About

A student-led platform at the Hertie School dedicated to the governance and societal implications of artificial intelligence. We create a space for critical discussion, debate, and engagement on how AI is reshaping our society, connecting students with leading experts and opportunities in AI governance.

Mission and vision

Hertie graduates go on to shape policy in governments and international organisations around the world. AI will profoundly affect every field they work in. We exist to make sure they are ready for that.

Our goal is to build a community of students who understand the risks and opportunities of AI, can engage critically with the people building and regulating it, and are actively contributing to better governance in Germany, across Europe, and internationally.

Why AI governance

AI systems already shape how people find work, access public services, and participate in democratic life. The pace of development is outrunning the frameworks designed to govern it. The EU AI Act is now being implemented, international competition over frontier models is growing, and questions around safety standards, liability, and compute governance remain largely open.

These are policy problems, yet they are often discussed without enough input from people trained in public policy. Students with that background can make a real and early contribution.

Team

A board of students running the initiative day to day, supported by the co-founders on our advisory board.

We come from public policy, data science, geography, and the biological sciences, and work across research, events, European policy, and partnerships. What we share is the conviction that AI governance needs more people trained to think about the public interest.

Board

Shikhar Agarwal

Shikhar Agarwal

Events lead and treasurer · Co-founder

MPP student at the Hertie School focusing on AI governance, democratic processes, and labour markets. A Yale-NUS graduate in ecological economics, he has organised for climate justice across Asia and Europe, built civil society coalitions, and co-founded non-profits and startup incubators in Singapore and the UK. Especially interested in ensuring AI tools amplify rather than entrench existing power imbalances.

LinkedIn profile of Shikhar Agarwal
David Moth

David Moth

Research lead

MSc student in Data Science for Public Policy at the Hertie School with a focus on AI safety, and a Research Assistant at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Politics, Psychology, Law and Economics, and has worked in AI engineering and governance across public health policy, consulting, business intelligence, and venture capital. His research interests include multi-agent compliance frameworks, evaluations, deep value alignment, and sociotechnical policy for reducing catastrophic risk from AI.

LinkedIn profile of David Moth
Nafisah Animashaun

Nafisah Animashaun

AI governance and policy clinic lead

MPP student at the Hertie School with a focus on AI governance and digital policy. She is also a Research Assistant at Technische Universität Berlin, where she contributes to the Horizon Europe SEISMEC project, researching human-centred approaches to AI and digital technologies in industry. Her interests span AI governance, technology policy, digital inclusion, and responsible innovation, with a particular focus on how emerging technologies shape power, labour, and society.

LinkedIn profile of Nafisah Animashaun
Bruno Steel

Bruno Steel

External relations lead

MPP student at the Hertie School with a focus on climate and tech policy. He holds an undergraduate degree in Geography and International Relations from the University of St Andrews and has worked across the humanitarian and third sectors, including at Movember in London and Yoga and Sport with Refugees, a grassroots NGO in Lesvos. He is a student assistant at interface, a tech policy think tank in Berlin, and a contributing writer for Interweave.gov and CISES. His interests are in platform regulation and the impact of predictive AI on societies and workplaces.

LinkedIn profile of Bruno Steel
Anna Maria (Anya) Zhivotikova

Anna Maria (Anya) Zhivotikova

European policy lead

MPP student at the Hertie School, focusing on the nexus of climate, digital, and EU governance. Anya also holds an MSci in Biological Sciences from the University of Exeter and an MA in European Integration and Global Studies from the Centre international de formation européenne. With professional experience in international development, climate policy, and management, she explores how digital governance can strengthen EU climate policy and international climate cooperation.

LinkedIn profile of Anna Maria (Anya) Zhivotikova

Advisory board

The co-founders of the initiative, who now advise the board on strategy, partnerships, and long-term direction.

Giulio Bernasconi

Giulio Bernasconi

Co-founder

MPP student at the Hertie School specialising in AI governance and digital regulation. Previously graduated magna cum laude from University College Utrecht in Political Science and International Law. His research explores European AI regulation, including work with Professor Jat Singh on trustworthy data science and with RAND on the role of middle powers in AI governance. Giulio is currently working at the AI Office of the European Commission.

LinkedIn profile of Giulio Bernasconi
Arslan Jurion

Arslan Jurion

Co-founder

MPP student at the Hertie School specialising in AI governance. He holds a BSc with honours in International Relations from Leiden University. In 2024 he stood as lead candidate for the European Parliament elections in French-speaking Belgium with Volt. Over the summer he interned with the Future Society, and wrote a piece on the benefits of building compute capacity in Europe.

LinkedIn profile of Arslan Jurion

Why Berlin and Europe

Berlin sits at the intersection of technology, politics, and civil society, and at the heart of the EU AI Act's implementation. For students who want to work in AI governance, there is no better place to start.

Hertie School, Berlin

How we started

Founded in 2025 by three MPP students who saw a gap: Hertie produces policy thinkers for influential roles, yet had no dedicated space for AI governance.

Inspired by similar student initiatives at Oxford, Cambridge, and LSE, we built something comparable in Berlin. We are a student club funded through an external fellowship programme.

In 2026 the initiative moved to a wider board, bringing in students working on research, European policy, external relations, and our policy clinic.

Funding

Kairos

Kairos supports AI safety field-building through their Pathfinder programme, which helps accelerate promising initiatives.

Get involved

Explore events and ways to contribute to AI governance work at Hertie.