Nighat Dad is the ​Founder and executive director of the Digital Rights Foundation (DRF), Pakistan, She has run the DRF since it was established in 2012, and has been a practicing lawyer since 2007, where she worked on civil​,​ criminal​ and now cyber​ litigation​. ​



Nighat has been an affiliate for Internet and Society at the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard University from 2016 to 201​8​, USA. Prior to this, she completed a certification in Internet Governance from the Diplo Foundation in 2011. She was TIME Magazine’s next generation leader in 2015, and received the Tulip Award​ from Dutch Govt​ as well as the Atlantic Council Freedom Award in 2016. She was a TED Fellow in 2017, and is on the World Economic Forum (WEF)’s Young Global Leaders 2018 list.​ Nighat has also established regions first cyber harassment helpline in Pakistan in 2016.