DCU Law and Tech hosts a dynamic group of researchers with multiple disciplinary backgrounds, ranging from law and political science to computing and engineering.
The project ‘Governing Data Centres in the EU’ (GDC) aims to launch an Irish-French research partnership to establish an EU-level observatory on data centre governance. In the currently unstable global geopolitical context, data centres emerge as a critical infrastructure to support the strategic autonomy of the EU to deliver its digital and the green transitions’ objectives. Yet, the creation of new data centres pose unprecedented challenges related to both national and EU-level digital sovereignty, energy security and environmental sustainability.
Despite their crucial nature, the governance of data centres in the EU does not rely on a harmonised and coherent set of law and policy instruments. The objective of this project is to enhance the EU data centre governance landscape by examining the regulatory requirements, policy guidelines and best practices governing the creation and sustainable development of data centres in the EU.
GDC focuses on strategic data centres supporting pivotal public sectors, such as defence and healthcare, and will produce law and policy recommendations for a more effective governance of EU data centres that reconciles both EU strategic autonomy ambitions and its twin transition objectives. The project combines interdisciplinary expertise in law and engineering, and involves key industrial and regulatory partners both in Ireland and France.
Partners/Funders
Edoardo Celeste
Edoardo Celeste is an Associate Professor of Law, Technology and Innovation at the School of Law and Government of Dublin City University. Edoardo is the Programme Chair of the Erasmus Mundus Master in Law, Data and Artificial Intelligence (EMILDAI), the Deputy-Director of the Dublin European Law Institute (DELI), the coordinator of the DCU Law and Tech Research Cluster, and a founding member of the Digital Constitutionalism Network.
Thomas Le Goff
Thomas Le Goff is Assistant Professor of Law & Technology at Télécom Paris – Institut Polytechnique de Paris, where he conducts pluridisciplinary research projects on the regulation of digital technologies, cybersecurity and AI. His research focuses on the links between AI and sustainability, from a legal and public policy perspective. Thomas is also a Research Fellow at the Centre on Regulation in Europe (Brussels), where he contributes to policy debates at the intersection between digital, energy and environmental regulations.
Anna Luukka
Anna Luukka is a doctoral student examining the future of sustainable and energy‑adaptive data centers in Europe. Her research focuses on AI‑ready data centers and sustainable business model innovation at the intersection of energy systems, digital infrastructure, and policy. She conducts her PhD jointly with LUT University and Télécom Paris.
Alba Perez Victorio
Alba Perez Victorio is a Researcher of the Law and Tech Research Cluster, where she conducts research on EU digital law and its interaction with environmental and climate issues. Alba is a PhD researcher at the European University Institute (EUI). Her doctoral research focuses on the EU energy transition, with particular attention to the deployment of renewable energy projects and their contestation by local groups and communities.