Cesar Augusto Fontanillo Lopez

César is a Fulbright Schuman Fellow at the Information Society Project (ISP) at Yale Law School. He is also a lawyer and a doctoral candidate at the Centre for IT and IP Law (CiTiP) at KU Leuven. His research examines privacy and data protection through a multidisciplinary lens that bridges legal theory, social sciences, and philosophy. His current work focuses on two main areas.

• Risk in data regulation: César’s doctoral dissertation examines the risk-based approach to data regulation. The thesis combines psychometric experimentation, philosophical inquiry, and doctrinal legal analysis. Supported by a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship and a “la Caixa” Postgraduate Fellowship, his research seeks to provide evidence-based insights into the strengths, limitations, and future development of risk-based regulation. César’s research has received the patronage of the European Data Protection Supervisor. 
• The concept of personal data: César has recently completed a four-year book project with Professor Bart van der Sloot examining the regulation of personal data across jurisdictions. Their book, The Past, Present and Future of European Data Regulation (Hart Publishing, 2026), brings together technical and legal perspectives on privacy and traces the evolution of data regulation across 20 jurisdictions. The book aims to provide a comprehensive reference for understanding the development and future direction of data regulation.

César holds bachelor’s degrees in Law and Business Administration and Management from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria; a master’s degree in Lawyering from Universidad Camilo José Cela; an LL.M. in Law and Technology from Tilburg University; and an LL.M. in European Law and Economic Analysis (ELEA) from the College of Europe. He has also held research fellowships and visiting appointments at the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society, the European University Institute, and the University of Cambridge.