Mathias Vermeulen is the public policy director at AWO, a new data rights agency, and an affiliated researcher at the Centre for Law, Science, Technology and Society at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.

Earlier, he served for four years as a digital policy advisor to Member of Parliament Marietje Schaake in the European Parliament and as the main advisor to Prof. Martin Scheinin, the U.N. special rapporteur on the protection of human rights while countering terrorism. He also advised a number of foundations, NGOs, and governments on digital rights, content regulation, and emerging technologies.

Vermeulen started his professional career with internships at the Special Procedures Unit of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights and at the International Commission of Jurists in Geneva. He holds a Ph.D. in European privacy and data protection law from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.