Joanna van der Merwe is the Privacy and Protection Lead at the Centre for Innovation at Leiden University, a Fellow at the Centre for European Policy Analysis and a member of the board of advisors for the Ukrainian Students League. She holds and MA in International Relations and Global Conflict in the Modern Era from Leiden University. Her expertise includes emerging defence technologies, civilian-military relations, ethical technology and transatlantic relations. She has conducted her research in collaboration with the Land Warfare Centre of the Netherlands Ministry of Defence, focusing on Artificial Intelligence and the future of combat. This research built on her previous experience at the Netherlands Army looking at big data on the future battlefield. She has also worked on early warning systems for mass atrocities at the Signal Program on Human Security and Technology at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. She acts as an advisor to various military, humanitarian, and governmental bodies.