The University of Kent will lead one of 11 new government research projects, addressing challenges about ‘Trust, Identity, Privacy and Security in the Digital Economy’.

PRIvacy-aware personal data management and Value Enhancement for Leisure Travellers (PriVELT), will be co-ordinated by the University of Kent as the lead institution.

The project’s overall aim is to develop a digital platform that will empower leisure travellers to better manage the sharing of their personal data. It also aims to  foster new business opportunities for the travel and tourism industry through encouraging better (more transparent and effective) usage of travellers’ data.

The project’s principal investigator Professor Shujun Li said: ‘I cannot wait to start working on this exciting new project. The rapid development of technologies such as smart phones, mobile payment systems, sharing economy (eg Airbnb and Uber) and service robots has been drastically changing the whole travel industry and people’s travel experience, with increasing concerns on privacy protection of travellers’ personal data.

‘By conducting the project, we aim at providing solid evidence on a social-technical framework that will lead to a set of new tools benefiting both travellers and travel service providers. We would also like to engage wider stakeholders, so if you are interested in contributing to the project please feel free to get in touch with us.’