The Civic
Toolkit

Alex Forrest Whiting is a British journalist based in Berlin, where she has worked for Germany’s international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle, since 2018. She hosts DW's breaking news livestreams - covering major international stories across TV, YouTube and TikTok - and serves as a senior editor across the network's digital platforms. She’s DW’s go-to person for British politics and current affairs. Alex also trains journalists in digital writing, editing and presentation.

Alex began her career at the BBC before becoming Presenter and Political Correspondent for ITV News based in Westminster. She reported live from Parliament and Downing Street on elections, budgets, leadership contests and Prime Minister's Questions. She also interviewed senior politicians including serving Prime Ministers.

Before Berlin, Alex reported from Copenhagen for BBC World and Al Jazeera English.

Alongside her work at DW, Alex moderates high-profile public events in London and Berlin.

Dimitris Dimitriadis is a futurist, AI entrepreneur, and strategic foresight adviser to the Greek Government who has spent his career asking one question: what does it mean to build technology that genuinely serves humanity? Co-founder of TheFutureCats and author of "2049 – Instructions for the Futures of Humanity," he has spoken in 74 countries and advised Fortune 500 companies and institutions ranging from the European Commission to the U.S. Department of State. For the past twelve years, he has been quietly training a personal AI model to advise his niece when he is no longer around; a reminder that the most powerful use of technology is not disruption, but the transmission of wisdom across generations.

Dr Julia Ebner is an international expert on online radicalisation, disinformation and threats to democracy. She leads the Violent Extremism Lab at the University of Oxford and is Co-Executive Director at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (Berlin), where she oversees research, policy and action programmes on digital threats to democracy. She has given evidence to various governments, including on AI-fuelled disinformation, advised the intelligence community, and worked with the UN, Europol and NATO. Julia is the award-winning author of The Rage, Going Dark and Going Mainstream. She regularly writes for outlets such as The Guardian, Financial Times and Süddeutsche Zeitung, contributes to broadcast media, and delivers guest lectures and public talks at universities and schools. Julia holds a DPhil in Anthropology from the University of Oxford and has over a decade of experience working at the intersection of research, policy and practice.

Tobias is Co-Founder of One Thousand, a leading AI strategy and implementation company with the mission to create 1,000 AI breakthroughs in the European industry. He also founded LEAD Forward, a transformation boutique supporting organizations in adapting to an ever more complex world. Tobias has a PhD in leadership, a master's in physics, and he teaches yoga.

Gurden is the Civic Tech Lead at Dark Matter Labs. Over the past five years, he has led the development of civic tools including CircuLaw, a legal registry for circular economy transitions with the City of Amsterdam and TreesAI, which models urban forestry as civic infrastructure for cities like Berlin, London, Glasgow, and Canadian municipalities. He has shaped Dark Matter Labs' digital identity, communications, and internal tech and tools practice. With a background in Computer Science from Georgia Tech and New Media Design from Aalto University, Gurden bridges governance innovation and implementation, turning systemic frameworks into things people can actually use.

Ina Remmers is a social entrepreneur and managing director of the Rulemapping Group. After completing her studies, she worked as a freelance brand consultant and communications strategist. In 2003, she co-founded the non-profit organisation “Junge Helden” with Claudia Kotter and other friends, which is dedicated to raising awareness about organ donation. In 2015, she launched the platform nebenan.de to strengthen community spirit in local neighbourhoods. To ensure this sense of community also works at a societal level, she founded the Rulemapping Group in 2024 and now works to simplify and speed up bureaucratic processes. For her work, she was named “Best Female Founder” at the German Startup Awards in 2020.

Karin Dietz began her professional career with a vocational training in the tourism sector. Her entrepreneurial focus was shaped during her stays overseas and her studies in business economics at University of Goettingen, Germany. As a tutor, adjunct professor, and trainer, she has distinguished herself through her passion for sharing knowledge. She started her own business in knowledge design and human resources development with three partners only a few years after achieving her diploma of economics at University of Goettingen. She is the cofounder and private investor of one of the very first private universities in Germany. From the background of her studies in economics her entrepreneurial background and expertise include a wide range in program innovation, further education, strategic consulting and international relations. She has worked with public institutions and companies of all sizes to help professionals and leaders develop the potentials and skills needed to meet the challenges of the future. The topics covered include e.g. Academic Educational Designs / Asia-Pacific Business Relations / Biotechnology Startups / Brand Edutainment and Brand Life Cycles / Development of Junior staff & Succession Planning / Human Resources / Internationalization / Art and Cultural Projects / Market Strategies for Medium-Sized Businesses / Marketing and Corporate Design Strategies / Legal Matters and Contract Concepts / New Work / Pricing / University of the Future. She views AI as both a challenge and an opportunity for shaping the economic and social future.

Through the early conception and implementation of conferences focused on the Asia-Pacific economic region, she has provided significant impetus to business engagement with the Far East. As a (co-)editor of practice-oriented professional publications, she has documented the experiences of German companies in this region.  

As a business owner, member of supervisory boards and in management responsibility, she has been directly engaged in the full range of decisions, from strategic to process-related ones. A focus on the wide variety of interfaces within the business world has shaped the consistent commitment to innovation. As a strategic M&A decision she and her partners handed over their ownership shares of their corporate group after successfully managing it as partners and co-shareholders for around three decades in a spirit of trusted friendship. To this day, Karin remains a member of Asia-focused business associations and networks and regularly visits the Asia-Pacific region as an interested observer. She is actively involved in voluntarily supporting startups and providing career and academic guidance coaching. Based in Berlin, she today moreover promotes cultural, science and interdisciplinary exchange within a diverse network by bringing together interested parties through lecture and discussion events.

Lajla Fetic is Head of AI Public Interest & Policy at the appliedAI Institute for Europe. She is a leading expert in public interest tech, AI governance, and digital policy, advising policymakers at the EU, national, and local levels, as well as stakeholders in business and civil society, on AI for the common good. She has advised the European Parliament and the German Bundestag on the EU AI Act and authored several studies on regulation, regulatory sandboxes and digital sovereignty. Fetic has been actively involved in supporting the implementation of innovative governance instruments in the public sector, including contributions to initiatives such as the ReguLab.

Fetic has served on advisory boards such as KI-Cockpit and previously led projects at the Bertelsmann Stiftung on public interest tech and AI ethics. She also co-led the working group on socio-technical systems for Germany’s AI standardization roadmap. A recognized speaker on the societal impact of AI, she recently gave a TEDx talk on AI and democracy and was named one of the “100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics.” She holds a Master of Public Policy from the Hertie School in Berlin.

Matthias Spielkamp is founder and executive director of AlgorithmWatch (German Award for Consumer Protection 2024, Brandenburg Freedom Award 2023, shortlist Grimme Online Award 2019, Theodor Heuss Medal 2018) and founder and president of AlgorithmWatch CH. He testified before committees of the Council of Europe, the European Parliament, the German Bundestag and other institutions on automation and AI and was a member of the advisory council to the German Digital Services Coordinator (DSC), elected by the German Bundestag, from 2024-2026, and the Global Partnership on AI (GPAI) from 2020-2022. Matthias serves on the governing boards of the German section of Reporters Without Borders and Stiftung Warentest, the advisory councils of Freudenberg Stiftung and the Whistleblower Network and the Expert Committee on Communication/Information of Germany’s UNESCO Commission. He was a fellow of ZEIT Stiftung, Stiftung Mercator and the American Council on Germany. Matthias is editor of the Automating Society reports and has written and edited books on the automation of society, digital journalism and Internet governance. He holds master’s degrees in Journalism from the University of Colorado in Boulder and in Philosophy from the Free University of Berlin.

Nadim is a strategist at Dark Matter Labs where he co-holds the learning function and runs strategic programs within NetZeroCities & the Urban Transition team. He’s also the creator and host of the Curiosity That Matters podcast. He’s from Beirut, Lebanon, and is currently based in Berlin with his partner and their 2-year old daughter.

Niclas Böhmer is an Assistant Professor for Algorithmic Decision Making and Society at the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI), University of Potsdam. His research explores how algorithms can help groups make provably fair and transparent decisions. More broadly, he works at the intersection of AI, democracy, and economics, focusing on how algorithmic tools can help society make better collective choices. Before joining the HPI, Niclas was a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard University, where he worked on AI for Social Good, and he received his PhD in theoretical computer science from TU Berlin.

Olivia Lazard is a strategic consultant, researcher, and public speaker focused on the intersections between international and planetary security. Her work anticipates the geopolitical, economic, and ecological risks driven by planetary transformations such as climate change. She advises governments, international organizations, and private sector actors on managing transition risks related to energy systems, technological disruption, and ecological collapse. Her research also contributes to shaping public debate and governance on emerging planetary technologies, including geoengineering.

Olivia began her career in conflict zones across Africa and the Middle East, working for the UN, donor governments, and business actors as a conflict analyst, stabilization advisor, and mediator. There, she witnessed firsthand how ecological degradation, nature-based conflict, illicit economies, and geostrategic competition over critical minerals, water, and soil were converging—reshaping both the planet and international systems. As she emphasized in her 2022 TED Talk, this convergence is accelerating faster than existing peace and security frameworks can adapt.

Today, Olivia works at the nexus of fieldwork, systems research, and policy design. She collaborates with scientists and policymakers to protect and regenerate ecosystems amid rising transition risks, and pilots regeneration-based mediation approaches in climate-vulnerable regions to help communities and governments reimagine water, food, and energy futures.

As a Planetary Fellow at the Berggruen Institute, Olivia is writing a book on the drivers of human and planetary insecurity in the age of the techno-industrial revolution. She is also founding Transition Intelligence, a European institute dedicated to guiding planetary transitions through policy, technological, economic, and mediation innovation labs.

Olivia holds a BA from McGill University, an MA from Sciences Po Paris, and an MSC from the London School of Economics. Most recently, she was a senior fellow with Carnegie Europe, advancing research on the geopolitics of climate change and transition risks. She is based in Europe, and speaks French, English, Spanish and Italian.

Ramak Molavi Vasse'i (The Law Technologist) is a digital rights advocate and independent AI researcher. She is Head of Advocacy at the Center for Digital Rights and Democracy, a visiting lecturer at the University of Potsdam, and an advisor on AI regulation and governance. She has led research projects, including the Meaningful AI Transparency project at Mozilla from 2021 to 2024. Her research and regular publications focus on AI Ethics & Governance, Privacy and Data Protection, and the foresight regulation of emerging technologies.

In 2023, she was recognized as one of the 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics. Her interdisciplinary work is dedicated to the development of sustainable and public good-oriented technologies.

Robin is the Co-Founder and CEO of wahl.chat, a non-profit civic tech initiative that develops AI-powered tools to make politics more accessible and easier to understand. The project’s mission is to lower informational barriers to democratic participation by translating complex political content into clear, user-friendly explanations designed around real accessibility needs. Through this work, Robin and his team aim to enable more people to engage with political information and confidently participate in democratic processes.

Alongside this work, Robin is a PhD researcher at the University of Hamburg. His research explores how AI can help citizens navigate large amounts of complex information, with a particular focus on the political sphere and voting advice applications. He studies how these tools can support not only access to information, but also reflection and more conscious and informed democratic participation.

Sabine Reuss is a leader in Marketing, Communications, and Corporate Social Responsibility with a long‑standing commitment to digital inclusion. After heading Marketing, Communications, and the CSR department at Capgemini, she now serves as Ambassador at ReDI School, where she coordinates fundraising, marketing, and partner management to expand access to digital education. Throughout her career, she has focused on building bridges between technology, business, and society to ensure that digital transformation is inclusive and opens opportunities for everyone to participate and thrive.

Dr Stephanie Hare is a researcher, broadcaster and author focused on technology, politics and history.  

She co-presents “Artificial Intelligence: Decoded” on BBC television and contributes to the BBC World Service.

Her first book, Technology Is Not Neutral: A Short Guide to Technology Ethics, was named a Financial Times Best Technology Book of summer 2022, and her writing has featured in the Financial Times, The Washington Post, the Guardian/Observer, the Harvard Business Review, WIRED and Computer Weekly.  

She has worked at Accenture, Palantir, and Oxford Analytica; held the Alistair Horne Visiting Fellowship at St Antony’s College, Oxford; and earned a PhD and MSc from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and a BA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, including a year at the Université de la Sorbonne (Paris IV).

Till Behnke is co-founder and CEO of the Rulemapping Group. As an experienced social entrepreneur, he has been pioneering work in the field of social cohesion for over 15 years. Having founded betterplace.org, Germany’s largest donation platform, and nebenan.de, Germany’s largest neighbourhood network, he is now dedicated to transforming bureaucratic processes. Together with his team at the Rulemapping Group, he aims to make government structures efficient, citizen-friendly, transparent, and future-proof in order to strengthen trust in democracy.