New Data Trusts Initiative will spearhead community-focused data governance

A new initiative from this Department will build a community of researchers and social entrepreneurs developing fresh approaches to data governance challenges.

Existing laws already provide a variety of data rights, but exercising them can demand considerable knowledge, time, and energy, especially in today's rapidly-evolving data environment, where data is being used and re-used in different ways. Data trusts offer a new mechanism to achieve trustworthy data sharing.

A data trust is a mechanism for individuals to take the data rights that are set out in law and pool these into an organisation – a trust – in which trustees make decisions about data use on their behalf. These trusts have received widespread attention in recent years from policymakers across the world. Further action is now needed to identify how data trusts could help tackle real-world data governance challenges. The University of Cambridge Department of Computer Science and Technology has launched a new Data Trusts Initiative that aims to take a new approach to data stewardship from theory to practice. 

The Initiative will support research at the interface of technology, policy and the law, focussing on the use of trust law and fiduciary responsibilities to address data governance challenges. Co-chaired by Professor Neil Lawrence, Deepmind Professor of Machine Learning here, and Professor Sylvie Delacroix (University of Birmingham), the Initiative will also support pilot projects that help communities create new data governance institutions to tackle areas of local need.

"To reap the benefits of AI, we need a modern data infrastructure that manages our desire to share data for public benefit and our concerns about how we might be vulnerable in the digital environment," says Professor Lawrence. "The idea of 'data trusts' has attracted significant policy interest in recent years. The Data Trusts Initiative will seek to shift the policy debate from concept to real-world application."

Professor Delacroix adds: "Data trusts offer a new approach to data governance, empowering individuals and groups to influence how data about them is used. This Initiative will work across civil society, academia and industry to develop fresh approaches to data governance challenges."

This initiative is supported by the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, a global philanthropy at the forefront of new efforts to protect data rights.

"A transformation is needed in how data are held, managed and governed so that the benefits of AI and data are shared by all," says Vilas Dhar, president of the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation. "The new Data Trusts Initiative will help lead the way toward trusted institutions that give individuals and communities the ability to protect and control their data."

The Data Trusts Initiative is part of a wider research agenda on the effective deployment of machine learning being led by Professor Lawrence here in the Department. It will convene a programme of events and workshops later this year. For further information about the programme, please visit https://www.cst.cam.ac.uk/research/data-trusts or contact data-trusts@cst.cam.ac.uk  

• The Patrick J. McGovern Foundation is dedicated to advancing AI and data science solutions to create a thriving, equitable, and sustainable future for all. The Foundation is the legacy of IDG founder Patrick J. McGovern, who believed in the potential for technology to democratize information, improve the human condition and advance social good.