Patrick Penninckx has spent the last thirty years at the Council of Europe, contributing to the development and renewal of the Organization, while developing national and international partnerships.

As head of the Information Society Department within the Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law, Patrick puts all his expertise to work in order to coordinate standardization and cooperation activities in the fields of media, internet governance, data protection, cybercrime and artificial intelligence. In addition, he is also responsible for projects related to public-private partnerships and cooperation with companies.

His professional expertise covers areas such as freedom of expression, safety of journalists, good internet governance, international data protection standards, the fight against cybercrime and the impact of Artificial Intelligence on human rights.

A spokesperson for the values and achievements of the Council of Europe in these areas, he holds degrees in political science and education from the University of Leuven.

Previously, Patrick oversaw the development of human resources policy, transforming administrative personnel management into a competency-based human resources policy.