Facebook-owner Meta is teaming up with researchers from Irish institutions affiliated with Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) to conduct research on data privacy protection.

The company has announced €500,000 in funding for two projects that will form a part of an four-year academic and industry research programme called Empower, run by four SFI research centres: Lero, Insight, FutureNeuro and Adapt.

Looking at current data governance and privacy protection systems, the two projects will aim to identify gaps and opportunities to “ensure that future privacy standards and protections are effective, inclusive and fair”.

Data privacy has been a hotly debated issue in Europe for several years, with two major acts to curb the influence of Big Tech in the EU pipeline. Last month, MEPs voted in favour of the long-debated Digital Services Act to shift the balance of power from the hands of Big Tech and into the hands of EU residents.

Meta said it is investing in the data privacy area of research because it “believes people should be confident that their data is protected, being shared responsibly and that they have options to access, delete, and move it”.

“The role of technology in our lives and society is evolving faster than ever before. It is critical that we work hard to put privacy first and work with people at the forefront of emerging technologies and scientific understanding to find solutions to current and future industry challenges,” said Dan Hayden, director of privacy policy at Meta.

One of the funded projects will take place at the SFI Adapt research centre based in Trinity College Dublin. It will aim to give partners in the healthcare data space a framework for understanding the policy constraints on data sharing – ensuring it “respects the rights and freedom of users”.

Another project, based in the SFI Insight research centre in University College Cork, will focus on privacy enhancing technologies such as de-identification and anonymisation, aiming to enhance people’s trust in privacy systems and regulators’ ability to understand AI-powered systems.

Prof Markus Helfert of Maynooth University, who is the director of Empower, said that the Meta investment supports research projects addressing “significant challenges” of data governance, helping realise Empower’s ambition of establishing leading practices in data governance.

“This will form the foundation, technologies and key approaches of a trusted global data ecosystem, with positive societal impact. As the amount of data increases, data ecosystems need to be governed effectively driving complex information supply chains,” he said.

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