Welcome Johanna! 

We are excited to welcome Johanna Pruessing to our team as our Senior Programme Manager. With years of experience in grant-making and strategic leadership at the intersection of technology and human rights, Johanna will spearhead the Fund’s programmatic strategy development and strategic grant-making. 

Previously, Johanna spent nearly five years at the Open Society Foundations, where she led grant portfolios addressing digital surveillance, algorithmic harms, transnational digital repression, and the implications of technology on justice and equity in Europe and Central Asia. By asking hard questions and challenging assumptions, Johanna finds a way to foster learning across teams and inform new strategies. She has studied Anthropology, Politics & Security, and International Relations in Tübingen, Baku, London, and Moscow. 

As the Fund grows, Johanna’s strategic insight and technology justice expertise will be invaluable in helping us face new opportunities and challenges head-on. As the race for AI rollout and automation continues, often at the cost of wellbeing, safety, and opportunities for historically marginalised and discriminated communities, the urgency to act is now. Now more than ever, philanthropy’s support to civil society advocates working to centre accountability, social justice and people’s rights in AI policy is crucial.  

Welcome aboard, Johanna! We look forward to the valuable contributions you will bring to our shared mission. If you’d like to connect, you can reach Johanna here.