Our experts

Cosimo Monda

Cosimo Monda is the Director of the Maastricht European Centre on Privacy and Cybersecurity (ECPC), which has been established in 2016 at the Law Faculty, Maastricht University.

At ECPC his work has a strong European and international outlook in the field of privacy and cybersecurity, steering an interdisciplinary group of researchers, academics and professionals active in areas of fundamental rights, data privacy, transparency and confidentiality, IT, data security, and more. Cosimo Monda has a longstanding experience in designing executive education, certification courses and online learning modules for professionals who are required to deal with new regulations and on-going developments in the privacy and cybersecurity market. Before joining Maastricht University, he was working at the European Institute of Public Administration, as Senior Lecturer and Head of Information, Publications, and Marketing services. He holds a Law Degree obtained at the University of Bologna.

His fields of expertise include Data Protection and Cyber security, EU Information Management; Transparency and access to documents; EU Agencies; EU decision-making procedures and Institutions and EU law. 

Paolo Balboni

Paolo Balboni (PhD) is a Professor of Privacy, Cybersecurity, and IT Contract Law at the European Centre on Privacy and Cybersecurity (ECPC) within the Maastricht University Faculty of Law. His main research focuses are cybersecurity, data management/sharing and data protection as a corporate social responsibility, which together can be used to help organisations responsibly further their economic targets and at the same time positively contribute to the development of a fair data-centric society.

Qualified lawyer specialized in ICT, Privacy & Cybersecurity admitted to the Milan Bar and registered to the Amsterdam Bar. He is a Founding Partner of ICT Legal Consulting (ICTLC), an international law firm, and ICT Cyber Consulting, a company specialized in information/data security. Prof. Dr. Balboni is a Recommended Lawyer ranked by The Legal 500 EMEA 2023 in the areas of Data Privacy and Data Protection and Industry Focus: TMT. He is the Chairman of the European Patent Office (EPO) Data Protection Board, Member of the EUMETSAT Data Protection Supervisory Authority, Member of the Europrivacy Board of Experts, Member of the European Commission’s Expert Group on B2B data sharing and cloud computing contracts, and of the Cloud Security Alliance’s AI Safety Expert Group. Prof. Dr. Balboni furthermore advises governments on national matters concerning cybersecurity and privacy and in 2018, he drafted the national Surinamese Privacy and Data Protection Law.

Christopher Mondschein

Christopher Mondschein is a Researcher at the European Centre on Privacy and Cybersecurity within the Maastricht University Faculty of Law. He engages in professional education on Data Protection and conducts research in several projects. Moreover, he is the editor of the Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law.

Paul Breitbarth

Paul Breitbarth a privacy lawyer from the Netherlands. He currently works as Data Protection Lead for Catawiki, the leading online auction marketplace to buy and sell special objects. In addition, Paul works as Senior Visiting Fellow at Maastricht University’s European Centre on Privacy and Cybersecurity, and serves as Member of the Data Protection Board of the European Patent Office. He is a regular speaker on webinars and at conferences, and co-hosts the Serious Privacy podcast. 

Previously, Paul worked both in the public and private sector in multiple privacy roles, including at TrustArc, Nymity and the Dutch Data Protection Authority. He was an active member of various Article 29 Working Party subgroups, co-authoring opinions on the data protection reform, surveillance, the Privacy Shield and others. In 2015, he organized the International Privacy Conference in Amsterdam. Paul holds a Master of Laws from Maastricht University in the Netherlands.

Rossana Fol 

Rossana Fol is a senior associate in the Brussels office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where her practice focuses on privacy and data protection law. Rossana advises clients of all sizes on the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), e-Privacy laws, and the EU AI Act. Rossana has extensive experience assisting clients with matters related to international data transfers, including implementation of Standard Contractual Clauses, approval of Binding Corporate Rules by EU and UK Data Protection Authorities, certification to the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, and data transfer impact assessments. She is a visiting lecturer teaching the course on international data transfers in the ECPC since 2019.

Christopher Docksey

Honorary Director General of the European data protection Supervisor (EDPS)

He has been responsible for the coordination and implementation of policies and activities since 2010. He is a member of the English Bar and a law graduate of the Universities of Cambridge and Virginia. He has taught law at the Universities of Exeter and Washington and at the Marshall-Wythe School of Law. He was the Legal Adviser on data protection to the European Commission from 2001 to 2010. During this period he represented the Commission in the data protection cases before the European Court of Justice and advised on draft legislation and international negotiations on matters such as Safe Harbor, PNR and TFTP. Most recently he represented the EDPS in the Schrems proceedings before the Court.

Yazan Al-Masri

Yazan Al-Masri is a renowned Cybersecurity and Privacy advisor, helping organizations develop an effective Information security and Privacy Programs. Yazan is a regular teacher in Maastricht University's Advanced Master in Privacy, Cybersecurity and Data Management. He holds a Masters Degree in Information Security and Digital Criminology with 25 years of international level experience in Information Security, Data Privacy, Business Continuity & Risk Management, IT Service Management, IT Infrastructure and Project Management. He has a proven track record of implementing complex cross-functional IT Security strategic initiatives, Network Infrastructure as well as IT service Support/delivery strategies to support corporate mandate.

Helena Bossini Castillo   

Helena Bossini Castillo is a Lecturer at the European Centre on Privacy and Cybersecurity (ECPC), which she joined in September 2024. Before joining ECPC, Helena worked as a Privacy Officer at the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences at Maastricht University, where she advised on the compliant use of health data for research and education. In this role, she gained extensive experience in the challenges that researchers and the healthcare sector face in improving the quality of life of patients while protecting their privacy. Her professional experience also includes working as a legal and privacy advisor for hospitals, start-ups and automotive companies.

 In addition to her work at Maastricht University, Helena participated in the working groups for the implementation of the Code of Conduct for Scientific Research promoted by Health-RI and Coreon in the Netherlands. In addition, she contributed to the discussion on the secondary use of health data in the Netherlands carried out by Health –RI.

Joyce Groneschild

Joyce Groneschild is the Deputy-Director of the European Centre on Privacy and Cybersecurity (ECPC) at the Faculty of Law. Joyce is a strategic marketing specialist with a strong focus on value co-creation. She has a longstanding experience in running executive education programmes for professionals, managing large projects and developing executive programmes to fit organisations’ needs globally.