2019 Rodotà Award
Stefano Rodotà Award : and the winners are …
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For its first edition, the Stefano Rodotà Award goes to Ingrida Milkaite and Eva Lievens, for their project which investigates privacy and data protection from a children’s rights perspective.
Their thrilling project caught the Jury’s attention for its critical and forward-looking analysis of children’s rights to privacy and data protection in the digital era, investigating whether there is a need for a re-conceptualisation of those rights in the light of recent legal, technological and social developments. The holistic child rights-oriented approach of the project and the consideration of new emerging data processing practices (e.g. on the basis of artificial intelligence and machine-learning) convinced the Jury of the necessity of this research.
This transversal project is in perfect convergence with the Council of Europe Strategy for the Rights of the Child (2016-2021), which focuses on children's rights on the Internet.
A special mention is granted to Jef Ausloos for his research on “The Right to Erasure – Safeguard for Informational Self-Determination in a Digital Society?”.
In this work, Jef Ausloos untangles the complex relationship between the fundamental right to data protection (Art. 8 Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU) and the GDPR, critically assesses how fair balancing operates within data protection law, and evaluates (the requirements and pitfalls of) effective data empowerment. The clarity and comprehensiveness makes it an important contribution to the field of data protection.
The winners will have the opportunity to present their projects at the next plenary session of the Committee of Convention 108, which will be held in Strasbourg on 13 and 14 June 2019.
More information about the winning projects:
- A children’s rights perspective on privacy and data protection in the digital age
- The Right to Erasure: Safeguard for Informational Self-Determination in a Digital Society?
Find out more about children’s rights in the digital environment:
Ingrida Milkaite is a PhD researcher in the research group Law & Technology at Ghent University. She is working on the research project “A children’s rights perspective on privacy and data protection in the digital age”. This project will monitor the implementation of the European privacy and data protection laws in relation to children‘s rights from 2017 until 2021. Ingrida is also a member of the Human Rights Centre, PIXLES (Privacy, Information Exchange, Law Enforcement and Surveillance) and of the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA).
Prof. dr. Eva Lievens is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law and Criminology at Ghent University, where she leads the research group Law & Technology. She is a member of the Human Rights Centre, the Crime, Criminology & Criminal Policy Consortium and PIXLES (Privacy, Information Exchange, Law Enforcement and Surveillance). Her research focuses on the legal impact of the design and deployment of technology in today’s society, human and children’s rights in the digital environment, and the use of alternative regulatory instruments, such as self- and co-regulation, to regulate tech phenomena. At Ghent University, Eva teaches ‘European Media Law’, ‘European Law & ICT’, ‘Cybercrime, Technology & Surveillance’, ‘Data Protection Law’ and ‘Introduction to Law’.
Jef Ausloos
a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Information Law (IViR) / University of Amsterdam and an affiliated researcher at the Centre for IT & IP law at KU Leuven
Jef Ausloos is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Information Law (IViR) / University of Amsterdam and an affiliated researcher at the Centre for IT & IP law at KU Leuven. His research interests center around data-driven power asymmetries and the normative underpinnings of individual control, empowerment and autonomy in the modern-day, largely privatised information ecosystem. He obtained his PhD at KU Leuven in October 2018.
The Award
The Stefano Rodotà Award is granted for the first time this year by the Committee of Convention 108. Intended to be awarded annually on the occasion of Data Protection Day, it recognises innovative and original academic research projects in the field of data protection. The Prize is awarded in honour and memory of Stefano Rodotà, an eminent Italian lawyer and politician who has devoted much of his life to the promotion of data protection.
The Jury of the 2019 Stefano Rodotà Award is composed of the members of the Bureau of the Committee of Convention 108.
