{"links":{"self":"http://dataportal.arc.gov.au/NCGP/API/grants/DE260100249"},"data":{"type":"grant-details","id":"DE260100249","attributes":{"code":"DE260100249","administering-organisation":"The University of Melbourne","announcement-administering-organisation":"The University of Melbourne","scheme-name":"Discovery Early Career Researcher Award","grant-status":"Active","funding-commencement-year":2026,"years-funded":3,"project-start-date":"2026-01-01","anticipated-end-date":"2028-12-31","grant-summary":"Safe & Sound: Privacy-Enhancing Technologies To Protect Young People Online. This project will develop privacy-preserving technologies to protect young people online while upholding security and individual rights. Australian policymakers trying to protect children face challenges in balancing privacy and effectiveness of mandatory requirements, highlighted by recent debates around the under-16 social media ban. The research will evaluate age-verification systems through realistic testing, engage parents and young people to ensure safety measures reflect community expectations, and explore ways to detect harmful content without harming privacy. By tackling limitations with safer alternatives, the project aims to provide policymakers with evidence-based recommendations to enhance digital safety for young Australians.","funding-current":522704.00,"funding-at-announcement":518685,"investigators-current":[{"title":"Dr","firstName":"Shaanan","familyName":"Cohney","roleName":"Discovery Early Career Researcher Award","roleCode":"DECRA","isFellowship":true,"orcidIdentifier":"0000-0002-0890-6590 "}],"investigators-at-announcement":[{"title":"Dr","firstName":"Shaanan","familyName":"Cohney","roleName":"Discovery Early Career Researcher Award","roleCode":"DECRA","isFellowship":true,"orcidIdentifier":"0000-0002-0890-6590 "}],"organisations-current":[{"organisationName":"The University of Melbourne","roleName":"Administering Organisation","state":"VIC"}],"organisations-at-announcement":[{"organisationName":"The University of Melbourne","roleName":"Administering Organisation","state":"VIC"}],"field-of-research":[{"isPrimary":true,"code":"4604","name":"Cybersecurity and Privacy","type":"FOR20"},{"isPrimary":false,"code":"460401","name":"Cryptography","type":"FOR20"},{"isPrimary":false,"code":"460406","name":"Software and Application Security","type":"FOR20"},{"isPrimary":false,"code":"460806","name":"Human-Computer Interaction","type":"FOR20"}],"socio-economic-objective":[{"code":"220405","name":"Cybersecurity","type":"SEO20"},{"code":"220407","name":"Human-Computer Interaction","type":"SEO20"},{"code":"230405","name":"Law Reform","type":"SEO20"}],"international-collaboration":["United States of America"],"lief-register":[],"achievement-summary":null,"national-interest-test-statement":"Protecting young people online is an urgent issue. The Australian government passed legislation to ban children under 16 from some social media platforms. The backlash against this ban highlights the challenge of balancing safety, privacy, and individual rights. Yet, Australian policymakers currently lack the robust research needed to gauge the real-world effectiveness and security of digital safeguards. This project aims to identify the limitations of current security engineering approaches and develop innovative paradigms for online child protection that will not sacrifice their privacy. It will rigorously evaluate the age-verification systems planned for deployment in Australia, testing their efficacy and compliance with individual rights in realistic settings as young people may actively attempt to bypass these measures. It will engage parents and young people to define the ideal parameters that align technological constraints with community expectations. It will explore the feasibility of improving cryptographic messaging protocols that integrate child safety features—such as detecting known child sexual abuse material—without compromising the fundamental security properties of digital systems. Research findings will be shared through media articles, a policy roundtable, and a public white paper. It will provide evidence-based recommendations for policy that will ensure safer digital spaces while upholding democratic values, providing social benefits for Australia."}}}