Our Team
Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) in Ireland is coordinating the TRACK-STAR project. WIT is a university-level education institution in the south-east of Ireland that has recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. WIT has over 10,000 students and 1,000 staff and is a leading research-intensive Institute where undergraduate education, postgraduate masters and PhD training, research, innovation and community engagement form a dynamic continuum of activity.
WIT is at the forefront of Ireland’s postgraduate education with approximately 208 Research postgraduate students, and 149 PhD students. WIT is home to almost 800 international students from over 70 countries representing all 5 continents and, in addition, places great emphasis on the internationalisation of the Irish student experience – preparing all WIT students for future employment and a life that crosses borders, boundaries and cultures.
WIT has been involved in EU – US related projects since 2008, starting with the coordination of two Framework Programme 7 projects, namely INCO-TRUST (2008 – 2010), and its successor, Building International Cooperation for Trustworthy ICT (BIC) (2011 – 2013), of which both projects had the United States as a core participating country of involvement. These were followed with two Horizon 2020 projects, Transatlantic ICT Forum (DISCOVERY) and Accelerating EU-US Dialogue in Cybersecurity and Privacy (AEGIS) projects, which also had the United States involvement in terms of collaboration in ICT, Cybersecurity, in both technology and policy-related topics, respectively.
The TRACK-STAR team leader of WIT, Mr. James Clarke, has been involved in all of the above EU–US related projects for over a decade and currently coordinates an EU funded Horizon 2020 project entitled NGIatlantic.eu, which regularly organises transatlantic webinars with US participants.
James Madison University (JMU) is a U.S. public university in Harrisonburg, Virginia. JMU has approximately 20,000 undergraduate students and 2,000 graduate students. In the most recent fiscal year, JMU received over 22 million dollars in grant funding. Over 1,500 faculty members design and lead 139 degree programs.
The TRACK-STAR team leader of JMU, Mr. Charles Blake, is the co-author of the most used transatlantic public policy text in the US. In his prior work as the head of JMU’s political science department, he managed nearly 1 million dollars in externally funded projects. Currently he directs JMU’s EU Policy Studies graduate program, which is held mainly in Florence, Italy. This program connects students and researchers with EU officials, European policy advocates, US-based policy advocates, and other transatlantic professionals.
The Lares Institute helps industry and government partners understand the role of information and risk management in executive decision-making and in broader economic issues. The Lares Institute, led by Andrew Serwin, CEO and Executive Director, and Global Privacy, Co-Chair, DLA Piper and Dan Caprio, Co-Founder, The Providence Group, who have worked together for over a decade.
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The TRACK-STAR team leader of Lares Institute, Mr. Dan Caprio, has more than 20 years of transatlantic experience in privacy and digital economy issues including experience in Congress, industry, as a senior official at the FTC and the US Department of Commerce and as a transatlantic subject matter expert to the European Commission. In his career, Dan has been helping global organisations navigate the complexity of cybersecurity and privacy risk in order to thrive in today’s uncertain environment. Dan has been involved in transatlantic projects as a regularly called upon an expert in policy aspects, including privacy and security aspects of Internet of Things for the European Commission, and with direct involvement in a number of Horizon 2020 projects including PICASSO, Transatlantic ICT Forum (DISCOVERY), and Accelerating EU-US Dialogue in Cybersecurity and Privacy (AEGIS).
