FPF to Present First-Ever Research Data Stewardship Award

Nominations Requested by March 12, 2020

Today, the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) is announcing a first-of-its-kind award recognizing privacy protective research collaboration between a company and academic researchers. When privately held data is responsibly shared with academic researchers, it can support significant progress in medicine, public health, education, social science, and other fields.

With this in mind, FPF is requesting nominations for its Award for Research Data Stewardship. The goal is to promote the safe use and transfer of privately held company data to academic institutions for study and analysis. The award is supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, a not-for-profit grantmaking institution that supports high-quality, impartial scientific research and institutions.

“Increasingly, the challenges facing our society – health, transportation, education – are being addressed by independent research on consumer data collected by private companies,” said Jules Polonetsky, CEO of the Future of Privacy Forum. “This award recognizes projects that minimize potential privacy risks while helping academics access corporate data for research that benefits society.”

Academics and their corporate partners are invited to nominate a successful data-sharing project that reflects privacy protective approaches to data protection and ethical data sharing. Nominations will be reviewed and selected by an Award Committee comprised of representatives from FPF, leading foundations, academics, and industry leaders. Nominated projects will be judged based on several factors, including their adherence to privacy protection in the sharing process, the quality of the data handling process, and the company’s commitment to supporting the academic research. The award winner will be notified by Monday, March 16, 2020.

FPF will present the award at an April 6, 2020 gala in Washington, DC to a member of the academic research team and a senior executive at the company that provided the data. Applicants should apply by filling out the corporate and academic nomination forms by Thursday, March 12, 2020. Self-nominations and nominations from the public are welcome. Read more about the award, event, and more in the call for nominations, and email Kelsey Finch, FPF Senior Counsel, at [email protected] with any questions.