Daniela Stockmann appointed new Director of the Centre for Digital Governance

The beginning of academic year 2023/2024 starts with big news for the Hertie School’s Centre for Digital Governance. Daniela Stockmann, Professor of Digital Governance, will take over the position of Centre Director and succeed its founding Director Gerhard Hammerschmid in this position.

“With expertise on social media governance in Europe and China, Daniela Stockmann has researched extensively about the core challenges and opportunities of governing the digital transformation that shapes our times,” says President Cornelia Woll. “The Hertie School is proud to appoint her the new Director of the Centre for Digital Governance.”

Focus on potential solutions for social media governance and digital transformation

“I am delighted to become the new director of the Hertie School’s Centre for Digital Governance,” says Stockmann. “Many aspects of digital technology enhance democracy and public well-being. But increasingly, observers have become concerned about significant existing and potential harms associated with destructive content, the manipulation of elections, monopoly power, limited access to data and information, as well as the galloping progress of artificial intelligence, to name just a few examples. At a time when challenges seem to outweigh opportunities, we need to critically examine current policies and work towards new solutions.”

Stockmann joined the Hertie School in 2017. Along with her focus on Europe’s new emerging approach to governing social media platforms, she is also an expert on Chinese digital governance. Before joining the public policy school, Stockmann was Associate Professor of Political Science at Leiden University in the Netherlands. She obtained her PhD from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in the United States. In addition to her extensive scholarly work, she has also served as an adviser to the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as to German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

On course for further success and a thank you to former Director Gerhard Hammerschmid

Stockmann will continue to bring together academic researchers, regulators, policy-makers and civil society advocates to consider and craft options to address challenges generated by digital transformation. One of her aims is to strengthen ties between the Hertie School’s diverse, experienced and highly engaged digital natives with the academic and policy community.

Former Director and Professor of Public and Financial Management Gerhard Hammerschmid will remain an active faculty member of the centre, where he focusses on government digitalisation. Since the centre’s foundation, Hammerschmid has played a significant role in building the centre into a hub for research on governance of digital transformation, based in Berlin.

“We are grateful for Gerhard Hammerschmid’s dedicated work in building the success and visibility of the Centre for Digital Governance,” says President Woll. “As its founding director, Professor Hammerschmid’s extensive knowledge of the digital transformation of public administration and his skills in academic management have been crucial for engaging faculty, students, alumni and practitioners, as well as shaping digital policy discourse in Germany, the European Union and beyond.”

About the Centre for Digital Governance

The Centre for Digital Governance was founded in 2019. Its mission is to promote digitalisation where appropriate to improve public well-being. To this end, the centre enables synergies between academic research, education and socially relevant policy insights on the challenges and opportunities of the digital era. Its scholars research artificial intelligence, the digitalisation of government and social media governance, among other topics.