Persona Research Grants

Persona has an open and ongoing call for research proposals that advance digital identity, privacy, fraud prevention, and online safety. We support work that contributes knowledge to the field, opens new areas of inquiry, and helps make digital services safer and more accessible.

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.

Research topics

The Research group at Persona has four primary areas of interest:

Data privacy

Protects personal data throughout identity verification and fraud prevention processes. Areas of interest include:

• Applied cryptography and privacy-enhancing technologies

• Data minimization, selective disclosure, and zero-knowledge methods

• Privacy-preserving biometric systems

• Secure methods for linking or reusing identity information

• Differential privacy and privacy-preserving machine learning

Fraud intelligence

Improves organizations’ ability to identify, measure, and prevent fraud. Areas of interest include:

• Emerging fraud methods, scams, and attack patterns

• Synthetic media, deepfakes, and presentation attacks

• Fraud benchmarks, taxonomies, and evaluation methods

• Methods for evaluating systems in adversarial environments

Online safety

Helps online services establish trust while preserving individual privacy and access. Areas of interest include:

• Privacy-preserving identity systems

• Safety and identity needs of children and other at-risk groups

• Account integrity, impersonation, and identity-based abuse

• Personhood credentials and reusable proofs

• Frameworks for measuring online harm and the effectiveness of safety interventions

Accessible identity

Makes authentication and identity verification more inclusive. Areas of interest include:

• Accessible verification experiences for people with disabilities

• Fairness and performance across demographic groups

• Support for people with limited access to identity documents

• Multilingual and culturally responsive verification experiences

We welcome proposals that span more than one area. We will also consider adjacent topics when applicants can explain their relevance to digital identity, fraud prevention, or online privacy and safety.

Award details

Research awards are grants of up to $100,000, generally intended to be completed within approximately 12 months. Funds are disbursed directly to the recipient’s university or degree-granting research institution. Multi-institution projects may involve up to two institutions.

Research gifts are made directly to the institution and do not include institutional overhead or other indirect costs. Final terms are subject to the recipient institution’s policies and agreement with Persona.

Eligibility

Principal investigators (PIs) and co-PIs must be full-time faculty or researchers at a university or degree-granting research institution. This includes professors, lecturers, research faculty, and research associates.

Doctoral students may be named as team members, subject to institution policies, but each proposal must have an eligible faculty or research lead. Applicants may hold one active proposal at a time, and proposals may have up to two PIs.

What to include in your proposal

Proposals should be up to three pages, excluding references, biographies, and budget. All applications should include:

• Project title and abstract. Provide a clear overview of the proposed work.

• Research team and qualifications. Identify the team and relevant expertise.

• Problem and research questions. Explain the problem and the questions the project will address.

• Proposed approach. Describe the methods you plan to use.

• Milestones. Outline key milestones and a timeline.

• Expected outcomes. Describe the expected results and contributions.

• Responsible research considerations. Address ethics, privacy, and safety.

• Collaboration with Persona. Describe how you would work with Persona.

• Budget. Provide a high-level budget showing how you plan to use the award.

Do not include personal data, confidential information, proprietary datasets, or other sensitive material in the application.

Email your proposal to research@withpersona.com. Please include “Research program” and the lead applicant’s name in the subject line.

Review criteria

We evaluate each proposal against the following criteria:

• Applicant and team experience. The team’s expertise and qualifications for the proposed work.

• Research merit and potential impact. The importance of the problem and the potential contribution.

• Alignment with Persona’s research interests. Connection to Persona’s four primary research areas.

• Proposal quality and feasibility. The strength of the methods and the likelihood of success within the planned timeline.

• Responsible research. Attention to ethics, privacy, fairness, and safety.

• Potential for collaboration. Whether the project is a good fit for collaboration with Persona.

Resulting publications and intellectual property

Persona supports the publication and sharing of research results. Publication and IP terms will be agreed in writing before the project begins. Some projects may require a limited review period before publication to protect confidential information.