P.J. (Peter) van de Waerdt, LLM

Peter van de Waerdt studied International and European Law at the University of Groningen, focusing where possible on the functioning of human rights within the European legal system.

Afterwards, he took a specialized Research LLM at the University of Groningen. Over the course of his LLM he further developed his expertise on European human rights law, as well as dedicating himself more specifically to privacy/data protection law. He graduated on a thesis entitled "The Economic Value of Personal Data in European Law", detailing the monetary worth of personal datasets for network-driven companies and examining the legal implications of this valuation.

Additionally, in 2014 he attended the George Washington University in Washington D.C., United States, studying the American perspective on fundamental rights and its differences from the European approach.

In September 2016 he started his PhD in data protection law at the University of Groningen, under the supervision of prof. dr. G.P. Mifsud Bonnici and prof. dr. H.H.B. Vedder. His research is dedicated to data protection law as applied to companies operating large (social) networks which the average consumer cannot realistically renounce.