The Data Trusts Initiative is offering research grants for projects that can help bridge the gap between discussions about the potential of data trusts and their practical application.

By empowering individuals to assert their data rights, data trusts offer a way for individuals and groups to influence how and why organisations are able to use data about them. However, despite much recent excitement surrounding the role data trusts could play in creating trustworthy data governance institutions, gaps in understanding about the form and function of these trusts remain.

Governments across the world are embedding the idea of data trusts in policy developments. This post reviews recent policy proposals from India, Canada and the EU.

The EU’s draft data strategy set out its aim to promote a European data economy, while protecting individual rights and embedding ethical considerations in data governance. Data trusts offer a tool for bridging the gap between aspirations to share data and concerns about individual rights. This blog considers the role of data trusts in the European policy landscape and the action needed to create a policy environment to support their development.

Sharing data can bring a range of benefits for individuals, organisations and society. Achieving these aspirations requires governance structures that enable data access, while managing the rights and responsibilities associated with different data types. Different forms of such structures exist, and they are differently suited to different purposes.