Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) Grants

Overview

They have introduced this Grants Programme to promote good practice - to support independent, innovative research and solutions focused on privacy and data protection issues. The Grants Programme supports the delivery of the ICO Information Rights Strategic Plan 2017-2021. Eligible organisations are invited to bid for grants to facilitate independent research and projects. This research feeds into the ICO’s own policy thinking and must benefit the people of the UK.

Funding Available

The minimum award is £20,000 and the maximum award is £100,000.

Objectives

The objectives of the Grants Programme are to:

• support and encourage research and privacy-enhancing solutions in significant areas of data protection risk;
• focus on projects that will make a real difference to the UK public;
• increase awareness of privacy-enhancing solutions with data controllers across the UK;
• improve understanding of how individuals view privacy issues, interactions with new technologies and promote better public awareness;
• promote uptake and application of research results by relevant stakeholders, including policy makers; and
• develop existing privacy research capacity in academic and not-forprofit sectors.

Who can apply?

In order to tap into the broadest range of expertise in this area, the scheme is open to both UK and international organisations. All proposals must meet the objectives set out above, including the ability to deliver for UK individuals and organisations. They will not consider proposals that seek to find a solution to data protection or privacy risks that do not impact on the UK.

Eligible applicants (whether lead or joint) can include:

• academic institutions;
• organisations with a genuine commitment to public benefit outcomes;
• trade and industry associations; or
• civil society groups.

The lead applicant has full responsibility for undertaking the project, and must provide their contact details on the application form. Unless there are exceptional circumstances, no more than one award is made to any applicant in each funding round.

Research Themes

They set six strategic goals in our Information Rights Strategic Plan:

1. To increase the public’s trust and confidence in how data is used and made available.

2. Improve standards of information rights practice through clear, inspiring and targeted engagement and influence.

3. Maintain and develop influence within the global information rights regulatory community.

4. Stay relevant, provide excellent public service and keep abreast of evolving technology.

5. Enforce the laws we help shape and oversee.

6. To be an effective and knowledgeable regulator for cyber related privacy issues.

The ICO is inviting applications for projects that meet one or more of the strategic goals set out in their Information Rights Strategic Plan. In particular, they are seeking proposals that align with goals one, two and four.

They are looking for applications that provide a clear public benefit, with outputs that are open source and re-usable. Examples of areas they are interested in include:

• surveillance technologies;
• ‘datafication’ of homeworking;
• digital identity;
• data sharing, smart cities, artificial intelligence, big data; and
• data protection issues and solutions for vulnerable adults, groups at risk of inequality and children.

For full guidance notes, click here