Katya Abazajian (USA, 1993) is an open data policy specialist with experience working at the Sunlight Foundation in Washington D.C., a non-profit organisation advocating for open government. After finishing her studies in economics and mathematics, she began advocating policies for open data and transparent government practices, particularly on a local scale. She has monitored local elections, studied local tax, housing and social issues, and analysed open data about neighbourhoods.

“While working, I was surprised to find out that many local governments were not using or sharing data to tackle social issues, which could help understand and get to the root of communities' problems. This is something that I wanted to change and that’s how I ended up working together with local governments and communities, teaching them how to use local data to understand social issues. The future will certainly contain a lot of data and technology, so governments and communities understand how they can affect individuals, communities, and culture.”