Our experts

Cosimo Monda

Cosimo Monda is the Director of the Maastricht European Centre on Privacy and Cybersecurity (ECPC), which has been established in 2016 at the Law Faculty, Maastricht University.

At ECPC his work has a strong European and international outlook in the field of privacy and cybersecurity, steering an interdisciplinary group of researchers, academics and professionals active in areas of fundamental rights, data privacy, transparency and confidentiality, IT, data security, and more. Cosimo Monda has a longstanding experience in designing executive education, certification courses and online learning modules for professionals who are required to deal with new regulations and on-going developments in the privacy and cybersecurity market. Before joining Maastricht University, he was working at the European Institute of Public Administration, as Senior Lecturer and Head of Information, Publications, and Marketing services. He holds a Law Degree obtained at the University of Bologna.

His fields of expertise include Data Protection and Cyber security, EU Information Management; Transparency and access to documents; EU Agencies; EU decision-making procedures and Institutions and EU law. 

Paolo Balboni

Paolo Balboni (PhD) is a Professor of Privacy, Cybersecurity, and IT Contract Law at the European Centre on Privacy and Cybersecurity (ECPC) within the Maastricht University Faculty of Law. His main research focuses are cybersecurity, data management/sharing and data protection as a corporate social responsibility, which together can be used to help organisations responsibly further their economic targets and at the same time positively contribute to the development of a fair data-centric society.

Qualified lawyer specialised in ICT, Privacy & Cybersecurity admitted to the Milan Bar and registered to the Amsterdam Bar. He is a Founding Partner of ICT Legal Consulting (ICTLC), an international law firm, and ICT Cyber Consulting, a company specialised in information/data security. Prof. Dr. Balboni is a Recommended Lawyer ranked by The Legal 500 EMEA 2023 in the areas of Data Privacy and Data Protection and Industry Focus: TMT. He is the Chairman of the European Patent Office (EPO) Data Protection Board, Member of the EUMETSAT Data Protection Supervisory Authority, Member of the Europrivacy Board of Experts, Member of the European Commission’s Expert Group on B2B data sharing and cloud computing contracts, and of the Cloud Security Alliance’s AI Safety Expert Group. Prof. Dr. Balboni furthermore advises governments on national matters concerning cybersecurity and privacy and in 2018, he drafted the national Surinamese Privacy and Data Protection Law.

Yazan Al-Masri

Yazan Al-Masri is a renowned Cybersecurity and Privacy advisor, helping organisations develop an effective Information security and Privacy Programs. Yazan is a regular teacher in Maastricht University's Advanced Master in Privacy, Cybersecurity and Data Management. He holds a Masters Degree in Information Security and Digital Criminology with 25 years of international level experience in Information Security, Data Privacy, Business Continuity & Risk Management, IT Service Management, IT Infrastructure and Project Management. He has a proven track record of implementing complex cross-functional IT Security strategic initiatives, Network Infrastructure as well as IT service Support/delivery strategies to support corporate mandate.

Fernando Bousso

Partner and Head of the Technology, Data Protection, and Media & Entertainment practices at b/luz. Lawyer with over 17 years of experience in law and technology. Certified as a Fellow of Information Privacy (FIP), Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/E), Certified Information Privacy Manager (CIPM), and Certified Data Protection Officer/BR (CDPO/BR) by the IAPP. Holds a Master’s degree in Computer and Communications Law from Queen Mary, University of London, and a Master’s in Privacy, Cybersecurity, Data Management and Leadership from Maastricht University. Recognized as a leading lawyer in Technology and Innovation by major international publications. Co-author of works on Technology, Privacy, and Data Protection.

Renata Queiroz

Renata is a Partner in the GovTech practice at b/luz advogados. She holds both a Ph.D. and a postdoctoral degree from the Law School of the University of São Paulo (USP), with a focus on the role of the Data Protection Officer (DPO). Her research led to the publication of the book "Data Protection Officer: Regulation and Civil Liability", published by Quartier Latin in 2022. She holds certifications from the IAPP (CDPO/BR) to act as a DPO in Brazil and from Maastricht University (ECBC-B) to act within the European Union. In the field of education, she is a Guest Professor in the Master’s Program in Business Law at the State University of Londrina (UEL), and also teaches in the Postgraduate Program in Business Law Applied to the Digital Era at UEL.

Davide Baldini

Davide Baldini is a data protection and IT lawyer. He is a Partner at the leading international law firm ICT Legal Consulting, where he provides consultancy on personal data protection, TMT and IT contracts to multinational companies and innovative start-ups. He obtained the DPO certification (ECPC-B) issued by Maastricht University and is a certified auditor for the Cloud Security Alliance Code of Conduct and for the Europrivacy certification scheme. He held the position of research fellow at the University of Florence from May 2021 to October 2022, conducting research on profiling and automated decision-making. He is currently a PhD Candidate in European and Transnational Legal Studies at the same University, where he conducts research in the field of artificial intelligence, with a focus on algorithmic discrimination. He is the author of several essays and papers for legal blogs and law journals.

Joyce Groneschild

Joyce Groneschild is the Deputy-Director of the European Centre on Privacy and Cybersecurity (ECPC) at the Faculty of Law. Joyce is a strategic marketing specialist with a strong focus on value co-creation. She has a longstanding experience in running executive education programmes for professionals, managing large projects and developing executive programmes to fit organisations’ needs globally.