The Data Privacy Lab at UC Berkeley’s Center for Effective Global Action is an applied research and engineering group that develops and deploys privacy‑enhancing technologies (PETs) to enable safe data sharing and analysis for welfare‑enhancing initiatives.

Why PETs in LMICs?

In many LMICs, governments, firms, and humanitarian organizations are increasingly relying on large volumes of personal data to deliver services, target assistance, and monitor outcomes. These data can be powerful for economic and social protection, financial inclusion, and crisis response, but their use – even for welfare-enhancing activities – also creates serious privacy risks.

PETs – such as differential privacy, synthetic data, secure multiparty computation, and other cryptographic tools – leverage advances in mathematics and computing to protect sensitive data while enabling secure use for research, decision-making, and innovation. Yet implementing these methods requires specialized engineering expertise, slowing adoption and widening the gap between research advances and real-world practice.

What the Lab does

The Data Privacy Lab focuses on designing, building, and evaluating practical PET solutions for real programs and policies in LMICs. Our work centers on both technical implementation and institutional decision‑making, so that partners can adopt PETs in a way that fits their operational constraints.

Unlike academia’s traditional focus on journal publications, we prioritize real-world impact. In particular, we:

• Bridge urgent gaps between academic research and real-world engineering.

• Seek projects that are immediately useful to governments and organizations.

• Work hands-on with governments and organizations, involving privileged access to sensitive data. To date, we have worked with various data sources, including:
  • Mobile phone call detail records;
  • Financial transaction histories; and
  • Census and administrative data

Who we work with

We are an academic research institute that partners with governments and organizations in LMICs. As part of our partnership, we provide:

• Technical Assistance & Expertise: Provide specialized guidance on deploying PETs. Our technologies are open-sourced and vendor-free.
• System Integration & Support: Help integrate technologies into existing systems and workflows to maximize impact and usability.
• Ongoing Engagement & Monitoring: Facilitate continuous dialogue, technical support, and monitoring to ensure privacy solutions are effectively embedded and evolving with emerging risks and innovations.

Get involved!

The Data Privacy Lab is designed as a hub that brings together technologists, policymakers, and implementers who face concrete data‑privacy challenges in LMICs. 

Government, organization, or implementing partner with a data‑privacy challenge?

If you have an existing (or upcoming) project that requires sharing sensitive data, we want to collaborate and explore how PETs could support your goals. Reach out to Nitin Kohli (the Lab’s Principal Investigator) with a short description of your context and goals to explore collaboration.

Students or researchers interested in applied PET work? 

If you are a student or researcher who is motivated by solving real-world problems, join us in tackling real-world privacy challenges. Email Nitin Kohli with your background, motivations, and STEM skills – we’d love to hear from you. Also check CEGA’s opportunities page for current openings.