Olena Zabrodska

Olena has a combined private- and public-sector background. She began her career in the private sector as legal counsel, specialising in emerging technologies and data protection matters for SMEs. She later expanded her expertise into legislative and regulatory affairs, contributing to draft laws in the fields of ICT, digital assets regulation, data protection, and SME policy, as well as into policy-making through professional experience at the European Parliament and the European Liberal Forum.

Currently, she is a PhD researcher at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), where her research focuses on analysis of the EU regulatory framework on data transfers in the context of public and national security interests amid hybrid threats and geopolitical developments, while identifying potential regulatory gaps and inconsistencies.