Research & Ethics

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 […]

The Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) has been awarded grants by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Department of Energy (DOE) to support FPF’s establishment of a Research Coordination Network (RCN) for Privacy-Preserving Data and Analytics. FPF’s work will support the development and deployment of Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs) for socially beneficial data sharing […]

Today, the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) published a report on corporate-academic partnerships that provides practical recommendations for companies and researchers who want to share data for research. The Report, Data Sharing for Research: A Compendium of Case Studies, Analysis, and Recommendations, demonstrates how, for many organizations, data-sharing partnerships are transitioning from being considered an […]

Author: Randy Cantz, U.S. Policy Intern, Ethics and Data in Research and former Communications Intern at FPF On Wednesday, May 10, 2023, the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) honored representatives from Optum and the Mayo Clinic for their outstanding corporate-academic research data-sharing partnership at the 3rd annual Awards for Research Data Stewardship. The awards honor […]

Today, the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) — a global non-profit focused on data protection headquartered in Washington, D.C. — announced the winners of the third annual Award for Research Data Stewardship.  FPF is a long-standing advocate for privacy-protective data sharing by industry to the research community to advance scientific insights and drive progress in […]

Today, the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) published “The Playbook: Data Sharing for Research,” a report on best practices for instituting research data-sharing programs between corporations and research institutions. FPF also developed a summary of recommendations from the full report. Facilitating data sharing for research purposes between corporate data holders and academia can unlock new scientific […]

When companies share data with researchers in a way that protects data, the collaboration can unlock new scientific insights and drive progress in medicine, public health, education, social science, and many other fields.  FPF is thrilled to announce the open nomination period for FPF’s 3rd Annual Award for Research Data Stewardship. The Award recognizes partnerships […]

In 2021, challenges faced by academics in accessing corporate data sets for research and the issues that companies were experiencing to make privacy-respecting research data available broke into the news. With its long history of research data sharing, FPF saw an opportunity to bring together leaders from the corporate, research, and policy communities for a conversation […]

There are many different uses of the term “data sharing” to describe a relationship between parties who share data from one organization to another organization for a new purpose.  Some uses of the term data sharing are related to academic and scientific research purposes, and some are related to transfer of data for commercial or government purposes. ..it is imperative that we are more precise which forms of sharing we are referencing so that the interests of the parties are adequately considered, and the various risks and benefits are appropriately contextualized and managed.

Digital data is a strategic asset for business. It is also an asset for researchers seeking to answer socially beneficial questions using company held data. Research using secondary data introduces new challenges and ethical concerns for research administrators and research ethics committees, like IRBs.  FPF Senior Researcher, AI & Ethics, Dr. Sara Jordan, analyzes some […]