Future of Privacy Forum Partners on New National Science Foundation Large-Scale Research Infrastructure for Education
SafeInsights brings together digital learning platforms, institutions, and a world-class team to enable research studies to inform teaching and learning.
May 1, 2024 ― The Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) has received a subaward on the newly announced National Science Foundation (NSF) SafeInsights project, a five-year, $90 million research and development (R&D) infrastructure grant for inclusive education research. Led by OpenStax-Rice University, SafeInsights is a large-scale education research hub that will securely connect digital learning platforms and educational institutions to study learning across different contexts efficiently. This initiative represents the NSF’s largest single investment in R&D infrastructure for education at a national scale. SafeInsights will be the first national infrastructure of its kind and will deploy new techniques to ensure that research benefits are maximized while risk is minimized.
“Through this project, we’re excited to lend the Future of Privacy Forum’s expertise to help inform how researchers access rich learning data without compromising student privacy,” said John Verdi, FPF’s Senior Vice President for Policy. “Since its founding, FPF’s work has been driven by a belief that fair and ethical use of technology can improve people’s lives while safeguarding our privacy. SafeInsights’ model and directive will be critical to advancing the next generation of education research.”
SafeInsights includes a multidisciplinary network of 80 collaborating institutions and partners, including more than a dozen pioneering digital learning platforms that together reach tens of millions of students. The Future of Privacy Forum will collaborate with researchers and large-scale, digital learning platforms to enable privacy-preserving research studies to better understand student learning.
According to national polls conducted by the Data Quality Campaign, 86% of teachers see using educational data as an integral part of effective teaching. However, the majority of teachers must individually piece together strategies to interpret and use that data, often with limited resources.
FPF has a long history of advancing responsible research and data stewardship to accelerate safe data sharing between companies and academic researchers, including through its Privacy Research and Data Responsibility Research Coordination Network and Ethics and Data in Research Working Group.
“Better research leads to better learning. SafeInsights will enable a community of researchers to safely study large, diverse groups of students over time as they use different learning platforms,” said Richard Baraniuk, Rice professor, OpenStax founder, and project lead. “Researchers will be able to explore new ways to understand learning for students at all levels of education, which can lead to unprecedented discoveries and next-level innovations.”
“SafeInsights’ values of privacy and equity are perfectly aligned with those of the Future of Privacy Forum, an organization that has spent 15 years working to advance both in the digital realm,” said Shea Swauger, FPF’s Senior Policy Analyst for Data Sharing and Ethics. “We look forward to partnering on this important work, leveraging new technologies to ensure all students succeed.”
To learn more about SafeInsights and stay informed of future progress, please visit safeinsights.org.
About Future of Privacy Forum (FPF)
FPF is a global non-profit organization that brings together academics, civil society, government officials, and industry to evaluate the societal, policy, and legal implications of data use, identify the risks and develop appropriate protections. FPF believes technology and data can benefit society and improve lives if the right laws, policies, and rules are in place. FPF has offices in Washington D.C., Brussels, Singapore, and Tel Aviv. Follow FPF on X and LinkedIn.
