The United Nations University – Operating Unit on Policy-driven Electronic Governance (UNU-EGOV) will host the workshop "Co-Creative Session on Sandboxing for Digital Governance" on 24 March 2026, from 09h30 to 13h30 (Lisbon time).
The workshop facilitator is Thiago Guimaraes Moraes, PhD Fellow at the United Nations University Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies (UNU-CRIS) and Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) with research on the use of "by design" approaches – such as privacy by design, ethics by design and legal protection by design – to foster responsible innovation and safeguard fundamental rights in Artificial Intelligence (AI) regulatory sandboxes (AIRS).
The event is addressed to policymakers and regulators, civil society organizations, academia and industry representatives with responsibilities or interest in digital governance, sandbox in IA and data-driven public services.
Workshop Overview
The goal of this workshop is to explore how regulatory sandbox methodologies can foster responsible innovation in digital governance by embedding meaningful participation throughout both the sandbox process and the AI development.
Part 1: (Plenary) Conceptual Framing. 1.1. Introduction to the session objectives and expected outcomes and brief overview of the research visit and the relevance of sandboxes for digital governance. 1.2. What are sandboxes and key characteristics: experimentation, regulatory learning, responsible innovation. The growing relevance of sandboxes in AI and data-driven public services. 1.3. Introduction to participatory framework for AI regulatory sandboxes in two dimensions: participation across the sandbox process (design, application, onboarding, testing, evaluation) and participation across the AI system development process (idea conception, data curation, model building, model and system testing and validation).
Part 2: (Focus Group Discussions) The participants are divided into 2-3 breakout groups and discuss a specific scenario in which they assume the AI system is being developed and tested within a regulatory sandbox for a public service. Their task is to map which stakeholders should be involved, where and how participation could be embedded, identify key challenges based on a pre-defined list and reflect on tensions and possible workarounds.
Part 3: (Plenary) Synthesis and reflection. 3.1. Each group presents key insights on participation across the sandbox and AI development processes and main challenges in their scenario. 3.2. Cross-cutting discussion with comparison across sectors and identification of common patterns and sector-specific issues. 3.3. Summary of main takeaways and feedback to guide the participatory sandbox design and further research.
Speaker Bio
Thiago Guimarães Moraes (Brazil) is a PhD Fellow at UNU-CRIS and VUB. Thiago conducts research on the use of "by design" approaches – such as privacy by design, ethics by design and legal protection by design – to foster responsible innovation and safeguard fundamental rights in Artificial Intelligence (AI) regulatory sandboxes (AIRS).
He is pursuing a joint-degree PhD in Law through an agreement between the University of Brasília (UnB) and VUB. His research is supervised by Prof. Dr. Gloria González Fuster (VUB) and Prof. Dr. Alexandre Kehrig Veronese (UnB).
In addition to his academic pursuits, Thiago serves as a Specialist in Data Protection and AI Governance at the Brazilian Data Protection Authority (ANPD). Previously, he held key roles within ANPD, including as Coordinator of Innovation and Research and as its first Data Protection Officer.
Thiago is also a co-founder and council member of the Laboratory of Public Policy and Internet (LAPIN), a Brazilian civil society organization dedicated to advancing digital policy. His active participation in Internet Governance Forums at the global and national levels since 2018 has deepened his understanding of multistakeholder processes as vital tools for addressing complex challenges in digital governance.
With an interdisciplinary background in Law and Technology, Thiago’s research bridges these fields to explore regulatory sandboxes – controlled environments for innovation that facilitate collaboration among regulators, innovators, and other stakeholders. His PhD aims to develop actionable recommendations for designing AIRS that enable responsible innovation while ensuring robust protections for fundamental rights. He believes that developing a multistakeholder methodology that includes civil society engagement in AIRS is essential to achieve these goals.