privacy protection, intellectual property rights, etc.
In 2009, Katleen obtained her Phd with a thesis about the legal framework for the availability of public sector spatial data, mainly dealing with the relationship between INSPIRE, PSI and access to environmental information.
Katleen has worked on several projects concerning public sector information in general and spatial data in particular. In 2001, she started with PBO, a project concerning the transparency and exploitation of public sector information, funded by the Ministry of Flanders. From 2002 to 2004, she provided legal advice for the BRIDGE-IT project, a project funded by the European Commission, aiming to provide innovate technologies for the use of geographic information in various application fields. She also works on the State of Play Country reports assessing the development of SDIs in the Member States of the European Union, in cooperation with the Spatial Applications Division Leuven. From 2004 until 2007, she coordinated the legal research in the Walkonweb project, which defined a new publishing model for walking and tourist information. She has also been involved in two of the IBBT projects, GeoBIPS and ICT Monitor. From May 2007, she coordinated the legal research for the Cascadoss project on Open Source Licensing for geo-applications, and from September 2007, she is part of the research consortium of the IWT project. Expanding her research field to geological data, she is currently leading the Work Package on access and licensing protocols in the eContentplus OneGeology Europe project. Since 2010, she is also responsible for the ICRI contribution to the LAPSI Thematic Network and she supervises the Mobiroute and Evita-projects.
Since December 2002, Katleen is a regular columnist for VI Matrix, a Dutch magazine on geographic information, and Geoplatform, its Flemish counterpart. She is also a member of the editorial board of Burger, Bestuur en Beleid, and is a frequent speaker on PSI and SDI matters on national and international conferences. Since October 2005, she is a member of the INSPIRE drafting team for the implementing rules on data sharing, which she has been co-chairing since October 2006. Since 2007, she has contributed as an invited expert to the GEOSS White Paper on Data Policy. From 2010, she is a member of the GDI-Raad, the advisory board that represents the private sector and society interests in the development of the Spatial Data Infrastructure in Flanders.
Dr. Reinhard Laroy (Belgian telecom regulator BIPT)
Reinhard Laroy obtained his master in civil engineering with a specialisation in telecommunications at Ghent University in 2001. After obtaining his degree, Reinhard Laroy started working as researcher at the department Information Technology of the same university, where he obtained his PhD in 2006. His master thesis is entitled “New concepts of wavelength tunable laser diodes for future telecom networks” and researches new equipment for optical telecom networks.
At the moment, Reinhard Laroy is working for the Belgian telecom regulator BIPT, where he is responsible for implementing the European regulatory framework in broadband and broadcast network. Due to his technical expertise in telecom networks, Reinhard Laroy gives occasional workshops and guest lectures on telecommunications networks and broadband access. The last year he has given several guest lectures at Ghent University and workshops for the Slovak and Maltese government.
Dr. Vincent Ryckaert (IMEC)
- Civil Engineer Degree in Electro Mechanics, specialization Automatisation, in 1993, at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
- PhD Degree in Applied Science, in 1998, at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
- IMEC’s patent group within IMEC Business Development in 1998 in the field of Electronic Design Automation, Telecommunication and Multimedia
- Head of the IPAI (Intellectual Property for Ambient Intelligence) section of the IMEC patent group within Business Development in 2003
- European Patent Attorney in 2004
- Training in US Patent Law (2000), Software Patents (2002), US Licensing Law (2004), Patent Opinions and Due Diligence (2008) by Patent Resources Group
- Exploitation of Intellectual Property (2007, 2009-2010 as coordinator) by KVIV
- Diploma on Litigation of European Patents from the University Robert Schuman, Strasbourg, Center for Intellectual Property Studies in 2007
- Training in Arbitration by WIPO and Mock Arbitration workshop as participant in 2009
- Head of IPBI (Intellectual Property Business and Intelligence), the licensing group of IMEC in 2009
- Diploma on court expert opinions at University Ghent in 2010
- Member of
- the European Patent Institute (EPI),
- the Licensing Executive Society (LES),
- the International Organization for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI)
- the IP association of the Flemish Engineering Association (KVIV-INDE)
- Frequent speaker on following themes at Industrial Technologies 2010, IP Summit 2006, 2010, IQPC 2008, Marcus Evans Conference 2008, ASTP 2001, 2003, ... :
- Computer-Implemented Inventions – Copyright and Software Patents - Business Models
- Strategic use and management of intellectual property rights - IP Protection Strategies
- IPR and public policy, Open innovation, Entrepreneurship
- IPR Management in a R&D environment – industry-science relations
- IP in Funded Projects - Licensing in Research Contract - Model Consortium Agreements
- Exploitation and management of IPR for Spin-off’s - Technology Growth Companies
- IP Issues in the Semiconductors - Nanotechnology Industry
Edwin Jacobs (Time.Lex)
- Attorney (partner), law firm time.lex, Brussels
- Affiliated researcher ICRI, K.U.Leuven
- Practice assistant negotiation & mediation University Antwerp
Specialises in ICT-outsourcing, e-banking, e-money, e-business, internet law, e-invoice, ICT contracts (hardware, software, services, distribution), intellectual property.
Erik Valgaeren (Stibbe)
Erik Valgaeren is a Partner at Stibbe in the Technology, media and telecommunication Practice Group.
• Areas of practice: Computer and IT contracts, e-commerce, distribution, intellectual property
• Practice overview: Erik Valgaeren’s practice focuses on IT, internet, e-commerce and electronic communications law, as well as on IP issues relating to the aforementioned subjects. He has a thorough understanding of technical issues relating to communications. His work includes the drafting of contracts, advising on legislation and regulatory aspects and litigation both before national courts and arbitral tribunals. Typical projects include web services, outsourcing, facilities management, system integration, software implementation, data transmission, databases, health IT, privacy, distribution and partnerships. His IP-related activities are mainly driven by the increasing interaction between infrastructure and the content / information communicated thereby.
• Additional information: Erik Valgaeren is a member of both the Brussels Bar and the New York Bar (admitted in 1992). He also has a mandate at the Katholieke Hogeschool Mechelen.
• Education, career and qualifications: Born in 1967. Erik Valgaeren graduated from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (lic.jur. K.U.Leuven, 1990). He also obtained a Master of Laws (LL.M.) from the University of Chicago School of Law in 1991. Furthermore, he attended the Master in Computer Management Courses at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB, 1999-2000). Prior to joining Stibbe in 1993, Erik Valgaeren was an associate in the Washington DC and 2 Brussels offices of Wilmer Cutler Pickering. Admitted to the Brussels Bar in 1993 and to the New York Bar in 1992. With the Brussels office of Stibbe since 1993 (partner since 2001).
• Memberships: Erik Valgaeren is member of the legal committee of Belcliv, the Belgian association for IT security. He is chief editor of “Computerrecht”, a Belgian-Dutch legal periodical on ICT law, since 2009. He is also a member of the FITCE (Federation of International Telecom Engineers). Erik Valgaeren has been a member of the Technology Committee of the International Bar Association (IBA) since 2005. Since 2009 he is also the Committee's Secretary and Treasurer.
Evi Werkers (ICRI)
Evi Werkers obtained her Law degree at the University of Antwerp in 2004 (cum laude). In 2005 she obtained her degree as Master in cultural management at the University of Antwerp Management School (cum laude).
Evi joined the ICRI team in November 2005. She cooperated in multiple IBBT-Projects, namdely CIcK (regarding cable rights), VACF (regarding copyright aspects of a virtual arts centre), VIN (regarding liability aspects of networks), CUPID (regarding copyright and liability aspects of managing a cultural platform database) and contributed to the European FIDIS project (regarding copyright aspects and personality rights connected to images used as evidence in criminal proceedings).
She is currently working on the IWT project FLEmish E-publishing Trends (FLEET), the ICON-IBBT project SANTA BUMO (Stylized AnimatTon And BUsiness MOdels) and the FWO project regarding user-generated-content.
In the course of 2009 she was in charge of the study "Copyright in the information society" which was conducted for the Flemish government (Department Culture, Youth, Sports and Media). She was a member of the ‘Culture Forum’, a working group of the Flemish government dedicated to advancing the availability of cultural content. In 2010 she was appointed as member of the reserve pool for the Council Arts and Heritage.
She specializes in copyright and media law with special focus on electronic publishing, online journalism and e-culture and is currently writing a Phd in this field with the following title: "A critical analysis of the legal implications of news content production in the 21th Century. Towards a new interpretation of the fourth power in a converging media society"
Hans Graux (Time.Lex)
Hans Graux is an IT lawyer at the Brussels based law firm time.lex (www.timelex.eu), a firm that specialises in telecommunications, IT/IP, media and e-business. In addition, Hans is an affiliated researcher at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Law and Information Technology of the Catholic University of Leuven (ICRI - www.icri.be). He graduated in Law in 2002, and obtained a complementary degree in IT in 2003. He then joined the ICRI, where he did fundamental research on a number of IT law related issues, with a specific focus on electronic identity management, data protection and e-government initiatives.
In May 2005 he became a registered bar lawyer at the Bar of Brussels, where he continued his participation in a number of European level studies. His expertise on that level lies mainly in European IT regulations and public sector policy, specifically in relation to electronic identity management and electronic signatures. In July 2007, he co-founded the IT law firm time.lex, in which he is currently a partner and legal counsel. His recent work has focused most notably on electronic identification, electronic signatures, data protection, cloud computing and open source software development.
Jean-François Furnémont (CSA)
Jean-François Furnémont qualified in Journalism Studies at the ULB and in International Relations and European policy at the ULG. Former freelance journalist, he is the author of numerous political biographies. Former member of the Board of RTBF and of its advertising unit (RMB), he joined the CSA in 2000, of which he is Director General since 2003. Since 2008, he is also Vice-Chairperson of the European Platform of Regulatory Authorities (EPRA). In addition, he participates to some expertise missions financed by the European Commission, the Council of Europe, the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) or various foundations in the fields of audiovisual media regulation and strengthening of media pluralism, human rights, democracy and the rule of law.
Katrien Lefever (ICRI)
Katrien Lefever (°1982, Leuven) obtained her law degree cum laude at the Catholic University of Leuven in 2005, including six months at the University Robert Shuman (Strasbourg) with the Erasmus program. After these studies she went to Antwerp for an Advanced Academic Study of Journalism, a training at the Lessius Hogeschool in association with the K.U.Leuven. During the Worl Cup 2006 she did an internship with a Flemish production house and later that summer with ROB TV, two broadcasters in the Flemisch Community. In 2009, she obtained her teaching degree.
Katrien joined the Communications Law department of ICRI in October 2006, where she conducts fundamental research in the area of content regulation in a digital interactive media environment. She is also involved in research projects concerning mobile television (MADUF), advertising in a digital media (ADME), the review of the Flemish broadcast legislation (ARKADE) and the European project “Independent Study on Indicators for Media Pluralism in the Member States – Towards a Risk-based Approach”.
Currently, she is working on the ISBO project SEGA and the FWO project regarding user-generated-content.
She is preparing a PhD titled ‘Balancing exclusive sports rights and the citizen’s right to information in the digital media environment’.
Katrien is also a member of the editorial committee of Auteurs & Media (Larcier).
Peter Hustinx (EDPS)
Peter Hustinx has served as EDPS since January 2004, contributing to the building of the new supervisory authority and developing its role at Community level. He was reappointed for a second five-year term of office in January 2009.
Prior to his appointment as EDPS, Mr Hustinx worked as the President of the Dutch Data Protection Authority as from 1991. Between 1996 and 2000, he was Chairman of the Article 29 Data Protection Working Party.
His long standing experience in the field also extends to the broader European level; covering work as an expert in the Committee which prepared the Council of Europe Convention on data protection (No. 108). He also has data protection experience from the law enforcement field, having been Chairman of the Appeals Committee of the Joint Supervisory Body of Europol, and Chairman of the Commission for the Control of Interpol's Files.
Prof. Dr. Cinzia Dal Zotto (University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland)
Cinzia Dal Zotto is Professor of Media Management at the Faculty of Economics and Director of the Academy of Journalism and Media at the University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Before that and until December 2008 she was Research Director at the Media Management and Transformation Centre and Assistant Professor at the Jönköping International Business School in Sweden. Dal Zotto received her PhD in Organizational and Human Resource Development at the University of Regensburg in Germany. Between 2001 and 2003 she had a post doc scholarship funded by the German Ministry of Education and her research dealt with new ventures’ growth in the media sector. In that program she supervised doctoral students and was a consultant for start-up firms.
Dal Zotto has published three books, various book chapters, and papers in the fields of organization, human resource management, entrepreneurship and strategy. She has taught at the universities of Regensburg and Passau in Germany, at the University of Westminster in London, at Trento and Bolzano University in Italy, as well as at the ESC Toulouse in France. She held seminars also for the Joint Research Centre (a Directorate General of the European Commission) in Ispra, Italy. Dal Zotto was a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley in 2002. She also worked as Research Analyst at International Data Corporation in London during 1995 and at Reuters Venture Capital in Munich in 2001.
Prof. Dr. Claudia Diaz (K.U.Leuven)
Claudia Diaz is an Assistant Professor in Privacy Technologies at the Department of Electrical Engineering of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. She holds a Master in Telecommunications Engineering from the University of Vigo (2000) and a Ph.D. in Engineering from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (2005). Her expertise is on privacy enhancing technologies, an area in which she has been active in the last ten years. Her research interests include the formalization and analysis of anonymity, location privacy, privacy-preserving social networking, the application of privacy by design to systems engineering, and interdisciplinary aspects of privacy.
Prof. Dr. Dinusha Mendis (University of Bournemouth)
Dinusha Mendis is a Senior Lecturer in Law (IP) at the University of Bournemouth and attached to the Centre for Intellectual Property Policy and Management (CIPPM). She is the Unit Leader for Intellectual Property Law and Entertainment Law and is heavily involved in the teaching and research into Intellectual Property Law, particularly copyright law. Dinusha has published widely in the field of copyright and her book titled 'Universities and Copyright Collecting Socities' was published by TMC Asser Press in 2009. Currently she is working on a book which deals with digital aspects of copyright.
Dinusha holds LLB (Hons) from the University of Aberdeen; LLM and PhD from the University of Edinburgh and following coversion to English law, she qualified for the Bar of England & Wales in 2001 and is a member of the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple Inn, London.
Prof. Dr. Dirk Voorhoof (Ghent University)
Education
• 1979 Master degree, Faculty of Law, Ghent University.
• 1980 Master degree, Faculty of Political & Social Sciences, Communication Sciences, Ghent University.
• 1990 PhD, Faculty of Law, Ghent University.
Present position
• Professor at Ghent University, Faculty of Political and Social Sciences (PSW) and the Faculty of Law (LLM), courses in Media Law, Copyright Law, Journalism Ethics, Comparative Media Law.
• Lecturer at Copenhagen University, Faculty of Law, course in Media Law (The Faculty of Law).
Membership of institutions and media authorities
• Member of the Flemish Council on Advertising and Sponsoring on Radio and Television (1990-1997).
• Member of the Federal Commission on Access to Administrative Documents (1994-2004).
• Member of the Flemish Media Council (since 1998).
• Member of the Flemish Regulator for the Media (since 2006).
• Member of the Federal Commission for Film Classification (since 2007).
Other references
• Part-time professor at the University of Antwerp (1991-1993) and the University of Brussels (1994-1998), courses: Media Law and Information Law.
• Lecturer at the University of Oxford, PCMLP Summer School Programme on Comparative Media Law and Policy (2002-2007).
• Member of Advisory Board of the Monroe Price International Media Law Moot Court Competition (since 2006), IMLA/PCMLP.
• Founding member of Legal Human Academy (Oxford, Copenhagen and Ghent, since 2005).
• Expert missions and seminars on media and information law in the Netherlands, France, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg, Austria, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Moldova, Serbia, Montenegro, Russia, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Fyrom-Macedonia, Croatia, Hungary, Georgia, Estonia, Iceland, Turkey, Japan and Jordan.
• Legal opinions and reports for the Belgian and the Flemish parliament, the Minister of Justice, the Council of Europe, Article XIX, Interights, Kluwer Publishers, Lannoo Publishing House, RTL/CLT, the Centre for Equality of Changes and against Racism, the Flemish Centre for Public Libraries, the European Commission/Audimetrie, OSCE, CNRS/PNER (Fr.), VRT (public broadcasting organisation), Institute of European Media Law EMR (Saarbrucken) and Hans Bredow Institute for Media Research (Hamburg).
• Legal opinion (2009) and expert witness (2010) in the case of the "Tokyo Two", Aomori, Japan, 2009, Greenpeace
• Price winning paper with poster presentation (with Hannes Cannie) "Hate Speech and the Abuse Clause in the European Human Rights Convention: A Bad Pair", at the International Communication Association's 2010 Conference in Singapore, Interactive Paper session, 2nd Place, http://www.icahdq.org/membersnewsletter/test/JULYAUG10_POSTERS.asp
Prof. Dr. Erik Dejonghe (University of Gent)
Born in Lokeren (Belgium) in 1947, Erik Dejonghe holds an engineering degree in Electronic and Computer Sciences from the University of Ghent and a Phd in Applied Sciences. Furthermore, he followed the MBA program at The Vlerick School of Management, the International Senior Management Program at Harvard Business School and the International Forum Program of the Wharton School.
Erik started his career as researcher at the University of Gent and in 1974 he became project manager for Siemens NV. In 1982, he joined at Barco Electronic NV as a Project and Product Manager and member of the Management Committee, to be appointed General Manager only one year later. After a successful turnaround, Barco Electronic was quoted on the Brussels Stock Exchange in 1987 and Erik became a Member of the Board in 1988. Barco Electronic and Barco Industries merged to form Barco NV in 1989. In the new organization, Erik was Senior Vice President and C.O.O. until May 2001 and remained a Member of the Board until February 2002.
Since 2001, Erik has been active as an independent consultant, specialized in organizational development and technology assessment. Presently, he is visiting Professor of the University of Ghent, teaching on the subject of Social Impact of Communication Technologies. He holds a seat in the Board of several companies. Erik Dejonghe advises the Flemish Government on the technological and economical aspects of new communication media. He lives in Belgium, is married and has two children.
Prof. Dr. Jan Van den Bulck (K.U.Leuven)
Jan Van den Bulck studied communication science in Leuven (1987) and political science in Hull (UK, 1989). He later obtained a PhD in social sciences in Leuven (1996) and a DSc in epidemiology in Rotterdam (2006). He publishes mainly on the effects of television fiction on people’s perceptions of reality and on the health effects of media use. He tries to look at media effects with the eyes of an epidemiologist and at health effects with the eyes of a social scientist.
In a previous life he wrote radio plays for several radio stations in Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK and he was a TV critic for national public radio (Studio Brussel) and for a weekly (Knack Focus). He used to teach public speaking for a wide variety of professions.
Prof. Dr. Jos Dumortier (ICRI)
Jos Dumortier graduated in Law at test.html K.U.Leuven (1973). After postgraduate studies in Nancy (Centre Europééen Universitaire, 1974) and Heidelberg (DAAD, 1975), he became research fellow at K.U.Leuven. In 1981 he finished his Ph.D. in Law with a dissertation on Private International Conflicts of Law. From 1981 to 1992 he worked part-time as a lawyer in one of the largest Brussels law firms.
From 1981 until 1983 he studied Information Science at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. Between 1984 and 1992 he was part-time lecturer in Information Science at the University of Antwerp. In 1985 he became a part-time lecturer and in 1993 a full-time Professor in Law and IT at K.U.Leuven. In 1990 he co-founded the Interdisciplinary Centre for Law and Information Technology and was the Centre’s first Director.
From 1991 to present he has been active in lecturing, research and consultancy in the area of Law and ICT, and he has published several books and articles on this subject. Prof. Dumortier is the editor of the International Encyclopedia of Cyberlaw (Kluwer International Publishers) and editorial board member of many other specialized publications.
Prof. Dumortier is regularly working as an expert for the Belgian federal government, the Flemish government, the European Commission and several national and international organisations on issues relating to Law and ICT.
Jos Dumortier works part-time as an attorney-at-law at the Brussels Bar. He is one of the founding partners of the specialized information and technology law firm "time.lex" (http://www.timelex.eu).
Prof. Dr. Marc Van Rossum (K.U.Leuven)
Marc Van Rossum obtained his PhD in Physics from the Catholic University of Leuven. From 1982 to 1984, he was IBM research fellow at the California Institute of Technology . He joined IMEC in 1985 where he became head of Compound Semiconductor Processing and head of Nanoelectronics research. Since 2000 he is senior strategic advisor for nanoelectronics. His main research interests are in the physics and technology of nanodevices. From 1992 to 2000, he was the chairman of PHANTOMS, the first EU Network of Excellence dealing with nanophysics and nanotechnology. Dr. Van Rossum is also a part-time associate professor at the University of Leuven and is editor-in-chief of the journal Microelectronic Engineering (Elsevier Science).
Prof. Dr. Miklós Sükösd (University of Hong Kong)
Miklós Sükösd is associate professor at the Journalism and Media Studies Centre at the University of Hong Kong. He was academic director of the Center for Media and Communication Studies at Central European University in Hungary, where he also taught as associate professor of political science. He served in major European media research and consultancy projects, including as Chair of the COST A30 Action East of West: Setting a New Central Eastern European Media Research Agenda (2005–2009), and key expert in the EU project An independent study on indicators for media pluralism in the Member States (2008–2009). He has published over 20 books and several book chapters and articles about media and politics, including most recently Finding the Right Place on the Map: Central and Eastern European Media Change in Global Perspective. Bristol: Intellect Books, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2008 (with K. Jakubowicz); and Comparative Media Systems: European and Global Perspectives (with B. Dobek-Ostrowska, M. Glowacki, and K. Jakubowicz), Budapest and New York: Central European University Press, 2010. His research and teaching interests include (post-)communism and the media in Central and Eastern Europe and China; media and the environment; and Buddhism and the media.
Prof. Dr. Nico van Eijk (Vereniging voor Media- en Communicatierecht - Professor of Media and Telecommunications Law)
Nico van Eijk (1961) is Professor of Media and Telecommunications Law. He studied Law at the University of Tilburg and received his doctorate on government interference with broadcasting in 1992 from the University of Amsterdam. He also works as a legal adviser to Rabobank International (Utrecht) and law firm NautaDutilh (Amsterdam). Furthermore, he is the Chairman of the Dutch Federation for Media and Communications Law (Vereniging voor Media- en Communicatierecht, VMC), member of the editorial board of 'Computerrecht' and a member of the supervisory board of Netherlands Public Broadcasting (NPO).
Prof. Dr. Peggy Valcke (ICRI)
Peggy Valcke is full time research professor (BOFZAP) at K.U. Leuven and teaches media law in the postgraduate programme Intellectual Property Law at H.U. Brussel. She is the current director of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Law & ICT, where she has been conducting research herself since 1996. In 2006, she was visiting professor at Central European University in Budapest, Hungary, and lecturer in the Oxford/Annenberg Summer School.
She obtained her PhD in Law in 2003 with a dissertation on "Pluralism in a digital interactive media environment: Analysis of sector specific regulation and competition law" (published by Larcier, 2004, under the title "Digital Diversity - Convergence of Media, Telecommunications and Competition Law" - in Dutch). Her research interests lie in the study of the impact of digitization and convergence on the regulation of the info-communications sector (both content and transmission aspects), on the one hand, and the interaction between info-communications law and competition law, on the other hand. She holds a postgraduate diploma EC Competition Law at King’s College in London (2006).
In previous years, Dr. Valcke has held several expert positions and has advised both public and private actors in Belgium and abroad, including the German Kommission zur Ermittlung der Konzentration im Medienbereich and the Austrian regulator RTR, on policy issues and regulation in the audiovisual and electronic communications sectors. She is a former member of the European Focus Groups for the revision of the Television without Frontiers Directive, of the Belgian Advisory Committee for Telecommunications, the Flemish Media Council and the Expert Committee for the analysis of market 18 by the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel of the French Community in Belgium. She has worked as a policy advisor for the former Flemish media minister (Geert Bourgeois) and is currently a member of the Belgian Competition Council and the Flemish Media Regulator.
She is a frequently asked speaker at conferences and expert workshops and has published widely in national and international journals (in English, French, German and Dutch) on a broad range of topics relating to electronic communications law, media law and competition law. She edits the International Encyclopaedia of Media Law and is a member of the editorial board of following journals: The Journal of Media Law (Hart Publishing), Computer, Law and Security Review (Elsevier), Computerrecht (Kluwer, Dutch-Belgian journal on law & informatics), Auteurs & Media (Larcier, Belgian bilingual journal on media and copyright law), Revue du Droit des Technologies de l’Information (Larcier, Belgian-French journal on law & ICT), TBH/RDC (Larcier, Belgian bilingual journal on commercial and economic law) and e-Competitions (journal, database and newsletter on national antitrust cases). She also participated in OfcomWatch (weblog about communications policy and regulation in the UK and Europe).
Prof. dr. Robert Picard (University of Oxford)
Robert G. Picard is Director of Research at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, University of Oxford. Professor Picard was formerly Director of the Media Management and Transformation Centre at Jönköping International Business School, Jönköping University, Sweden, was previously Director of the Media Group at Turku School of Economics, and was on the faculties of California State University and Louisiana State University. He has been a fellow at the Shorenstein Center at John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University He is the author of 25 books, editor of the Journal of Media Business Studies, and was formerly editor of Journal of Media Economics. He has consulted and carried out assignments on issues of media economics and policy for governments, international organisations, and media firms worldwide.
Prof. Elisabeth de Ghellinck (UCL)
Prof. Dr. Elisabeth de Ghellinck is professor at UCL and teaches economics of competition law, the economics of ICT, and the economics of the firm at the department of economics, the business school and the law faculty. She is also a part-time member of the Belgian Competition Council. Prof. de Ghellinck holds a PhD in Economics (1985, UCL, on Industrial Organization). Between 1996 and 2003, she has worked at Belgacom as Regulatory Economics Director (regulatory accounting and justification of retail and wholesale prices) and as Horizon Programme Director (change management programme).
Prof. Marie-Christine Janssens (K.U.Leuven and H.U.Brussel)
Marie-Christine Janssens (°1958) studied law and history of arts at the Catholic University of Leuven (K.U.Leuven). She received her law degree (Lic. Jur.) in 1981 and joined that year the Brussels Bar. During the period 1981 - 1993 she practiced law in an international Brussels Law firm specializing in intellectual property matters (copyright, trademark and patent cases). From 1985-1986 she continued this specialization in the U.S.A. as a staff member in a law firm based in Washington D.C.
She joined the Centre for Intellectual Property Rights (CIR) in February 1989 as an assistant to Professor Frank Gotzen. In January 1996 she obtained a Ph.D. from the Faculty of Law at the K.U.Leuven with a dissertation on the legal status of employee and university inventions in the countries of the European Union.
She is currently professor at the universities of Leuven (K.U.Leuven) and Brussels (H.U.Brussel) where she teaches various courses, including "Copyright Law", "Trademark Law" (in Dutch and English) , "Intellectual Property Rights in the Information Society" and "Intellectual Property Management". In 2009 and 2010 she was a visiting professor at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing (CUPL) where she teaches the course 'intellectual property law' in a special LLM program. She is also the academic responsible for the library of the Faculty of Law and member of the Commission on Scientific Integrity of her university.
Since 1990 she has published extensively on copyright , trademark and patent related issues and has lectured on various national and international conferences. She regularly acts as an expert in working groups established by the university (working group on Intellectual Property Policy matters) and by public authorities (such as the Commission of the European Communities; VRWB - Flemish Scientific Policy Council; VLIR - Flemish Interuniversity Commission; VLOR - Flemish Teaching Commission) and has participated in European and National research projects.
Since 2006 Marie-Christine Janssens is President of the Belgian Council for Intellectual Property Rights, section Copyright and Neighbouring Rights (Ministry of Economic Affairs).
Robert Queck (University of Namur)
Robert Queck is adjunct professor at the University of Namur and adjunct director of the Centre de Recherches Informatique et Droit (CRID). His fields of expertise cover national and EU telecommunications law and he has published widely in this domain in English, French and German. Recent publications include EU Communications Law: significant market power in the mobile sector (Edward Elgar, 2005, with P. Valcke and E. Lievens), Chronique de jurisprudence en droit des technologies de l'information (2002-2008) (in Revue du Droit des Technologies de l’Information) and The EU Regulatory Framework Applicable to Electronic Communications (in L. Garzaniti and M. O’Regan (eds.), Telecommunications, Broadcasting and the Internet - EU Competition Law & Regulation, 2010, Sweet & Maxwell). Robert was involved in several research projects dealing with telecommunications and competition law, division of powers between federal and regional authorities in Belgium, and convergence in the communications sector. He served as consultant to the federal government, the Belgian Institute for Postal Services and Telecommunications and the German-speaking Community of Belgium for the implementation of the 2002 regulatory package for electronic communications.
Tony Shortall (Director at Telage)
Tony Shortall has over 14 years of experience in the telecommunications sector. He is Director of Telage, a consultancy in the field of telecommunications economics and regulation. He holds degrees in economics from University College Cork, Ireland. Tony Shortall was formerly the senior economic advisor within the European Commission, DG Information Society and Media. In that role, he was involved in developing the 2002 eCommunications Regulatory Framework and the subsequent Communication Reform Package adopted by the Commission. He was responsible for producing the original Recommendation on Relevant Markets , a central element of the current regulatory process and the second iteration of the same document . He commissioned and managed the external reports on market definition which fed into both documents . He was the DG Information Society representative in preparation of the SMP Guidelines which advises National Regulators on how to determine SMP in telecommunication markets. He represented the Commission in the preparation of the ERG Common Position on Remedies in addition to commissioning and managing the Commission's own studies on remedies . He prepared the Commission Recommendation on Next Generation Access and as well as the Commission Recommendation on Termination Rates . He has worked with the EU Member States on the implementation of the EU Regulatory Framework and in particular through the 'Article 7' procedure where he acted as principle advisor to the teams which assess National Regulator’s market assessments. He has worked extensively in the areas of Competition Law and Sector Specific Regulation both in the private and public sectors. He was the senior economist at the Irish Competition Authority (1997-99) dealing with network industries and also has experience in the telecommunications industry having worked with both fixed and mobile operators in the Irish Market.
Yves Blondeel (T-REGS)
Yves Blondeel is founder and managing director of T-REGS and has many years of experience in offering specialist consultancy in telecommunications regulation. His focus lies on national telecommunications regulation in the EU Member States and in Switzerland and Norway, as well as European Union-level regulation. His main activities consist of carrying-out specific projects, e.g. achieving regulatory clearance for innovations, spectrum and numbering block applications, negotiating access and interconnection, drafting letters, position papers, responses to public consultations, filing/defending complaints on behalf of market participants, etc. He has worked for network operators and service providers, regulatory authorities seeking an independent review of drafts of regulations, equipment suppliers and financial investors in the telecommunications sector.
From 1991-1994, Yves has been partner at Cullen International, a company specialised in ongoing monitoring and periodic reporting on telecommunications regulatory affairs.
He holds a diploma in communication science of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (1989).
Liyang Hou (ICRI)
Liyang Hou (°1979, China) obtained his law degree (with distinction) in 2001 at Beijing Institute of Technology (Beijing). He received a Master degree (with distinction) in civil and procedural law at China University of Political Science and Law (Beijing) in 2004. Then Liyang moved to Katholieke Universiteit Leuven where he first conducted pre-doctoral research, then he took the LLM programme in European Union law in the same faculty and received the degree (magna cum laude) in 2007. Liyang was a 2009 recipient of the Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-Financed Students Abroad. He is also a member of the Beijing Bar Association.
Liyang is now preparing his PhD thesis, entitled “Competition Law and Regulation in EU Electronic Communications Sector: A Comparative Legal Approach”, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Peggy Valcke. More specifically, his thesis compares the outcomes of competition law and electronic communications regulation that are based on equivalent methodologies. He specialises in telecom regulation and competition law, as well as Chinese law in general.
In November 2007, Liyang joined ICRI. Initially he was working on the IBBT project “End-to-end Quality of Experience” (E2E QoE), in particular in the field of network neutrality, which successfully ended at the beginning of 2009. Later he worked for the book “Telecommunications, Broadcasting and the Internet: EU Competition Law and Regulation” edited by Laurent Garzaniti, which was published in July 2010.
