Professor Madeline Carr appointed Deputy Director of REPHRAIN

The National Research Centre on Privacy, Harm Reduction and Adversarial Influence Online (REPHRAIN) will develop a wide range of tools to keep people safe and informed online, including automated tools to flag online harms in social media and a map to identify and avoid different threats such as fraud or disinformation. Researchers at the centre will also develop new methods to protect against micro-targeting, a tactic used to gather data about individuals, and a Data Advice Bureau to help citizens navigate online spaces safely. The centre is supported by £8.6 million of funding from UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) Strategic Priorities Fund.

Professor Madeline Carr, Deputy Director of REPHRAIN, said: “We see this as the challenge of our generation and getting it right will have huge implications for the digital economy, for human rights online, and for the future potential of utilising data to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems. We know these complex issues can only be addressed by working across disciplines and sectors, by bringing together technical experts, social scientists, industry and government – in pursuit of improving the human condition in the digital age. We’re delighted to be leading on this with a consortium of some of the most innovative thinkers on protecting citizens online.”

Bringing together a team of the UK’s world-leading cyber security experts, REPHRAIN will explore the range of online harms to which diverse groups of people can be exposed, the effectiveness of privacy and online safety measures, and how to balance risks while improving citizens’ ability to participate fully in the growing digital economy.

To achieve this, the centre will develop a number of mechanisms, including a world-first Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs) testbed to assess the technical effectiveness and usability of privacy and online-harm reduction measures. As part of the REPHRAIN Toolbox – a one-stop shared set of resources - this testbed will allow PETs to be developed, deployed and evaluated by researchers, practitioners, policy-makers and regulators.

Researchers will also develop a map to guide citizens, policymakers and researchers on solutions to different privacy and online harm issues and to act as a blueprint for future certification of online products and services, signposting privacy and harm measures and their efficacy.

The Centre will support 25 inaugural research projects, to be carried out through the five founding UK universities and stakeholder organisations. A capability fund will allow the Centre to support the activities of academic and non-academic partners beyond the founding members, growing REPHRAIN’s capabilities and outputs, and further enhancing the UK’s capacity to protect citizens online.

REPHRAIN brings together researchers from UCL STEaPP and UCL Computer Science, the universities of Bristol, Edinburgh and Bath, and King’s College London, who will work with partners across industry, policy and the third sector to develop measures to empower individual citizens regarding their privacy and online safety.