Nele Achten

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College: College of Social Sciences and International Studies
Research Centre/Unit: Exeter Centre for International Law

Nele Achten is a PhD candidate at Exeter. Her research examines obligations of states to protect, prevent and stop cyber operations. She identifies the gaps in existing international law and develops a normative framework to maintain safe and secure global networks. In this context, she studies how the recognition of information technologies as a "common good" could contribute to improve protection against cyber threats.

Nele Achten is a PhD candidate at the University of Exeter and affiliate at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society.

She investigates how international rules are currently protecting against threats of the integrity and availability of data and networks. Her research focuses on preventive obligation and the distribution of responsibilities between states and private businesses. Nele has recently worked as research assistant with the Cyberlaw Clinic at Harvard Law School, as consultant for the international human rights organisation Access Now and advisor for the ICT for Peace Foundation. Her research interests and expertise span from international rules of cybersecurity to European and German laws in the context of information technologies. As an affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society she has founded and is leading a working group on cybersecurity: law, tech and policy.

Prior to starting her PhD studies, she was a research assistant and lecturer of constitutional and migration law for law enforcement officers. Nele was visiting researcher at Harvard Law School (spring term 2019) and is currently affiliated with the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University.