Aaron Martin

Assistant Professor of International and European Law at Maastricht University

Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Data Governance at Tilburg Law School, 

Aaron is an Assistant Professor of International and European Law at Maastricht University and a Postdoctoral Researcher at TILT, where he focuses on humanitarian data topics within the Global Data Justice project. Prior to joining TILT, he worked in the financial services sector in the area of cyber governance and technology regulation. He has also worked in technology policy roles at the OECD, European Commission, and Vodafone Group. He is an Oxford Martin Associate at the Global Cyber Security Capacity Centre. He has a PhD in Information Systems and Innovation from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

About the project

Places and populations that were previously digitally invisible are now part of a ‘data revolution’ that is being hailed as a transformative tool for human and economic development. Yet this unprecedented expansion of the power to digitally monitor, sort, and intervene is not well connected to the idea of social justice, nor is there a clear concept of how broader access to the benefits of data technologies can be achieved without amplifying misrepresentation, discrimination, and power asymmetries.

We therefore need a new framework for data justice integrating data privacy, non-discrimination, and non-use of data technologies into the same framework as positive freedoms such as representation and access to data. This project will research the lived experience of data technologies in high- and low-income countries worldwide, seeking to understand people’s basic needs with regard to these technologies. We will also seek the perspectives of civil society organisations, technology companies, and policymakers.