[Public Policy Sessions 2026] What does Digital Sovereignty mean for the Civil Society?

ISOC Switzerland Chapter’s Public Policy Sessions will be dedicated in 2026 on the concept of digital sovereignty, which is gaining a lot of attention lately in Switzerland and in Europe.

As a US-based organization defending digital rights across the world since the 90s, the Internet Society’s European Chapters can play a key role in making sure that the wave of digital sovereignty will strengthen our digital rights while taking into accounts important aspects related to health, security, resilience and ecological sustainability.

We are proud to welcome in Zurich 5 special guests with strong expertise on this topic from an academic and/or policy perspective, and active engagement with various civil society organizations, like ISOC Germany and Serbia, FSFE, Wikimedia, La Quadrature du Net.

You will have also the chance to meet the growing ISOC Switzerland Chapter and its new home at the center of Zurich, the L200 space, and participate in the discussion!

You can watch previous Public Policy Sessions organized in 2024 and 2025 and become an ISOC-CH member or join our announcement list to stay in touch.

Programme

• 18:00 Open doors
• 18:30 Meet the ISOC Switzerland Chapter
• 19:00 Keynote positions
• 19:45 Open Discussion
• 20:30 Apero riche

Registration

The event will take place on Monday 27 March at 18:30, at L200 space in Zurich, Langstrasse 200, 8005.

Online participation will be possible through our BigBlueButton room hosted by the NGI0 Commons Fund.

Registration is not obligatory but very welcome and helpful. Note also that before the event, the ISOC Switzerland’s General Assembly will take place at 17:00.

Keynote speakers

Desiree Miloshevic is an active member of the Internet technical and governance community. Her passion is using technology and the Internet to empower people and build bridges among diverse communities. Desiree‘s experience spans across a network of UK-based Internet start-ups, numerous national and international NGOs, such as the Internet Society Serbia, as well as institutions such as the UN, where she served as a special policy adviser on Internet governance issues.
https://desiree.me/

Sophia Longwe is a Board Member of the Internet Society German Chapter and works as a Policy Project Manager at Wikimedia Deutschland e. V., focusing on digital infrastructure and international digital policy. Since 2022, she has been actively engaged in the global internet governance ecosystem, including the Internet Governance Forum, ICANN, and the WSIS+20 and Global Digital Compact processes. She studied Global Studies and Public Policy in Maastricht, Berlin, and Austin.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophia-longwe-288207203

Dario Presutti is a Project Manager at the Free Software Foundation Europe. His work focuses on fostering the use of Free Software in public administration and promoting transparent, accountable digital infrastructures in Europe. With a background in Political Science and a Master’s degree in International Cooperation, Dario has experience engaging with policymakers, monitoring legislative processes, and contributing to initiatives such as Public Money? Public Code! and Device Neutrality.
https://fsfe.org/about/people/presutti/presutti.en.html

Roxana Radu is an Associate Professor of Digital Technologies and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford and a Hugh Price Fellow at Jesus College. Her work explores how we govern, regulate and secure the Internet and AI systems at the international level.. Roxana is also co-founder of the Internet Society Switzerland Chapter.
https://roxana.io

Félix Tréguer is associate researcher at the CNRS Center for Internet and Society and member of the advocacy group La Quadrature du Net. His research lies at the intersection of communication studies, sociology, history, and law. It focuses on the political stakes of computing, particularly the digital transformation of the state and practices of power such as censorship and surveillance.
https://www.felixtreguer.fr/

The Internet Society (ISOC) Switzerland Chapter is a non-profit organization that engages on a variety of Internet-related topics, ensuring that it is a place of possibility, opportunity, and progress that benefits people worldwide. We provide technically-grounded advice, policy recommendations, and educational material regarding privacy, security, Free and Open-Source Software, and digital sovereignty. We also organize informative events and debates like the annual Public Policy Sessions and participate in collaborative research projects like the NGI0 Commons Fund.

As a national chapter of the international organization responsible for the .org domain, ISOC CH acts as a gateway between Switzerland and the international digital civil society.

You can consider becoming a member (through the main ISOC web site) following the instructions at https://isoc.ch/membership, or just subscribe to our newsletter (2-3 announcements per year) by sending a message to contact@isoc.ch