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Professional headshot of a woman with long, wavy brown hair, looking directly at the camera with a slight smile. She wears thick dark-rimmed glasses, a grey textured tweed blazer over a white blouse, a multi-strand beaded statement necklace, a black smartwatch, and a large round gold ring on her crossed arms, set against a plain white background.

Nighat Dad

Research Fellow

Bio

Bio

Nighat Dad is a Research Fellow with the Human Rights Center, a lawyer, and the founder and Executive Director of the Digital Rights Foundation, a feminist digital rights organization based in Lahore, Pakistan, which she established in 2012 to confront online violence against women. Under her leadership, DRF launched Pakistan’s first Digital Security Helpline, which provides survivors of technology-facilitated gender-based violence with legal aid, digital security support, and psychological counseling. She is also a member of the Independent Oversight Board, which reviews content moderation decisions on Facebook and Instagram. Nighat previously served on the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence. Her work focuses on technology-facilitated gender-based violence, platform accountability, surveillance, and inclusive AI governance in the Global South. She received the Human Rights Tulip Award in 2016 and was named one of TIME’s Next Generation Leaders.