Elif Sert is a research affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, a researcher at UC Berkeley, and the IT Law Institute of Istanbul Bilgi University.
Her current research focuses on the impact of facial recognition systems on children through a sociological and human rights lens. Her interests span widely over the interplay between robots and human values, legal and social issues in recruiting algorithms, and governance of platforms. She is also interested in the behavior/persuasive design techniques that may lead to technology addiction. Before joining the Berkman Klein Center, Elif was an LLM student at the University of California, Berkeley. Recently she also worked as a student researcher at the Human Rights Center of UC Berkeley, where she examined the impact of AI on child’s rights and contributed to the Generation AI Initiative of UNICEF and the World Economic Forum. She also worked as a privacy consultant at a legal-tech startup and consulted government agencies and corporations in Turkish data protection law. As a passionate internet activist, Elif has both attended and organized international conferences related to internet governance, technology and law, and youth engagement in policymaking. She has spoken at events organized by international organizations such as the World Economic Forum, UNICEF, and the Data Justice Lab.