Maša Galič wins KNAW Early Career Award

She is one of twelve winners of the awards, consisting of a work of art and 15,000 euros, meant to support young innovative researchers at the start of their careers. The jury calls Galič's research and social engagement "helping to safeguard civil rights in an increasingly digital society."

Galič, assistant professor Privacy and Criminal Law at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, examines what digitalisation and the use of data in criminal investigations mean for criminal proceedings and the protection of fundamental rights.

Her research concerns not only the trade-off between criminal investigations, privacy and the rights of suspects when processing bulk data, but also how to use technology effectively to protect fundamental rights.

Congratulations on winning the award! How do you feel?

“I consider it a great privilege that KNAW recognises my research and societal engagement with this award. Especially as a foreigner who has had to work very hard to find her footing in Dutch criminal law academia.”

How do you hope to further your research?

“With this award and access to the KNAW community I would like to start a new line of research on the role of feasibility in the observance of human rights in the digital context. In the digital context, a lot is possible. For example, the police, but also private actors, can very quickly and rather easily gather truly enormous amounts of data about us. Human rights used to offer a solid protection against privacy intrusion, but the increasingly important notion of feasibility is starting to stand in their way. I think the KNAW community can help me kick-start this new research line.”

What do you hope to achieve with this project?

“As the jury already stated: in the context of our quickly developing digital society, I would like to help preserve an adequate level of human rights protection. I want to do this by asking the, sometimes annoying, fundamental questions that might otherwise not be asked.”