Therese Pearce Laanela

Head of Programme, Electoral Processes

Stockholm

Biography

Therese Pearce Laanela serves as Head of Programme - Electoral Processes at International IDEA. With thirty years of experience in elections and electoral assistance at the field, headquarters, and policy levels, her current focus is developing cutting edge knowledge resources to support a global election practitioner community. Through previous affiliations with the Carter Center, the United Nations, IFES, the OSCE, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and the European Union, she has served as project lead or senior expert in international election observer missions, electoral assistance missions, capacity building projects and speaking engagements across Africa, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Her MA degree from the University of Stockholm focused on the links between political financing, corruption and electoral systems in Japan; her doctoral studies at the Australian National University focused on rebuilding trust in electoral institutions.

Organisation

International IDEA

Speaker session

(UTC+01:00) Brussels, Copenhagen, Madrid, Paris

24/10 - Day 2

16:00 - 17:00

Session 11 : Addressing the resilience and cyber-security risks of election-related infrastructure

Closed session

Closed

Closed session

TOPIC: This session will review key challenges and measures to be taken to address the resilience of entities critical for the organisation and conduct of elections, including cyber-security risks including in the perspective of a tabletop exercise to be organised in late 2023 in the framework of the European Cooperation Network on Elections. It will also discuss the Election Resilience Mechanism. This session will look into practices in the identification, mitigation and management of risks to the electoral process including from cyber-attacks at EU and national level.

SPEAKERS:

Evangelos Ouzounis, Head of Policy Development and Implementation Unit, European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA)
Patrick Penninckx, Head of the Information Society Department at the Council of Europe

MODERATOR: Florence Ranson

Interventions by Members of the European Cooperation Network on Elections

Evangelos Ouzounis

Head of Policy Development and Implementation Unit

Patrick Penninckx

Head of department

Florence Ranson

Director

Patrick Penninckx

Head of department

Strasbourg

Biography

Patrick Penninckx has spent the last 30 years of his career with the Council of Europe, contributing to the transformation processes of the Organisation and developing partnerships with international and national institutions. Currently heading the Information Society Department under the Directorate General Human Rights and the Rule of Law, Patrick coordinates standard setting and cooperation activities in the fields of media, internet governance, data protection, cybercrime and artificial intelligence. He is also responsible for projects related to public-private partnerships and cooperation with business partners. His professional focus encompasses areas such as freedom of expression, safety of journalists, sound internet governance, international standards in the data protection, action against cybercrime and the impact of AI on human rights. An outspoken public speaker promoting the Council of Europe values and achievements, he holds Political Science and Educational degrees from the University of Leuven. Previously, Patrick oversaw Human Resources policy development, transforming the administrative management of personnel into a competency based human resource policy.

Organisation

Council of Europe

Speaker session

(UTC+01:00) Brussels, Copenhagen, Madrid, Paris

24/10 - Day 2

16:00 - 17:00

Session 11 : Addressing the resilience and cyber-security risks of election-related infrastructure

Closed session

Closed

Closed session

TOPIC: This session will review key challenges and measures to be taken to address the resilience of entities critical for the organisation and conduct of elections, including cyber-security risks including in the perspective of a tabletop exercise to be organised in late 2023 in the framework of the European Cooperation Network on Elections. It will also discuss the Election Resilience Mechanism. This session will look into practices in the identification, mitigation and management of risks to the electoral process including from cyber-attacks at EU and national level.

SPEAKERS:

Evangelos Ouzounis, Head of Policy Development and Implementation Unit, European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA)
Patrick Penninckx, Head of the Information Society Department at the Council of Europe

MODERATOR: Florence Ranson

Interventions by Members of the European Cooperation Network on Elections

Evangelos Ouzounis

Head of Policy Development and Implementation Unit

Patrick Penninckx

Head of department

Florence Ranson

Director

Eliska Pirkova

Senior policy analyst and Global freedom of expression lead

Brussels

Biography

Eliška Pírková works as Senior Policy Analyst and the Global freedom of expression lead at Access Now, the international human rights organization that defends and extends digital rights of online users at risk around the world. As a member of the European Access Now team, she leads the work on freedom of expression, content governance and platform accountability. She is a human rights lawyer by education and training, with previous experience working for international organizations and as a legal researcher. She has acted as an independent expert for international organizations, including the Council of Europe's Committee of Experts on Combating Hate Speech.

Organisation

Access Now

Speaker session

(UTC+01:00) Brussels, Copenhagen, Madrid, Paris

24/10 - Day 2

16:00 - 17:00

Session 11 : Addressing the resilience and cyber-security risks of election-related infrastructure

Closed session

Closed

Closed session

TOPIC: This session will review key challenges and measures to be taken to address the resilience of entities critical for the organisation and conduct of elections, including cyber-security risks including in the perspective of a tabletop exercise to be organised in late 2023 in the framework of the European Cooperation Network on Elections. It will also discuss the Election Resilience Mechanism. This session will look into practices in the identification, mitigation and management of risks to the electoral process including from cyber-attacks at EU and national level.

SPEAKERS:

Evangelos Ouzounis, Head of Policy Development and Implementation Unit, European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA)
Patrick Penninckx, Head of the Information Society Department at the Council of Europe

MODERATOR: Florence Ranson

Interventions by Members of the European Cooperation Network on Elections

Evangelos Ouzounis

Head of Policy Development and Implementation Unit

Patrick Penninckx

Head of department

Florence Ranson

Director