Akcali Gur, Berna

Berna Akcali Gur is an Associate Research Fellow at UNU-CRIS within the Digital Governance Cluster. She is also the LL.M. module convenor for Outer Space Law at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London.  Before that, she was the convenor for the WTO Law: Fundamental Principles module at the same institution. She has held research positions at the Dickson Poon School of Law, King's College London, and the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies University of London. During her time as an assistant professor at Kadir Has University Law School in Istanbul, she led modules on WTO Law, Internet Governance, International and European Media Law, and Comparative Law. Prior to her academic career, Berna practised law in Istanbul, New York, and London.

Berna’s research focuses on public international law, world trade law and the EU Law implications of advancements in information communication technologies. In her most recent project, “Satellite Internet: Trust and Data Governance”, as co-principal investigator, she is conducting a critical analysis of the national and regional policies on data governance in space-based broadband connectivity, with a particular focus on existing regional frameworks. This builds on her prior project, "Global Governance of Satellite Broadband," an extensive legal and policy analysis of the Internet services offered by mega satellite constellations. The main question that led her and her research partner to this project was jurisdictional challenges, especially the potential digital sovereignty concerns relating to integrating mega satellite constellations into the national and global internet infrastructure. Her earlier work identifies, analyses, and critically evaluates the legal and policy issues arising from global data flows and the cross-border provision of digital content, as well as the connection between these issues and the geopolitics of global communications infrastructure.  Her research focus for the next two years is the regional and global governance implications of the new space race.

Berna is the serving Chair of the Membership Committee and a member of the Annual Symposium Programme Committee of the Global Internet Governance Academic Network (GigaNet). She is a member of the European Centre for Space Law, Trade Experettes - a global network of women trade experts-Internet Society London Chapter and the European Society for International Law. Also, she is a qualified lawyer, admitted to the Istanbul Bar Association.