About Us
AP4L (Adaptive PETs to Protect & emPower People during Life Transitions)
AP4L’s aim is to protect people from online dangers they are exposed to when going through serious real-life transitions such as relationship breakdowns, developing a serious illness, leaving employment in the Armed Forces, or coming out as LBGTQ+. This three-year, £3.4 million project funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council will produce Privacy-Enhancing Technologies (PETs) to support the online privacy and safety of people navigating significant life transitions. The researchers on the project are comprised of a multi-disciplinary team of experts in Cybersecurity, Psychology, Law, Business, and Criminology from Universities of Cambridge, Edge Hill, Edinburgh, Queen Mary University of London, Strathclyde and Surrey. They will be supported in this by 26 project partners ranging from UK charities representing the life transitions AP4L focuses on, UK charities focused on online safety issues, software companies and online platforms, institutions who play an important role during life transitions, and Government and Regulatory Bodies related to online harms and safety.
This project (Grant number: EP/W032473/1) has been supported through the UKRI Strategic Priority Fund as part of the wider Protecting Citizens Online programme and is associated with the National Research Centre on Privacy, Harm Reduction and Adversarial Influence Online (REPHRAIN).
The Privacy-Enhancing Technologies (PETs) to be developed in the project are:
Risk Playgrounds
Risk Playgrounds, which will build resilience by helping people to explore potentially risky interactions of life transitions with privacy settings across their digital footprint in safe ways.
Transition Guardians
Transition Guardians, which will provide real-time protection for users during life transitions.
Security Bubbles
Security Bubbles, which will promote connection by bringing people together who can help each other, or who need to work together, during one person's life transition, while providing additional guarantees to safeguard everyone involved.
News and Events
The Revenge Porn Helpline have released their latest report, exploring findings, trends and the impact of their work in 2022.
May 30, 2022
