Edward Santow

Edward Santow is the Director - Policy & Governance at the Human Technology Institute, and Industry Professor - Responsible Technology at the University of Technology Sydney.

Ed leads the Human Technology Institute (HTI) with Prof Nicholas Davis. HTI is building a future that applies human values to new technology, through the creation of three interconnected laboratories: the Human Technology Skills Lab, Tools Lab and Policy Lab.

Ed is leading a number of major initiatives to promote human-centred artificial intelligence. This approach aims to uphold human rights by ensuring that new technology delivers results that are fair, accurate and accountable. Ed’s areas of expertise include human rights, technology and regulation, public law and discrimination law.

From 2016-2021, Ed was Australia's Human Rights Commissioner, where he led the Commission's work on AI and new technology; refugees and migration; human rights issues affecting LGBTI people; national security; and implementing the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT).

Ed is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law, a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Human Rights and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and of the NSW Government AI Review Committee. He is a patron of the Refugee Advice + Casework Service, and serves on a number of boards and committees.

In 2009, Ed was presented with an Australian Leadership Award, and in 2017, he was recognised as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.

Ed previously served as chief executive of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre and was a Senior Lecturer at UNSW Law School, a research director at the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law and a solicitor in private practice.