Dr. Samson Esayas is a Professor at the Norwegian Research Centre for Computers and Law, University of Oslo, and also holds a 20% position at BI Norwegian Business School.
He specializes in teaching data protection law, AI regulation, and competition law at both BI and the University of Oslo, and has previously taught at Queen Mary University of London. Dr. Esayas has extensive experience working on several EU and Norwegian government financed research projects dealing with regulatory aspects of various technologies. Dr. Esayas currently leads the Research Network on Regulatory Developments in Cybersecurity. He previously led the Triple Partnership for Socially Responsible AI (3AI) project at BI, which brought together research institutions in Norway, the U.S., and Brazil to examine how AI can be developed and deployed in ways that are fair, accountable, and transparent. His research explores the power dynamics stemming from control over data and mediated communications, with a focus on how these evolving power paradigms are addressed by competition and data privacy law.
He has published in several renowned journals covering these issues and his work has received international recognition, including the FPF Privacy Papers for Policymakers Award. He earned his PhD from the University of Oslo in 2020 and his dissertation was awarded His Majesty the King’s Gold Medal for outstanding research in 2021. His book on the interface between data privacy law and competition law was published by Oxford University Press in 2024. He was a visiting researcher at the Berkman Klein Center in 2023 where he collaborated on a project that seeks to offer a global perspective on the societal impacts of AI and its governance.