Isabel Skierka is the program lead for technology politics and a researcher with the Digital Society Institute (DSI) at ESMT Berlin. In her projects at DSI, she focuses on technology politics, IT security, and digital government. She is a regular contributor to the public debate on technology politics and cybersecurity in the media and has presented her work on IT security and digital sovereignty, as well as on digital identity at the German parliament's digital policy committee. Aside from her work at ESMT Berlin, Isabel is finalizing a PhD at the Ragnar Nurkse Department of Innovation and Governance at TalTech University in Estonia in which she explores cyber resilience of the digital state. She is also a non-resident fellow with the think tank Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) in Berlin.
Prior to joining ESMT, Isabel was a research associate with GPPi where she helped build the institute’s digital and technology program. Isabel has also worked at NATO Headquarters as a Carlo Schmid Fellow, at the European Commission’s DG Connect as a Bluebook Trainee, and as a visiting researcher at the Institute of Computer Science of the Free University of Berlin.
Isabel holds a master’s degree with distinction in international conflict studies from the War Studies Department of King’s College London and a bachelor’s degree with distinction in European studies from Maastricht University, including a stay at Sciences Po Paris. She has been awarded scholarships by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and by Maastricht University for her studies and fellowships.
You can follow her on Twitter @i_skierka and Mastodon @i_skierka.infosec.exchange