Constance de Leusse

Constance Bommelaer de Leusse has more than 20 years of experience in digital policy, technology, research and education. She currently leads tech policy work at the AI & Society Institute (ENS-PSL), and the Tech Hub of the Paris School of International Affairs (university of Sciences Po). She is also a Senior Fellow at the European University Institute. 

Constance started her career working for the French prime minister’s services (2003-2006) on information society issues. She then joined The Internet Society (2006-2022), the international NGO founded by Vint Cerf, the father of the Internet. In her role of Vice President of institutional relations and empowerment, she led the organization’s international partnerships and policy work across stakeholder communities. She also conducted training and learning activities, empowering the next generation of tech leaders to build an internet that creates opportunity and supports the public interest. She was also seconded at UNESCO to develop their digital agenda in the contexte of the WSIS (2013-2014). 

Constance has played a pivotal role in shaping global Internet governance. She founded the Internet Technical Advisory Committee to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2008, enabling global technical and academic communities to participate in international policy discussions. In 2013, when working at UNESCO to develop its Internet governance strategy, she co-authored the “UN Internet Universality framework”—based on principles of being Rights-based, Open, Accessible, and Multistakeholder (ROAM)—which has since then informed national and regional digital policies on all continents.

She has served on numerous high-level committees, including the World Economic Forum’s Internet for All Steering Committee, the UN Secretary-General’s Multistakeholder Advisory Group for the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), the UN CSTD Working Group on Improvements to the IGF, and the UN Working Group on Enhanced Cooperation on Internet-related Public Policy Issues.

Constance holds a master’s degree in law from Paris Panthéon-Assas University, a postgraduate degree in EU politics from Sciences Po, a management diploma from the London School of Economics (LSE), and a certificate from INSEAD’s International Directors Program. Having grown up in the United States and lived in Switzerland.