Jan Rydzak was the Company and Investor Engagement Manager at Ranking Digital Rights. He holds a PhD and MA in Government & Public Policy from the University of Arizona as well as an MA in Modern Languages from Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Poland. Prior to joining RDR, Rydzak worked as Associate Director for Program at the Global Digital Policy Incubator (GDPi) at Stanford University, where he analyzed global approaches to disinformation, new models of content moderation, and threats to human rights stemming from the faulty deployment and regulation of technology.
Rydzak is interested in how online decisions and dynamics reverberate in the offline world and how (dis)information flows in volatile circumstances. His work has spanned various environments, including the European Commission and the multi-stakeholder Global Network Initiative (GNI), where he served as a Google Policy Fellow. His doctoral research focused on the links between network shutdowns, connectivity, and street protest. He has published a report on the human rights impact of network disruptions through GNI, a widely cited study linking communication blackouts with escalations of violence in India, and commentary in Foreign Policy, The Conversation, and the Hindustan Times. Rydzak is fluent in Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, and French. He is based in Warsaw, Poland. Follow him on Twitter @ElCalavero