Aaron K. Martin, PhD

I am a tech policy expert specializing in cybersecurity, privacy, and digital identity. I’m also an Assistant Professor of Media Studies and Data Science (joint appointment) at the University of Virginia (UVA). Prior to joining UVA, I was based at Maastricht University’s European Centre on Privacy and Cybersecurity; from 2018-2023, I was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow on the European Research Council-funded Global Data Justice project at the Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society in the Netherlands.

My research interests include data governance in development and humanitarian contexts, cyber policy, critical infrastructure protection, surveillance, biometrics, tech regulation, and cybersecurity in the financial services sector. I am particularly interested in exploring these topics across the Global South.

My latest publications include a report on artificial intelligence and data governance commissioned by the European Parliament, a collaborative forum on digitization and sovereignty in humanitarian space, a short piece exploring the rise of India’s Aadhaar as an exemplar of developmental digital identity, a co-authored commentary on research on digital identity in humanitarian aid, a research essay written with Professor Linnet Taylor on the impacts of customer identification requirements on refugees, and an article on the surveillance of mobile money platforms.

Prior to returning to academia, I developed a tech policy career. I was a Vice President of Cyber Policy at JPMorgan Chase in New York from 2015-2018. Before that I worked in tech policy roles at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, Vodafone Group, and elsewhere. I have lectured internationally including at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Cornell Tech, NYU Stern, and Fundação Getulio Vargas.

In recent years I have advised the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on digital connectivity topics, the GSMA Mobile for Development initiative on its data ethics strategy, and the World Bank on data governance in foundational identity programs. I have also led an international project on data protection regulatory convergence for the European Commission.

I have a PhD in Information Systems and Innovation from the LSE, where I studied biometrics.