Jess Reia

Jess Reia, a Data & Society affiliate, is an assistant professor of data science at the University of Virginia, where they co-lead the Digital Technology for Democracy Lab, and a 2025 Andrew Carnegie fellow. They are also a visiting scholar at Fudan University and a non-resident fellow at the Center for Democracy & Technology. Jess works primarily on topics of technology policy, data justice, human rights, and urban governance. A policymaker by training, they have collaborated with governments for over a decade and conducted research that has been published in four languages. Jess is also a public scholar whose writing and interviews have been featured in numerous outlets, including Estadão, Le Devoir, y BBC. Before joining UVA, they were appointed Mellon postdoctoral researcher at McGill University and worked at the Center for Technology & Society at FGV Law School in Rio de Janeiro.