OPC – Contributions Program – 2025 Call for Proposals
Sponsor/agency: Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Program: Contributions Program
Description
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada has launched the 2025-2026 funding cycle for its Contributions Program with a call for proposals for research and knowledge-translation initiatives related to how smart devices use personal information.
The theme, “Connected but exposed: exploring smart devices and privacy,” aims to increase knowledge and awareness about these devices and how they collect, share, and use personal data. It is also open to proposals examining policy or legislative steps that can be taken to ensure that they come with privacy built in.
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada’s (OPC) Contributions Program funds independent privacy research and related knowledge translation initiatives. Applicants are encouraged to propose projects that generate new ideas, approaches, and knowledge about privacy. These projects can help organizations better safeguard personal information and Canadians make more informed decisions about protecting their privacy.
The Contributions Program, a widely-respected and pioneering research funding initiative, was created in 2004 to:
- support independent, non-profit research on privacy;
- further privacy policy development;
- promote the protection of personal information in Canada.
The Contributions Program provides funding of up to $500,000 annually for innovative privacy research and public awareness initiatives that seek to better understand and address key and emerging issues related to privacy. Individual project submissions may be eligible for up to $100,000 per project.
While project proposals related to this year’s theme are encouraged, the OPC may also accept projects that address any privacy-related topic related to the private sector. To be eligible for funding, proposals must address issues that fall within the scope of the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.
Program Summary
Deadlines: March 19, 2025: Mandatory internal administrative review deadline
March 24, 2025: Agency deadline
Value: up to $100,000
Indirect Costs: 15%
Duration: 1 year – April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026
How to Apply:
- Notify your Ewa Stewart of your intent to apply.
- Complete the application form, proposal attachment (see section 3 of the Applicant Guide), and budget.
- Submit a copy of the complete application package, and an RGA form signed by your Dean, to Ewa Stewart for review by March 19. Please note an institutional signature is required on the Application Form.
- Submit full application package by March 24 to contrib@priv.gc.ca.
Contact: Grants Officer: Ewa Stewart
OPC Contributions Program: contrib@priv.gc.ca
Program information:
OPC Contributions Program website
Contributions Program Applicant's Guide
Eligibility
Subject Matter
The objectives of the Program are:
- To capitalize on existing research capacity in academic, not-for-profit and other sectors to generate new knowledge and support the development of expertise in selected areas of privacy and data protection.
- To increase awareness and understanding among individuals and organizations of their privacy rights and obligations.
Eligible Projects: The Contributions Program is administered under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), which governs the collection, use or disclosure of personal information by organizations in the course of commercial activities. Accordingly, only research or public awareness proposals that address privacy issues in the private sector will be considered. Proposals that touch on issues falling within the federal public sector can be submitted, provided that the primary focus of the proposal deals with the private sector.
This year’s theme: “Connected but exposed: exploring smart devices and privacy”
The OPC is interested in receiving proposals for projects that increase knowledge and awareness with respect to smart devices, including associated data flows and technical, policy or legislative steps that can be taken to ensure these devices have privacy built into them.
We are firmly in the era of the “smart device.” On a daily basis, individuals will encounter or interact with increasing numbers of devices designed with the ability to not just passively collect and transmit data (i.e. being “connected”), but to act on that data – whether it be to automate a task or respond to a command. Designed appropriately, this can lead to a more convenient and accessible world. But without appropriate privacy protections in place, this new era could be one in which home appliances are listening in on private conversations, connected cars are developing profiles of their drivers (and their passengers), and AI-enabled children’s toys are providing targeted advertisements to toddlers.
PIPEDA provides a technology-neutral framework with which the OPC can evaluate new and emerging technologies. However, the pace of change in the era of the smart devices continues to accelerate. There is a need to better understand the specific data flows associated with smart devices – including what personal information is collected and under what circumstances, how it is processed and by whom, etc. – as well as current or emerging technologies, best practices or strategies for ensuring that the privacy of users, as well as anyone else in the vicinity of these devices, remains protected.
Consider, for instance, voice-activated smart devices. In general, they are equipped with a microphone passively listening for a “wake word.” Is that passive audio being processed on device? And when the wake word is detected and the device goes into active listening mode, what happens to the information that is collected? Can it be used for purposes other than responding to the user’s command? What happens when the user didn’t intend to say the wake word, but the device gets activated anyway? How is this impacted by third-party applications on a device with access to the microphone? And, importantly– how can we ensure these devices are privacy protective straight out-of-the-box?
With this in mind, some potential questions that could be avenues of research or public outreach for funding applicants in this year’s call for proposals include:
- Are smart devices (or the apps that run on them) able to intentionally and surreptitiously record private conversations? If so, is there any concrete proof of this occurring – and of how information is used? If not, is this a technical, policy or legislative limitation? Are there any steps that individual Canadians, regulators or legislators should take to prevent unintended recordings (and secondary uses of these recordings) by smart devices?
- Are there technical considerations – such as whether personal information is processed on device – that can have a significant impact on whether a smart device is considered “privacy respectful”? Will these change as technology evolves (for instance, as the extent of AI processing that is possible on-device changes)?
- What are the privacy impacts associated with the digital transformation of the automotive industry? What is the full scope of personal information being collected by connected vehicles, including the type and quantity of personal information? To what extent does this depend on the apps installed in the car? Who has access to this information and for what purposes it is being used? How will this be impacted by the introduction of smart infrastructure that communicates with these vehicles?
- Young Canadians have always been among the early adopters of new and connected technologies; what are the privacy impacts of those devices also being “smart” or AI-enabled?
Are there technologies or strategies currently available that would support (i) Canadians exercising more control over how their information is collected and used by smart devices, and/or (ii) privacy being designed into smart devices? If not, what could (or should) be developed to support these?
These are all issues that could be addressed under this year’s theme. But there are many more, and we hope that applicants will come up with additional innovative and forward-thinking research or public education projects under this theme.
That said, as in past years, project proposals do not need to be limited to this theme alone. We will also accept proposals for research or educational projects that address other cutting-edge issues that advance the protection of privacy in the private sector.
Regardless of the topic of the proposal, we encourage all applicants to incorporate an intersectional analysis into their project and to include strategies that could help reduce inequalities between people.
Partner Organization
The OPC encourages partnerships between academia and civil society; the OPC encourages universities and other research groups to develop partnerships with civil society organizations as part of their proposals. For example, universities could collaborate with public education groups, or advocacy associations could partner with research groups. During the assessment process, additional points will be allocated to proposals that put forward plans for such partnerships.