The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has launched a grants programme which it hopes will promote data protection and privacy research in the UK.

The UK’s data watchdog will award a number of grants each year – with a minimum grant of £20,000, and a maximum of £100,000. 

The programme aims to increase awareness of privacy-enhancing solutions with data controllers across the UK; advance the understanding of how individuals view privacy issues; and improve interactions with new technologies.

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Its other objectives are to promote better public awareness, promote uptake and application of research results by relevant stakeholders including policy makers, and develop existing privacy research capacity in the academic and not-for-profit sectors.

The ICO said that the proposals did not need to be technology-based but must have a practical application and provide "real world solutions" that are of clear benefit to the UK public.

The bid for grants should meet one or more of the five strategic goals set out in the ICO’s Information Rights Strategic Plan – a plan which aims to promote trust for the public.

The five goals are: to increase the public’s trust and confidence in how data is used and made available; to improve standards of information rights practice through clear, inspiring and targeted engagement and influence; to maintain and develop influence within the global information rights regulatory community; to stay relevant, provide excellent public service and keep abreast of evolving technology; and to enforce the laws that the ICO helps to shape and oversee.

“This year we are seeking privacy by design or accountability solutions which focus on key privacy challenges or the privacy implications of new technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence, machine learning, social scoring and blockchain,” the ICO said.

“We are also interested in projects that address the privacy challenges related to children and the internet,” it added.