Nakshathra Suresh

Nakshathra Suresh is a cyber criminologist, entrepreneur, academic and international speaker based in Sydney, Australia. She is currently the only criminologist in Australia actively advocating for artificial intelligence and emerging technology safety, bringing a unique social science perspective to digital safety challenges.

Her primary areas of expertise include:

• privacy, digital literacy and wellbeing
• cybersecurity and surveillance on social media and internet-based platforms
• stranger-based cybercrime (including technology-facilitated violence)
• emerging technologies (including IoT) and AI-facilitated harms
• bridging technology innovation with safety, ethics and responsible development

As the co-founder of eiris, a technology consultancy, Nakshathra helps startups, businesses and organisations deploy technology safely using safety-by-design principles. She works with companies to help them understand the human impact of technology integration, which encompasses ethical, psychological, social, and criminal outcomes. Nakshathra currently serves as the Oceania Youth Ambassador for the Internet Society, advocating for an open, secure, and trustworthy internet through championing cybersecurity and safety principles.

She regularly teaches with the Faculty of Law & Justice at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), having created and led the university's first criminology-backed cybersecurity course (CRIM3040). This groundbreaking course introduces students to cybersecurity through criminological, legal, policy, and regulatory frameworks, producing a new generation of interdisciplinary cyber criminologists.

Known for her unique, hands-on approach to presentations, Nakshathra has delivered addresses at various conferences, podcasts, webinars and professional forums across the world. Her presentations have reached diverse audiences including law enforcement professionals, public servants, academics, startup founders, industry professionals, and students. She has been a finalist for numerous awards, including the 2024 Women's Agenda Leadership Awards 'Emerging Leader in Tech', 2024 Australian South Asian Centre's Stellar South Asian Women Awards 'Global Shaper', 2024 Female Factor's 'A Voice for a New Era of Leaders', and 2025 South Asian Women in Business Awards 'Tech and Innovation'. Nakshathra’s work bridges the critical gap between technological innovation and its human impact, ensuring that digital safety considerations are embedded in product development from the earliest stages. She addresses what she sees as a collective failure to protect those most vulnerable to cybercrime, working at the intersection of cyber safety, mental health, and social advocacy to empower both individuals and organisations to navigate the digital landscape more safely and responsibly.

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