K.A.S. Kollnig
Konrad Kollnig is an assistant professor at the Law & Tech Lab of Maastricht University. Previously, he was a doctoral researcher at the Department of Computer Science of the University of Oxford and an associate researcher at the Open Data Institute. He holds a BSc in Computer Science and Mathematics from RWTH Aachen University (Distinction) and an MSc in Computer Science from the University of Oxford (Distinction). At Maastricht University, he leads the NWO-funded RegTech4AI project that seeks to combine computer science and law, with the aim of making AI regulation like the GDPR or AI Act work better in practice. The project is running for five years and has a total budget of 2.1 million Euros.
His PhD thesis received the Stefano Rodotà Award 2024 of the Council of Europe, which is the most prestigious award in his field of research and is awarded to one PhD thesis annually. His work has been published in leading academic venues, like PETS, FAccT, SOUPS, and the Internet Policy Review. His research has been covered by Forbes, Wired, Vox, Der Standard, La Stampa, Le Temps, TechCrunch, and other international media. He’s been selected for the award of the Future of Privacy Forum for the Best Student Privacy Paper for Policymakers 2022, given annually to one paper worldwide. He has also been selected as a member of the expert advisory bodies of the EU’s European Data Protection Board and the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), two leading European data protection and privacy authorities. He has previously been interviewed by the German and UK competition authorities on concentration in digital markets. Konrad led the winning team in the United Nations Privacy Competition 2022, ahead of 195 other teams worldwide.
He is the creator of TrackerControl, which is an Android privacy app with 100,000+ downloads. The app exposes hidden data flows from apps to companies. It is available in 21 languages thanks to the help of the TrackerControl community. He also helped found a LegalTech startup that is funded by the Alchemist Accelerator (2–3% acceptance rate).
