On 3 February, Manon Hufschmid will start a six-month traineeship at SwissCore.
Manon recently completed her 9-month internship at the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the UN in New York, where she was an Advisor in the UN Fifth Committee. Manon holds a bachelor’s degree in Law from Durham University and an LLM in Innovation, Technology and the Law from the University of Edinburgh. During her studies, Manon developed a keen interest in the intersection between law and policy and innovation, artificial intelligence, and technological developments. Her Master’s dissertation, titled ‘Digital Nations and the Question of International Law’ was inspired by Tuvalu’s ingenuity and investigated whether existing international law is equipped to handle the emergence of digital nations (i.e. States undergoing a digital transformation due to their existence being threatened by climate change and rising sea levels). The research focused on the changing dimensions of warfare where digital nations are concerned: assuming that cyber operations are attributable to a State, are the laws of armed conflict able to protect digital nations and civilians adequately when targeted by such operations?
As advisor to the Swiss Mission, Manon collaborated and fostered positive relationships with a wide variety of stakeholders from diverse backgrounds, learning how to represent Swiss interests in a diplomatic, considerate, and pragmatic way.
Manon is excited to use this knowledge in her new position, and about the opportunity to deepen her knowledge on Swiss participation in European ERI programmes and policymaking.