Tech Policy Expertise: Platform regulation/content moderation

  • Zoe Jay Hawkins

    Zoe is Co-Founder & Deputy Executive Director of the Tech Policy Design Institute (TPDi): Australia’s new independent non-partisan think tank dedicated to technology policy.

    Featured in the Australian Financial Review’s 2025 Women to Watch list, Zoe has experience leading international tech policy initiatives from government, big tech, academic and think tank perspectives. Zoe worked for the Australian government across communications, innovation, and foreign policy portfolios, as a ministerial adviser and in the public service. As a member of Amazon’s International Public Policy Team, Zoe drove whole of amazon digital policy initiatives and represented the company in international organisations.

    An engaging communicator, Zoe speaks internationally on tech policy issues and her work has been featured by The New York Times, TIME Magazine, The Economist, Forbes, POLITICO, and Vogue. Zoe is a Research Associate at the University of Oxford and an expert researcher for OECD.AI, having started her career at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

    Zoe is passionate about helping bring the next generation of women up behind her by role modelling confident authentic leadership and actively mentoring young women across international relations and responsible tech policy in Australia and around the world.

  • Varuna Mangtani

  • Umera Asmat Rana

    Involved in process of policy driven decisions and forming regulations at government level that shape telecom/Internet landscape in my country. I am also active on regional forums of Internet Governance including APrIGf, APSIG, ISOC islamabad Chapter and pkSIG.

    Involved in educating people on policies and reforms done to make Internet available for everyone as well as safe and protected use of Internet.

  • Tayyaba Iftikhar

  • Sophie Mitchell

  • Sophie L Parker

    I’m a dual UK/US citizen with deep expertise at the intersection of technology, regulation, and public policy. I’m a strategic leader with a strong track record of advancing trust and safety initiatives, shaping digital governance, and driving global regulatory strategy. I work directly with some of the world’s largest tech platforms, giving me a clear understanding of their challenges and how they can improve online safety outcomes. I excel at building high-impact relationships across government, industry, and civil society to support safer, more accountable digital ecosystems.

    At Ofcom, the UK’s digital and communications regulator, I led the development of multi-year strategic roadmaps and external engagement strategies. I’m skilled at convening expert communities, translating complex regulatory insights into actionable frameworks, and managing high-performing, cross-functional teams. I bring a global perspective and a nuanced understanding of UK, US, and EU digital policy landscapes. I hold a Master’s in Government and Regulation and an MBA Essentials certificate from the London School of Economics.

  • Shruti Kakade

    Shruti Kakade is an Master of Data Science student at the Hertie School. Having a background in Computer engineering, she is interested in AI Ethics, Digital Governance, Responsible AI & related regulations.

  • Sabine Jacques

    I explore the intersection of copyright, freedom of expression, cultural diversity, and artificial intelligence. My research and teaching are driven by a passion for understanding how intellectual property law shapes creative industries, technology, and society.

    I am currently looking into licensing models for Generative AI, working on a code of practice on responsible AI and investigating data flows.

  • Saba Shaukat

    Saba Shaukat is a pioneering international business and technology executive with over 25 years of experience. She specialises in leveraging frontier technologies to drive transformative change and has a deep expertise in transitioning FTSE 250 companies into the next wave of growth and profitability.

    Currently, Saba is creating an AI Agency and heads Engagement and Innovation at the Accelerated Capability Environment (ACE), a joint venture between the Home Office and QinetiQ on AI, data analytics, deep fakes, economic crime and emerging technology. She helps the Government in accelerating digital transformation initiatives to drive disruptive innovation and implement policies to enhance security, national resilience, and UK prosperity.

    Previously, Saba was the Group Director of Technical Capability and Innovation at QinetiQ plc, where she led a team of top scientists and engineers. She focused on frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, autonomous systems, cyber technologies, immersive augmented reality, human-machine teaming, advanced materials, quantum computing, lasers, and human behaviour.

    Throughout her career, Saba has driven transformational technologies resulting in over £1 billion in new revenue. She has extensive international experience in strategy and commercial development and has held several board positions as a Non-Executive Director and Trustee. She recently became a Board Fellow at the world-wide renowned Royal College of Art(RCA), the leading school in innovation design engineering with the capability to tackle complex challenges faced by society and the planet.

    Saba’s career also includes significant roles at Capita, BT, Vodafone, Deloitte Consulting, and PwC, where she contributed to global market entry strategies, business turnarounds, and new technology ventures for both enterprise and consumer sectors.

    An alumna of Harvard University’s Kennedy School for Executive Leadership Training and the London Business School with an MBA, Saba is a thought leader and board advisor. As a former regional board member of The Prince’s Trust, she has inspired young people from disadvantaged communities to win national entrepreneurial awards.

    Saba is also a contributor to the bestselling book, The Power of Purpose. She is dedicated to embracing disruptive ideas and advancing skills, science, and technology for societal good amid rapid technological change.

    In her spare time, Saba is an avid sailor, traveller, and explorer of new science and technological innovations for the 21st century.

  • Pollyanna Tassell

    I have spent the last 5 years leading the legal functions in high growth scaling two-sided marketplaces, specifically Checkatrade and Carwow, both of whom exist to make it easier to make high value transactions (new roofs, new cars) in industries which traditionally carry low levels of trust. I have a passionate interest in using tech to enable a better consumer experience.

    I also lobbied for the DMCCA to be passed from a digital markets perspective, to ensure that the markets start-up and scale-up companies found themselves in were fair and enabled innovation.

    As an in-house lawyer, my job previously revolved around contract reviews, but now the regulatory landscape is rapidly changing, with new regulations around Consumer Protection, AI, Data, Digital Markets etc, my role now is to keep my business in front of those changes and make they are implemented for the benefit of the company I work for and the businesses and consumers we serve. As a result, I have have been happily thrust into the world of policy, so I can capitalise on the opportunities provided by being in the right conversations at the right time.