Alongside his work at the ABS, Van Daalen will continue working at the UvA’s Institute for Information Law (IViR) one day a week.

Research

One of his research priorities is the legal alignment of AI: ensuring that AI systems apply the law accurately,  an important topic because these systems are increasingly used for legal work. He is also focused on digital sovereignty, exploring how Europe and European businesses can become more independent when it comes to AI and other digital infrastructures.

‘Designing digital systems to comply with the law is not straightforward. Laws can conflict and are subject to debate, and full compliance can sometimes have repressive effects. I want to investigate both the opportunities and the limits of compliance by design: from IT systems that respect privacy, to AI that is trustworthy and explainable. The challenge is to strike the right balance,’ says Van Daalen.

Teaching

At ABS, Van Daalen will teach bachelor’s and master’s students in two courses: AI, Privacy and Global Cybersecurity for Business Analytics and Privacy and AI Law and Ethics. He aims to give future business leaders the knowledge and skills to develop systems that meet legal requirements on privacy, cybersecurity and AI.

‘One of the goals of my teaching is to create opportunities for students at the Amsterdam Business School to connect legal research with business practice,’ Van Daalen says. ‘That combination can help ground the research in the challenges organisations face when they develop and use digital systems.’

Academic background

Van Daalen has been affiliated with the UvA since 2002, working at IViR in various roles, most recently as assistant professor. He received his PhD from the UvA in 2022 for his thesis, Making and Breaking with Science and Conscience, supervised by Joris van Hoboken and Mireille van Eechoud. The thesis examined whether the regulation of offensive and defensive information-security technologies is compatible with human rights, with a focus on quantum computing and encryption. Van Daalen studied at the UvA and Columbia University in New York.

Legal practice and public service

Alongside his academic work, Van Daalen founded Root Legal, a law firm specialising in privacy and security. He is a substitute judge at the District Court of The Hague and a member of the Supervisory Board of Stichting Democratie en Media. In 2025, he wrote Voorbereid, a bestseller on cybersecurity and societal resilience. He previously worked at the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens), and led digital-rights organisation Bits of Freedom as director from 2009 to 2013. Earlier in his career, he was a lawyer at De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek.