Jan Sürmeli has been researching topics relating to trust, autonomy and privacy in the connected world since 2017. His current focus is on secure digital identities and models for trusted data exchange. After completing his doctorate in computer science at the Humboldt University of Berlin, Jan Sürmeli worked as a post-doc at the Humboldt University of Berlin and later also at the Technical University of Berlin from 2015, and temporarily as a consultant. In 2019, he began working as a research associate at the FZI Research Center for Information Technology. From 2021 to 2023, he headed the department “Strategic and Interdisciplinary Projects” inside the “Innovation, Strategy, Transfer” research division. Since 2023, he is Senior Expert Digital Identity and Trust in the research division “Software Engineering”. In addition to his professional activities, Jan Sürmeli is involved in the GI Gesellschaft für Informatik.