Interests
Anna is particularly interested in understanding the impact of technology on human beings and the environment; the consequences of environmental factors on human health; the potential of participatory approaches for environmental/health risk governance; the potential of monitoring/self-tracking technologies for citizens and patients' empowerment; the ethical and legal challenges of biomedical big data; the concept of Citizen Sensing/Science and of Responsible Research & Innovation. Besides academia, Anna volunteers for non-governmental organizations on health and environmental related topics and actions.
Expertise
Anna Berti Suman is a PhD researcher at Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology and Society. Her PhD project aims at investigating how 'Citizen Sensing' (bottom-up initiated monitoring initiatives based on ICT in general and in particular on sensors) affects the governance of public/environmental health risk and how it can be harmonized with the current models of risk governance which are predominantly top-down.
Anna has a background in Law from the University of Bologna (BA, MA, cum laude) and Transnational Law from the University of Geneva. Her specializations are Health Law and Technology, International and European Environmental Law, and Sustainable Innovation. She also holds a solid education in Comparative Constitutionalism and Constitutional Law. She has work and research experience in the health sector (Royal Brompton and Chelsea & Westminster Hospitals, London), Extractive Industries (Unión de Afectados y Afectadas por las Operaciones Petroleras de Texaco, Ecuador) and Water Law (Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe, and Fundación Chile, Chile). Anna is Member of Tilburg Law School PhD Council Board as Policy Advisor for Sustainability. She is Member of The Netherlands Network for Human Rights Research. She is part of the team of LabGov - Laboratory for the Governance of the City as a Commons of LUISS University, Rome. Anna is IEEE General Member, and Specific Member of IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology and of IEEE Computer Society. She is also member of the Geneva Association of Comparative and Transnational Law, of the Italian Bone Marrow Donor Registry and of the Global Environmental Justice Network. She is part of the board of CoRenewal, non-profit organization aimed to ecosystem restoration and health.
Principal publications
- Berti Suman A. (2018) "Challenging risk governance patterns through citizen sensing: the Schiphol Airport case", International Review of Law, Computers & Technology, Volume 32, Issue 1. DOI: 10.1080/13600869.2018.1429186.
- Berti Suman A., Towards a map-based accountability for environmental health risk? The case of the Equatorial Asian Haze, published in: Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Internet, Law & Politics, "Managing Risk In the Digital Society", Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, 29-30 June, 2017. ISBN: 978-84-697-4474-1.
- Berti Suman A., In Search for the Value of Connectivity: Accountable Citizens Fostering Accountable Governance via Connectivity, published in: "Proceedings of the 2017 IEEE International Conference on Cloud Engineering (IC2E)", Vancouver, 4-7 April, 2017. DOI: 10.1109/IC2E.2017.49.
- Berti Suman A. (2017) "Human rights violations in the ChevronTexaco case, Ecuador: Cultural genocide?", Global Campus Human Rights Journal, Volume 1, No 2. DOI: 20.500.11825/433.
- Berti Suman A. (2018) Chapter 1 "The SuizAgua Project: An Innovative Strategy to Overcome Conflicts on Water Governance"; Chapter 8 "Multilateral Perspectives Concerning the Rights to Water and Corporate Social Responsibility" in Daniels, J.A. (Ed) "Advances in Environmental Research", Volume 62. New York: Nova Science Publishers. ISBN: 978-1-53613-529-9.
Click here for the list of publications in the Research Portal
Blog Publications
Berti Suman A., "Citizen participation in the decision-making over airports' expansion agenda: the Amsterdam Schiphol case", Environmental Law Blog, Tilburg Law School, March 2018.
Berti Suman A., "Citizen engagement in Science and Policy-Making: the EU Joint Research Center Perspective", The Common Post, LUISS LabGov, January 2018.
Berti Suman A., "The potential of collective drones? monitoring for Indigenous communities at risk", The Common Post, LUISS LabGov, December 2017.
Berti Suman A., "Not private, not public, but common: the experience of the Italian consortia for water management", The Common Post, LUISS LabGov, November 2017.
Berti Suman A., "How data activists foster map-based accountability for environmental health risks in Southeast Asia", Data Active Blog, October 2017.
Berti Suman A., "Citizen Sensing for a co-governance of the risk: the Fukushima Safecast case", The Common Post, LUISS LabGov, October 2017.
Berti Suman A., "A universal obligation of enforcing environmental justice? The Chevron-Texaco case as an example of the actual system's failure", Environmental Law Blog, Tilburg Law School, December 2016.
Berti Suman A., "Dal Canada semaforo verde per le vittime di Chevron: la lotta per l'Amazzonia Ecuadoriana continua", Global Environmental Justice Network, November 2015.
Education
Education:
PhD Candidate: Health, Law & Technology (September 2016 - Present)
Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology and Society, Tilburg University (The Netherlands)
Topic: Citizen Sensing, IoT, environmental health, risk governance.
Supervisors: Prof. R. Leenes (Professor of Regulation by Technology, TiU); Dr. S. Adams (Ass. Prof.
of Health, Technology and Regulation, TiU).
MA, BA: Law (September 2011 - July 2015)
University of Bologna, Law School (Italy)
Law Degree 110/110 and honors
Thesis: "The Right to Water, beyond the Water Law. Comparing Europe and Latin America".
Supervisors: Prof. S. Mancini (Professor of Comparative Constitutionalism, Unibo); Prof. A.
Dourojeanni (Professor of Water Engineering, Fundación Chile).
DIP: Classical Studies (September 2006 - July 2011)
Liceo Classico Lucrezio Caro (Italy)
Classical High School Diploma 100/100 and honors
Professional Training:
EDOLAD Courses: ?Fieldwork? and ?Legal Sociology & Legal Anthropology?, 2018.
PhD Training Courses: ?Back to Basics, the foundation of legal doctrine?; ?Academic Writing?; ?Research design and Empirical Research Methods?, ?Presentation Skills?, 2016-2018.
Specialization Course: "Assessment of Psychosocial impacts of Human Rights Violations"
Andean University Simón Bolívar, Quito (EC), three modules, final grade: 10/10, 2015 - 2016.
Criminal Law Seminar: "Bioethics & end-of-life decisions"
University of Bologna, Bologna (IT), 2015.
Erasmus Student Exchange: program "Certificat de Droit Transnational"
University of Geneva, Geneva (CH), 2014 - 2015.
Model United Nation Training: "Representing African countries before UN"
United Network S.r.l., New York (USA), 2011
Career
Volunteer Legal Analyst Haze Litigation (February 2017 - Present) Greenpeace International - Legal Unit, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
Environmental Law Specialist (September 2015 - September 2016)
Unión de Afectados por las Operaciones Petroleras de Texaco, Quito (Ecuador)
Water Law & Policy Analyst (October 2014 - August 2016)
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Santiago (Chile)
Water CSR Project Assistant (November 2014 - January 2015)
Fundación Chile - Agua y Medio Ambiente, Santiago (Chile)
Health Law Specialist (June 2013 - September 2013)
Chelsea Community Hospital School, Royal Brompton and Chelsea Hospitals, London (UK)
Trainee at Law Firm (September 2012 - May 2013)
Studio Legale Pennica Ziosi, Bologna (Italy)
Publications
Principal publications
- Berti Suman A. (2018) "Challenging risk governance patterns through citizen sensing: the Schiphol Airport case", International Review of Law, Computers & Technology, Volume 32, Issue 1. DOI: 10.1080/13600869.2018.1429186.
- Berti Suman A., Towards a map-based accountability for environmental health risk? The case of the Equatorial Asian Haze, published in: Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Internet, Law & Politics, "Managing Risk In the Digital Society", Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, 29-30 June, 2017. ISBN: 978-84-697-4474-1.
- Berti Suman A., In Search for the Value of Connectivity: Accountable Citizens Fostering Accountable Governance via Connectivity, published in: "Proceedings of the 2017 IEEE International Conference on Cloud Engineering (IC2E)", Vancouver, 4-7 April, 2017. DOI: 10.1109/IC2E.2017.49.
- Berti Suman A. (2017) "Human rights violations in the ChevronTexaco case, Ecuador: Cultural genocide?", Global Campus Human Rights Journal, Volume 1, No 2. DOI: 20.500.11825/433.
- Berti Suman A. (2018) Chapter 1 "The SuizAgua Project: An Innovative Strategy to Overcome Conflicts on Water Governance"; Chapter 8 "Multilateral Perspectives Concerning the Rights to Water and Corporate Social Responsibility" in Daniels, J.A. (Ed) "Advances in Environmental Research", Volume 62. New York: Nova Science Publishers. ISBN: 978-1-53613-529-9.
Click here for the list of publications in the Research Portal
Direct and indirect funding
Erasmus + Research Grant (December 2017 - January 2018) Training Exchange at the Laboratory for the Governance of the City as a Commons ? LUISS University, Rome (Italy)
Alumni Fund Award (August 2017) Research prize from Law School Belcampagne, Tilburg University, Tilburg (the Netherlands)
Finalist De Brauw Legal Innovation Challenge - De Blic (June 2017)
De Brauw Law Firm (the Netherlands)
Grant Researcher 'Master Thesis Abroad' (September 2014 - January 2015)
Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago (Chile)
Doctrinal and Field Research for MA thesis under the supervision of Prof. D. Altman (Professor of
Direct and Participatory Democracy, Universidad Católica de Chile).
Distinguished Scholar Grant (2012 - 2016)
AlmaViva, Rome (Italy)
Best High School Final Grade Award (2011)
Lucrezio Caro High School, Rome (Italy)
Conferences
Conference Papers
Berti Suman A., "Towards a map-based accountability for environmental health risk? The case of the Equatorial Asian Haze", presented at the 13th International Conference on Internet, Law & Politics, "Managing Risk In the Digital Society", Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, 29-30 June, 2017, and published in the conference proceedings under ISBN: 978-84-697-4474-1.
Berti Suman A., "In search for the value of connectivity: IoT for a smart and accountable governance of environmental health challenges", presented at the IEEE International Conference on Cloud Engineering (IC2E 2017), Vancouver, Canada.
Berti Suman A., "Democratic governance of public health challenges via health data sharing: an opportunity for the citizens?", presented TILTing 2017, Tilburg University, The Netherlands.
Berti Suman A., "Enabling accountability for Environmental Health Risk in the Digital Society", presented at the Lorentz Center Workshop "Multilateral Governance of Technological Risks", May 2017, Leiden, The Netherlands, and at the 13th International Conference on Internet, Law & Politics 2017, School of Law and Political Science of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain.
Berti Suman A., "Connectivity for citizens' education and awareness: the case of Citizen Science", presented at BILETA 2017, Braga, Portugal.
Presentations and invited lectures
Guest Talk: "Drones monitoring for indigenous communities at risk", BalkonTactics, Amsterdam (NL), February 2018.
Conference Presentation: "Challenging Risk Governance Patterns through Citizen Sensing: The Schiphol Airport Case", Annual NILG PhD Roundtable Forum 2017 on Technocratic Law and Governance, VU University Amsterdam (NL), November 2017.
Book review: response on the book "CyberGenetics: Health genetics and new media" by Harris, Kelly and Wyatt, Amsterdam Philosophy Encounters Science & Society, May 2017.
Conference presentation: "Democratic governance of public health challenges via health data sharing: an opportunity for the citizens?", TILTing 2017, Tilburg University (NL), May 2017.
Conference presentation, "The potential of data science for connecting the urban and the rural contexts", The Rural Summit 2017, the Intelligent Community Forum - Brainport, Eindhoven (NL), March 2017.
Seminar, "Chevron-Texaco Case: the Amazon Chernobyl", Tilburg University, European and International Public Law Department, Tilburg (NL), November 2016.
Teaching
Law, Technology & Health Teaching Assistant (September 2016 - Present)
Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology and Society, Tilburg University (The Netherlands)
Summer School organizer on extractives industries' Monitoring Technologies & Law (Summer 2017) Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology and Society, Tilburg University (The Netherlands)
Teaching activities elsewhere
Students' mentor (February 2015 - July 2015)
University of Bologna, Law School (Italy)
Educator for Sustainability (October 2014 - December 2014)
Good Neighbors Chile, Santiago de Chile (Chile)
Model United Nations Instructor (October 2011 - April 2013)
United Network S.r.l., Rome, New York (Italy, USA)
Other activities
Conference Organization
Conference Co-Organizer
TILTing Conference "Regulating a connected World", Tilburg University, Tilburg (NL), 2017.
Symposium Co-Organizer
Symposium "Reconstrucción socio-ecologica en el Norte de la Amazonía Ecuatoriana", Universidad
San Francisco de Quito, El Coca (EC), 2016.
Memberships
Member of the Italian Bone Marrow Donor Registry (IT), 2018 ? Present.
Member of the Netherlands Network for Human Rights Research (NL), 2017- Present.
IEEE General Member, and specific membership of IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology and of IEEE Computer Society (International), 2017 - Present.
Associate at ICT Legal Consulting (IT/NL), March - December 2017.
Board Member CoRenewal (USA), 2016 - Present
Editor and Member of the Environmental Justice Network (IT), 2015 - Present.
Member of the Geneva Association of Comparative and Transnational Law (CH), 2015 - Present
Contact details
Room
M 706
PO Box 90153
5000 LE Tilburg