Christian Nielsen-Garcia

Christian Nielsen Garcia, is a PhD student in Information Studies at UCLA and the UCLA Mellon Data Justice Initiatives Graduate Student Researcher. He is a recipient of the UC Berkeley RDI AI & Decentralization Innovation Award and holds an MSc in Social Data Science from the University of Copenhagen, where he served as Vice-Chair of the program’s Board of Studies. As a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow at Cornell, he majored in Performing and Media Arts (magna cum laude, Honors) with a focus on Digital Media Studies, and minors in Anthropology and Comparative Literature.

He has worked on digital governance projects focused on Europe, including with the Center for AI and Digital Policy, where he contributed to the Artificial Intelligence and Democratic Values Index, assessing national AI and Digital Rights policies across European countries. His current research leverages political theory and data science to inform the design of digital information systems, with a focus on decentralization, blockchain governance, and Artificial Collective Intelligence.