Miguelángel Verde Garrido holds a doctorate (Dr. rer. pol.) in International Relations and Global Politics from Freie Universität Berlin (Germany). Born in New Orleans (USA), he lived in several countries before earning a BA in Philosophy at Universidad Católica Andrés Bello (Venezuela). Granted a scholarship by the Ministry of Education of Japan, Miguel did his MA in Political Science and Political Philosophy at Kyoto University (Japan). His dissertation studied the impact that state and corporate controls over information and communications technologies (i.e., policies and practices of securitization, surveillance, and censorship) have on the political agency of civil society. Miguel has worked with policy think tanks and nonprofit organizations, and mostly focuses his research on the intersection of global politics, emerging and converging technologies, and public policy. His awards include the international Surveillance Studies Network’s Annual Paper Prize and Early Career Researcher Award for his peer review publications.