Pria Chetty
Senior Adviser (Centre of Digital Excellence)
Pria Chetty leads the digital policy and regulation work at Genesis’ Centre of Digital Excellence (C0DE). Her areas of expertise include data protection and privacy, digital economy and trade regulation, digital skills and inclusion policy, AI regulation, cybersecurity and open data governance.
Pria has experience as a technology law and policy adviser to the public and private sector, national governments and international organisations.
In 2007 she founded a specialist technology law firm that was acquired by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in 2011. She went on to head up the Southern Africa technology law practice for PwC where she established the technology regulatory compliance practice, advising clients on the regulatory implications of emerging digital technologies.
She was later appointed as the regional data protection adviser to the International Telecoms Union where she led initiatives to develop model frameworks and national laws and policies for data protection in Africa.
As the regional director of EndCode, Pria consulted to global tech firms, intragovernmental organisations, national governments and regulators on policy and regulation in the areas of data protection, privacy, cybersecurity, e-government and data governance. She has also worked with the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office where she headed up policy and programmes in the education, skills and digital areas for South Africa.
As a thought leader, Pria has presented at local and international technology conferences, and published in local and international newspapers, magazines and journals. She has published book chapters examining emerging technology law and policy topics with particular emphasis on recommendations for developing countries.
Pria has served as member of regional and international expert groups and advisory boards including the BRICS Cybersecurity Expert Group, Southern African Innovation Association and Wikimedia (ZA). She served on the faculty of the African School for Internet Governance and was an associate at the Global Cybersecurity Centre at Oxford University.
She is an admitted attorney. Her law degree from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban is supplemented by a master’s in ICT Policy and Regulation.
