critical infrastructure lab

niels@criticalinfralab.net – co-principal investigator – geopolitics lead

niels is an assistant professor of AI and European democracies and co-principal investigator with the critical infrastructure lab at the University of Amsterdam. He is a visiting professor with the Centro de Tecnologia e Sociedade at the Fundação Getúlio Vargas. Niels teaches courses in politics and technology, has implemented technology projects on five continents, and has participated in many governance and standard-setting processes, such as in the IETF, ICANN, ITU, ICANN, and 3GPP. His research focuses on how norms, values, and ideologies get inscribed, resisted, and subverted in communication infrastructures through their transnational governance. In his work, he tries to understand how invisible infrastructures provide a socio-technical ordering to information societies and how this influences the distribution of wealth, power, and possibilities.

peter ‘maxigas’ dunajcsik – maxigas@criticalinfralab.net – co-principal investigator – standards lead

maxigas is assistant professor at the media department at utrecht university. he interested in hacker culture, cybernetic ideologies, infrastructural imaginaries, and the materiality of the digital. he uses media ethnography and digital methods to answer philosophical questions about contemporary social conflicts. with a thoroughly interdisciplinary background in the social sciences and humanities, a decade long industry experience in it, and a history of media activist practice, he brings a theoretically sophisticated, technologically grounded, politically savvy perspective to debates on media and culture. his papers have been published in leading journals in science and technology studies as well as media studies, from the social studies in science, through the journal of peer production, to most recently in the internet policy review.

fieke jansen – fieke@criticalinfralab.net – co-principal investigator – environment lead

fieke is a postdoc researcher at the media studies department and a co-principal investigator with the critical infrastructure lab at the university of amsterdam. She is part of the 'Exploring sustainability and environmental resilience: Sustainable AI Futures' research project, led by Professor Samantha Walton, Bath Spa University. Fieke is a co-lead of the green screen coalition and a member of the advisory group for the Internet Infrastructure Climate Resilience Coalition: Action Research in Aotearoa New Zealand project. Fieke did her phd at the data justice lab of cardiff university, where she looked into the social justice issues of datafied policing in Europe. fieke is a former mozilla and green web foundation fellow where she explored ways to frame the climate crisis as a core digital rights issue.

fieke's research interest is to understand how the material impact of expanding infrastructures is shaping the management, distribution, and depletion of natural resources.

sarah – sarah@criticalinfralab.net – research assistant

sarah is a research assistant at the critical infrastructure lab with an interdisciplinary background in area- and media studies. her soft spot for design and its socio-technical dimensions manifests in creative explorations of urban infrastructures and digital interfaces. 

in her previous role, sarah assisted research on the modelling of uncertainty in climate communication, funded by the chinese university of hong kong. formerly, she was also affiliated with the educational radio às margens da cidade at the universidade federal de são carlos, where she participated as researcher on urban inequalities in brazil.

dmitry – dmitry@criticalinfralab.net – postdoc researcher

dmitry is a researcher at the critical infrastructure lab. previously he was a PhD student and a postdoctoral fellow at the School of Journalism and Communication in the Chinese University of Hong Kong. dmitry’s research covers a variety of subjects, ranging from governance of internet infrastructure to formation/change of communities on digital platforms, united by an interest in the role of discourse vis-a-vis technology and society. beyond academia, dmitry has engaged with the internet governance sphere in the Asia-Pacific region, contributing to DotAsia’s Netmission initiative and participating in the 2023 APAC DNS Forum and the 2024 APRIGF.

eric – eric@criticalinfralab.net – PhD Candidate

eric zhang is a PhD Candidate at the critical infrastructure lab, where he studies how states' political ideologies in the EU, China and Russia shape digital technologies. besides, he is also a research fellow at the Leiden Asia Centre on international security in cyberspace and China-Russia relations. eric has a background in political science and international relations, and is passionate in applying computational methods such as Natural Language Processing in his research.

gargi – gargi@criticalinfralab.net – programme coordinator

gargi is programme coordinator at the critical infrastructure lab. she is also communications & development manager at the clima fund and previously was a researcher and policy officer at the global data justice project at tilburg university.

corinne@criticalinfralab.net – fellow 2023-2024 – environment

corinne is an anthropologist studying internet infrastructure politics. she brings ethnographic praxis to the study of computing cultures, cloud politics, and internet governance. 

as an inaugural critical infrastructure lab fellow, she will be investigating the rough cultures that define internet governance communities and how cloud computing is changing power dynamics in the internet industry. she also has a keen interest in researching the intersection between space governance and internet technologies, including satellites and cosmic content delivery networks.

andreas@criticalinfralab.net – fellow 2023-2024 – geopolitics

Andreas Baur is a research associate at the International Center for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities (IZEW), University of Tübingen, Germany. There, he has been working on several research projects on IT infrastructures and their governance, technology ethics, security, and privacy. He is an external PhD candidate working on ‘The Politics of the Cloud’ at the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR), University of Amsterdam.

Andreas’ research focuses on the intersection between information and security technologies and society, especially with regards to questions of power, autonomy, and dependency.

jen@criticalinfralab.net – fellow 2024-2025 – environment

Jen Liu is a researcher and designer studying the ecological, social, and political implications of computing technologies and infrastructures. She is currently a PhD candidate in Information Science at Cornell University where she is studying the impact of climate change on networked infrastructures in coastal landscapes. 

fellow 2024-2025 – standards

Thymen Gomperts is a carpenter and builder situated in the historic heart of Amsterdam. The building industry has always been deeply entangled with the development and practical application of infrastructure and standards.

Being both practically involved and highly interested in the subject, he helps give the lab insights into the common problems associated with organizing and applying infrastructure and standards in the real world and its changes throughout history.

zuzanna@openfuture.eu – fellow 2024-2025 – geopolitics

Zuza's research focuses on exploring how EU policies affect digital infrastructures and how they could be steered to support a model of digital public space that is non-extractive, allows people to enjoy their rights, and protects the commons. Zuza is Research Director at Open Future. She has a background in human rights and European law.

naigwe.kalema.20@ucl.ac.uk – fellow 2024-2025 – geopolitics

Nai Lee Kalema is a PhD candidate in Innovation and Public Policy at the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (UCL IIPP) at UCL (University College London). Her research examines the global political economy of digital transformation, specifically how global governance and policies influence public-sector digital transformation in the Global South. Specifically, Nai’s empirical cases look at digital public infrastructure and digital-era government projects linked to digital identity in Kenya and Uganda.

are you interested in becoming a fellow? for us a fellow is someone  who is connected to the infrastructure lab and adds to the body of knowledge and activities of the lab. the relationship should be mutually beneficial and contribute to creating new infrastructural imaginaries. fellows are selected for an academic year with the possibility to add another year. what we request of you is that you join our reading groups, organize an activity, and/or (co-)author a paper with us. what can we offer: an affiliation, participation in the (intellectual life of the) lab and the possibility to present on lab days, and have a space and platform to co-organize something. if needed, we can also explore if we can be fiscal sponsor for your projects. we provide desk space if needed. interested? contact one of the co-pis!

project manager

Szilvia Mondel was the first project manager of the critical infrastructure lab. she has extensive experience with managing educational and institutional projects at the university of amsterdam. her organizational, administrative, and logistical skills were indispensable to running the critical infrastructure lab. she also loves windsurfing and painting.

fellow 2023-2024 – geopolitics

ellen is an internet policy practitioner and researcher who has been studying and engaging in the shaping of internet governance and infrastructure since the early 2000s, during the WSIS process. She has engaged from across sectors, including as a government official, technical community leader, civil society advocate, and satellite investment company founder.

as a fellow she was reflecting on approaches to research and praxis, building on her previous research grounded in a critical political economy perspective and exploring discursive and sociological practices of internet policymaking.

she has a keen interest in reform of multilateral and multistakeholder Internet governance, as well as Internet infrastructure development to help people respond to and reduce the impacts of climate crisis. 

fellow 2023-2024 – standards

vasilis is a researcher studying the technical implications of internet censorship in the eu and worldwide.

during their fellowship at the critical infrastructure lab, vasilis worked on a system that can track, categorize, and enumerate incidents of internet censorship, and network disruptions due to human or natural disasters that affect websites and Internet services. 

fellow 2023-2024 – environment

jenna is a researcher and advocate interested in the intersections of law, technology, media and environmental justice.

as a critical infrastructure lab fellow, she continued her research on data centers, water use, and community resistance/governance. this work aimed to situate data center construction, operations, and expansion within a broader history of industrial infrastructure politics. 

fellow 2024 – geopolitics

jef ausloos is an assistant professor at the institute for information law at the university of Amsterdam, and a research fellow at the centre for IT & IP law at the university of Leuven. His work is driven by a critical understanding of the political economy of digital infrastructures and a desire for social change. Jef has worked in/with NGOs and people across disciplines and geographies. Currently, his work mainly centres around data rights and transparency of digital infrastructures.

Senka is a researcher interested in affordable last mile connectivity solutions for remote areas and disadvantaged populations. As an Information Control Fellow supported by the Open Technology Fund, Senka worked with the critical infrastructure lab team on the digital security aspects and resilience of last mile solutions, such as community networks.

nadia was a program manager at the critical infrastructure lab and has a background at the intersection of technology and climate justice. in a previous role, nadia worked for a global climate advocacy 350.org where she and her team managed the digital infrastructure of the organization.