Irene Kamara LLM

Bio

Irene is a PhD researcher at TILT. She follows a joint doctorate track supported by the Tilburg University and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Her PhD topic examines the interplay between standardisation and the regulation of the right to protection of personal data. Prior to joining academia, Irene had been working as an attorney at law before the Court of Appeal in Athens. She also did traineeships at the European Data Protection Supervisor and the European Standardisation Organisations CEN and CENELEC. In 2016, she collaborated with the European Commission as external expert evaluator of H2020 proposals on societal security.  Irene is selected as a member of the ENISA Experts List for assisting in the implementation of the Annual ENISA Work Programme. In 2015, Irene received a best paper award and a young author recognition certificate from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the United Nations Agency for standardisation.

Expertise

Irene’s PhD project explores the interaction of soft law instruments and human rights, through examining the case of technical standards in the regulation of the right to protection of personal data in the European Union. The research aims to introduce a framework of principles and safeguards for data protection technical standards. To that end, the project studies in-depth the evolution of standardisation in the field of data protection and analyses variables such as the policy and regulatory appraisal of technical standards as an instrument supporting the aims of EU secondary legislation, but also the legitimacy of the standards-development processes, and the human rights nature of the right to protection of personal data.

Teaching

• Master Thesis supervision, TILT
• Guest lectures on data protection & privacy, regulation theory, soft law, standardisation, certification, international data flows
• Teaching Assistant: Privacy and Data Protection course (620040) at LL.M. Law & Technology 2016-2017
• Global Law bachelor: Law, Technology and Society course (620296-B-6) 2020

Courses

• GLB: Law, Technology and Society

Collaboration

• Affiliated Researcher - Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Research Group on Law, Science, Technology, Society)
• Attorney at law (Athens Bar Association - Greece) 
• Member of the ENISA Experts List for assisting in the implementation of the Annual ENISA Work Programme, ENISA CEI M/CEI/17/T01
• Member of Institute for Global Law & Policy (IGLP) Network (Harvard Law School)
• Member of Netherlands Network for Human Rights Research (NNHRR)
• Member of European Academy for Standardisation (EURAS)
• Panel Coordinator - Computers, Privacy and Data Protection (CPDP) Conferences 
• Annual Privacy Forum (APF) Program Committee Member
• IPEN initiative - Internet Privacy Engineering Network (EDPS)
• Privacy & Identity Lab (PI.lab) & D/PIA Lab
• Europol Data Protection Experts Network (EDEN)

Highlights

• Principal investigator - DG JUST study on GDPR certification 2019
• Honourable mention at the NENnovation competition 2019
• Presentation at the IGLP Harvard conference 2018
• Most read paper for 2018 (2nd place) European Data Protection Law Review (EDPL)
• European Commission external expert evaluator for H2020 proposals 2016
• Best paper award - ITU-Kaleidoscope Conference 2015
• Young Author Recognition certificate -  ITU-Kaleidoscope Conference 2015

Recent publications

1. Article 40 commentary

   Kamara, I. (2020). Article 40 commentary. In C. Kuner, L. A. Bygrave, & C. Docksey (Eds.), Commentary on the EU General Data Protection Regulation (1 ed., Vol. 1). [40] Oxford University Press.

2. Article 41 commentary

   Kamara, I. (2020). Article 41 commentary. In C. Kuner, L. A. Bygrave, & C. Docksey (Eds.), Commentary on the EU General Data Protection Regulation (1 ed., Vol. 1). [41] Oxford University Press.

3. Four GDPR certification myths dispelled

   Kamara, I. (Author). (2020). Four GDPR certification myths dispelled. Web publication/site, IAPP.

4. Misaligned union laws? - A comparative analysis of certification in t…

   Kamara, I. (Accepted/In press). Misaligned union laws? A comparative analysis of certification in the Cybersecurity Act and the General Data Protection Regulation. In D. Hallinan, R. Leenes, & P. De Hert (Eds.), Privacy and data protection: Artificial intelligence Hart Publishing.

5. The cybersecurity certification landscape in the Netherlands after th…

   Kamara, I., Leenes, R., Stuurman, C., & van den Boom, J. (2020). The cybersecurity certification landscape in the Netherlands after the Union Cybersecurity Act. National Cybersecurity Centre.