Marcelle Chagas

Marcelle Chagas is a Brazilian journalist, researcher, and civil society leader based in Rio de Janeiro. She's the founder of GERATE Lab, an AI and information governance lab rooted in the Global South, working at the intersection of information integrity and digital sovereignty. Through GERATE Lab, she conducted the Territórios Digitais research — recognized in Brazil's federal COP30 preparatory process and incorporated into the UNESCO/AI Impact Alliance publication Democratic Infrastructure for Creative Futures. She's also the founding director and general coordinator of Rede de Jornalistas Pretos (Rede JP), Brazil's largest network of Black journalists, active across more than 80 countries. Marcelle created REPCONE, a digital protection program for women communicators across Latin America, and co-leads the CIIRE subcommittee within the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent's Intersessional Consultative Support and Working Group (PFPAD/ICSWG). She holds a Mozilla Tech & Society Fellowship (2024–2026) and a Columbia Women's Leadership Network Fellowship, and her work as a technologist connects AI governance, information integrity, digital sovereignty, and press freedom for Global South communities.