Three Researchers Join the Path to Power Project

Sonakshi Saha, Wilma Ewerhart, and Dr. Vasilis Ververis have joined the Path to Power Project, bringing new expertise in AI governance and digital geopolitics, the digital strategies of Middle Eastern, North African, and Arabian Gulf nations, and Internet censorship.

Sonakshi Saha joins as a research assistant. Her work explores how digital technologies shape political influence, governance frameworks, and regulatory responses in democratic contexts. Earlier in her career in South Asia, she held senior roles in digital strategy and political communications, leading large-scale public information campaigns and digital policy research within government and media ecosystems. She has also worked on communications and policy engagement at the Aspen Institute Germany, CIVICA — The European University of Social Sciences, and the Global Solutions Initiative.

Wilma Ewerhart is a pre-doctoral researcher with interests in digital communities, platform logics, data justice, and privacy. Her research at HPI focuses particularly on the Middle East and Arabian Gulf nations, where she grew up. She has experience as a student researcher in the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics.

Dr. Vasilis Ververis joins as a postdoctoral researcher specializing in internet measurement, censorship, security, and privacy. His work examines censorship practices and measurement methods across Europe and beyond, with contributions to research on blocked services, encrypted communications, and tools for monitoring Internet openness. He has been based at HPI since 2024, where he has taught a course on Modern and Secure Internet: Design and Operations and contributed to projects including the Internet Incident Tracker and Internet Censorship Tracker.