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

ISOC Switzerland Chapter’s Public Policy Sessions in 2026 will be dedicated to the concept of digital sovereignty, launching a long-term campaign asking the question “What does digital sovereignty mean?” from the perspective of different actors.

As a US-based organization defending digital rights across the world since the 1990s, the Internet Society’s European Chapters can play a key role in making sure that the current wave of European claims on digital sovereignty will strengthen digital rights worldwide while taking into account important challenges related to ecological sustainability, health, and resilience, as well as key values like openness, privacy, and democracy.

We are proud to welcome in Zurich five 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, and La Quadrature du Net.

You will also have 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.

If you are an ISOC-CH member, you can register below through your ISOC account; otherwise, send a simple email to contact@isoc.ch.

Note also that before the event, the ISOC Switzerland 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 an associate researcher at the CNRS Center for Internet and Society and a 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 ISOC-CH team

Berna Alp has dedicated her time as a volunteer to various organizations advocating for an open and free Internet with inherent privacy, as well as open and free software. She is the chair of the ISOC Switzerland Chapter and former chairperson for the Thunderbird Project. Professionally, Berna is an economist with over 25 years of experience in IT projects. Her career includes working as an SAP FI/CO/JVA consultant at Andersen Consulting in New York, roles in a trading company, and involvement in projects for the World Bank. She is currently affiliated with Taler Systems SA.

Panayotis Antoniadis is a transdisciplinary researcher and communication expert based in Zurich. He is the co-founder of NetHood, a non-profit organization that develops a wide variety of tools for self-organization and community engagement processes at the neighbourhood level. He is also actively engaged with the Internet Society’s Switzerland Chapter as the treasurer and Principal Investigator for the NGI0 Commons Fund project. Panayotis is also a co-founder and coordinator of the L200 space in Zurich.

Stéphane Coillet-Matillon is a Swiss-based entrepreneur and open-knowledge advocate, currently serving as the CEO of Kiwix, and also a member of the Board of Directors for the Swiss chapter of the Internet Society. He is widely recognized for his work in bridging the digital divide by providing offline access to online content like Wikipedia, chosen in 2022 as one of the 100 people who “make” Switzerland.

Bernie Höneisen is the founder and CEO of an Internet technology consulting firm, Ucom.ch, and also co-founder of the ISOC Switzerland Chapter. As a graduate electrical engineer from ETH Zurich, he has been actively shaping Internet standards for 20 years: he is the author of seven RFCs (Request for Comments / documentation of Internet standards) from the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) and a designated expert of the IESG (Internet Engineering Steering Group).

Markus Kummer is an independent consultant specializing in Internet governance and policy. He has served as Chairman of the Internet Governance Forum Support Association (IGFSA) Executive Committee, Internet Society’s Senior Vice President, and former member of the Board of Directors of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Markus is currently a member of the Internet Society’s Swiss Chapter, of which he was a co-founder, and Senior Digital Policy Fellow of the Geneva Internet Platform.

Hernâni Marques is a computational linguist, sociologist, and neuroinformatician, board member and activist of the Chaos Computer Club Switzerland (CCC-CH), and member of the ISOC Switzerland Chapter working on the NGI0 Commons Fund Project, helping create tools to restore privacy and engaging in fights for privacy, freedom of speech, and information.

Alex Pitsch is an IT professional and Internet activist. Alex is the founder of Bona Publica, a Swiss fundraising charity to support organizations advancing digital public goods, an active member of the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) Zurich group, and a member of the ISOC Switzerland Chapter working on policy issues related to digital sovereignty.

Marianthe Stavridou is a strategic leader and business ethics expert with extensive experience at the intersection of sustainability, public policy, technology, and corporate responsibility. Marianthe currently serves as Vice-Chair of the Internet Society in Switzerland, as an Ethics Expert within the Horizon Research Framework of the European Commission, and as the Representative of NGI0 for Greece.

The Internet Society (ISOC) Switzerland Chapter is a non-profit organization that engages on a variety of Internet-related topics, ensuring that the Internet remains 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 website) by following the instructions at https://isoc.ch/membership, or simply subscribe to our newsletter (2–3 announcements per year) by sending a message to contact@isoc.ch.