research
Overview
I am an Assistant Professor at the School of Computing in Dublin City University. My research interests include application of semantics towards solving real-world challenges associated with privacy, data protection, legal and regulatory compliance, and consent. My PhD (Computer Science, Trinity College Dublin) explored the application of linked data and semantic web technologies towards GDPR compliance, with a particular focus on consent and provenance. I chair the W3C Data Privacy Vocabularies and Controls Community Group (DPVCG) – which develops interoperable vocabularies for privacy and data protection activities based on legal and practical requirements. I am also involved in international standardisation activities through the National Standards Authority of Ireland and the ISO/IEC JTC1/SC27 subcommittee on cybersecurity and privacy protection.
You can see more information about my:
Research Interests
- Privacy
I'm interested in the exploration of issues regarding privacy, especially those related to use of technology and data protection. My primary motivation in this area is to facilitate discovery and consolidation of existing work in identification and mitigation of risks, and applying existing knowledge to future technologies and innovations. - Consent
Consent is a broad mechanism for agreement in the society, and is also an essential aspect of freedom based on choice. My primary interest regarding consent relates to its connection with privacy and data protection issues, where it is used as the legal justification for collecting and using personal data. My research revolves around quantification and representation of information regarding consent towards identifying and mitigating issues regarding transparency, accountability, and comprehension. - General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
The GDPR and other recent data protection/privacy laws such as the CCPA provide legal regulation of collecting, using, sharing personal data based upon the principles of privacy and data protection. My research interest revolves around quantification of the requirements and concepts of such laws and its representation for evaluating compliance of processes and activities involving personal data. - Semantic Web and Data Modeling
The Semantic Web standards, particularly RDF, provide a way for modeling and querying information based on the web infrastructure, permits creation of schemas and ontologies to represent concepts and relationships. My interest lies in using these for the representation, documentation, and modeling of information from other research interests.
Employment
I was a Research Fellow in the School of Computer Science and Statistics at Trinity College Dublin, and part of the ADAPT Research Centre where I primarily worked on exploring privacy risks of technologies using knowledge graphs through the RISKY project.
Projects
Past Projects
see complete list of projects-
Risky
Exploring Privacy Risks of Technologies using Knowledge Graphs
( - ) Principal Investigator (PI) -
Privacy-as-Expected: Consent Gateway
An end-to-end solution for managing consent online
( - ) Project Lead -
PROTECT
Protecting Personal Data Amidst Big Data Innovation
( - ) Research Assistant (RA) -
PhD Research
Representing Activities associated with Processing of Personal Data and Consent using Semantic Web for GDPR Compliance
( - ) researcher
Publications
See full list of publications with links to copies and resources here. Lists also available at Google Scholar and dblp.
Selected publications
-
Test-driven Approach Towards GDPR Compliance
Conference
International Conference on Semantic Systems
Harshvardhan J. Pandit* , Declan O'Sullivan , Dave Lewis -
Creating A Vocabulary for Data Privacy
Conference
International Conference on Ontologies, DataBases, and Applications of Semantics
Harshvardhan J. Pandit* , Axel Polleres* , Bert Bos , Rob Brennan , Bud Bruegger , Fajar Ekaputra , Javier Fernandez , Ramisa Hamed , Elmar Kiesling , Mark Lizar , Eva Schlehahn , Simon Steyskal , Rigo Wenning -
GConsent - A Consent Ontology based on the GDPR
Conference
Extended Semantic Web Conference
Harshvardhan J. Pandit* , Christophe Debruyne , Declan O'Sullivan , Dave Lewis -
GDPRtEXT - GDPR as a Linked Data Resource
Conference
Extended Semantic Web Conference
Harshvardhan J. Pandit* , Declan O'Sullivan , Dave Lewis
Recent Publications
-
To Be High-Risk, or Not To Be—Semantic Specifications and Implications of the AI Act’s High-Risk AI Applications and Harmonised Standards
to be presented Conference
Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency
Delaram Golpayegani* , Harshvardhan J. Pandit , Dave Lewis -
Relevant Research Questions For Decentralised (Personal) Data Governance
Ext. Abstract
Trusting Decentralised Knowledge Graphs and Web Data Workshop - co-located with Extended Semantic Web Conference
Anelia Kurteva* , Harshvardhan J. Pandit* -
Comparison and Analysis of 3 Key AI Documents: EU's Proposed AI Act, Assessment List for Trustworthy AI (ALTAI), and ISO/IEC 42001 AI Management System
Conference
Irish Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science
Delaram Golpayegani* , Harshvardhan J. Pandit , Dave Lewis -
Making Sense of Solid for Data Governance and GDPR
Journal
MDPI Information
Harshvardhan J. Pandit* -
We need to talk about AI: the case for citizens’ think-ins for citizen-researcher dialogue and deliberation
Report
Dublin City University
Emma Clarke* , Harshvardhan J. Pandit , P. J. Wall
Groups and Memberships
Ongoing
-
W3C Data Privacy Vocabularies and Controls Community Group (DPVCG)
The DPVCG is a community-group that works towards developing vocabularies and taxonomies arising from privacy laws such as the GDPR. The Data Privacy Vocabulary represents its primary outcome and deliverable. I am a participant and member of the group since and am currently co-chairing it. -
W3C Consent Community Group (DPVCG)
The ConsentCG aims to improve the experience of digital "consenting" while ensuring it remains adherent to relevant standards and laws. I am the founder of the group and its co-chair since . -
ISO/IEC JTC1/SC27/WG5 Identity Management and Privacy Technologies
ISO/IEC has committees and working groups that work on development of standards, with the Working Group 5 in Sub-Committee 27 responsible for privacy technologies. I participate as a (domain) 'expert' in WG5 since through membership in theNational Standards Association of Ireland (NSAI). My specific interests include the ISO/IEC 27560 standard currently under development for 'consent record information structure'.
Past
Organisation
Peer-Review
Reviewer for Journals
- Future Generation Computer Systems (FGCS)
- Journal of Data Protection & Privacy (JDPP)
- Journal of Information Security and Applications (JISA)
- Journal of Personal and Ubiquitous Computing (JPUC)
- Journal of Responsible Technology (JRT)
- Journal of Web Semantics (JWS)
- Semantic Web Journal (SWJ)
- IEEE Access (IEEE Access)
Reviewer for Conferences/Workshop
- AICS (Irish Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science) 2022 2018
- CIKM (29th ACM International Conference on Information and Knowledge Management) 2020
- CKG (Workshop on Contextualized Knowledge Graphs) 2019
- DataValue (Workshop on Governing Value: The Practice of Exploiting Data Value) 2019 2018
- ESWC (Extended Semantic Web Conference) 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018
- FAccT (Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency) 2023
- ISWC (International Semantic Web Conference) 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018
- IWPE (International Workshop on Privacy Engineering) 2022
- JURIX (International Conference on Legal Knowledge and Information Systems) 2021 2020
- KGSWC (Iberoamerican Knowledge Graphs and Semantic Web Conference) 2021 2020
- LASCAR (Workshop on Large Scale RDF Analytics) 2020
- MEPDaW (Managing the Evolution and Preservation of the Data Web) 2022 2021 2020 2018
- ODBASE (International Conference on Ontologies, DataBases, and Applications of Semantics) 2019
- RELATED (International Workshop on Relations in the Legal Domain) 2021
- SEMANTiCS (International Conference on Semantic Systems) 2022 2019
- TERECOM (Workshop on Technologies for Regulatory Compliance) 2018
Competitions
- Team Lexparency EU Datathon 2018 Secured 1st Prize in Challenge 2
Supervision / Mentoring
Current/Ongoing
- Risk Management for AI Governance - Delaram Golpayegani, PhD research
Mentor 2020-2024
Past
- Analysis of iOS App Store Privacy Labels - Nicholas Lawlor, 4th year project
Assistant Supervisor 2021-2022 - Automating Privacy Policy generation using Metadata - Raj Desai, 4th year project
Assistant Supervisor 2021-2022 - Impact Assessment framework for AI Risks - Vishal Ruhil, MSc project
Assistant Supervisor 2021-2022 - Privacy Label for Smartphone App Stores - Akul Rastogi, MSc project
Assistant Supervisor 2021-2022 - Annotation tool for issues in consent dialogues - Brian Lynch, 4th year project
Assistant Supervisor 2020-2021 - Granular removal of consent dialogue elements using ad-blockers - Rohan Taneja, 4th year project
Assistant Supervisor 2020-2021 - Highlighting risks in consent dialogues - Hasan Opiev, 4th year project
Assistant Supervisor 2020-2021 - Implementing semantics for interoperable data portability - Claire Farrell, MSc project
Assistant Supervisor 2020-2021 - A Generator for Annotated Privacy Policies - Eoin Leahy, 4th year project
Assistant Supervisor 2019-2020 - AI Stakeholders Ontology - Arthit Suriyawongkul, PhD research
Mentor 2020-2020 - Artificial Intelligence Ethics Canvas: A Tool for Ethical and Socially Responsible AI - Ankita Kalra, MSc project
Assistant Supervisor 2019-2020 - Data Protection Process Browser Widget (for privacy policy visualisation) - Darragh Masterson, 4th year project
Assistant Supervisor 2019-2020 - Modelling normative statements in AI ethics policy documents using ODRL - Vidisha Dalvi, MSc project
Assistant Supervisor 2020-2020 - Recording online consent via a browser extension - Dhruv Sachdev, 4th year project
Assistant Supervisor 2019-2020 - Representing and Evaluating the Flow of Information in Privacy Policies Based on the Theory of Contextual Integrity (for GDPR) - Derrick Amponsa, MSc project
Assistant Supervisor 2019-2020 - Automating ethics clearance application - Mason Smith, 4th year intership
Assistant Supervisor 2019-2019 - Data Protection Process Browser Widget: A Visualization Tool for Interacting with Privacy Policies - James Cox, 4th year project
Mentor 2018-2019 - Ethics Canvas website development - Ankita Kalra, 4th year internship
Assistant Supervisor 2018-2019 - Ethics Canvas website development - Andrew Knox, 4th year internship
Assistant Supervisor 2017-2018 - Ethics Canvas website development - Andreas Burburan, internship
Assistant Supervisor 2017-2017
Teaching, Knowledge Dissemination
Teaching
- CS3014 Concurrent System I: 2018 Integrated Computer Science Degree Year 3, Trinity College Dublin
Recent Talks, Seminars, Lectures
See full list of presentations with links to slides and resources here.
- Semantic Interoperability of Legal Compliance From GDPR to Data Spaces
Talk at European Data Conference on Reference Data and Semantics (ENDORSE) about DPV - Regulating Data
Guest Lecture at DCU CA4025 Application Domains 3 Course about CA4025 Application Domains 3 Guest Lecture - Consent, Privacy, and Other Annoyances on the Web
Guest Lecture at TCD WITIDTM_2022 Course about What is the Internet doing to me? (witidtm) - TCD - Data Privacy Vocabulary (DPV) - Semantics for GDPR and Personal Data Processing
Research Presentation at International Conference on Semantic Systems about DPV - Data Privacy Vocabulary (DPV): Concepts for Legal Compliance
Research Presentation at 2022 USENIX Conference on Privacy Engineering Practice and Respect about DPV
Teaching Assistant
- CS7CS2 Research and Innovation Methods - 2018 Term I, MSc Computer Science, Trinity College Dublin
Demonstrator / Lab Assistant
- CS1010 Introduction to Programming I/II - 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 Term I/II, Trinity College Dublin
- CS1013 Programming Project I - 2017 Term II, Trinity College Dublin
- CS1021 Introduction to Computing I/II - 2016, 2017, 2018 Term I/II, Trinity College Dublin
- CS1E03 Computer Engineering I - 2019, Term II, Trinity College Dublin
- CS2010 Algorithms and Data Structures - 2017, 2018 Term II, Trinity College Dublin
- CS2014 Systems Programming I - 2016 Term I, Trinity College Dublin
- CS3012 Software Engineering - 2016 Term I, Trinity College Dublin
- CS3021 Computer Architecture II - 2016, 2018 Term I, Trinity College Dublin
- CS7IS1 Knowledge and Data Engineering - 2018 Term I, MSc Computer Science, Trinity College Dublin
- CS1061 C Programming - 2014 Term I, University College Cork
- CS5008, CS6509, CS1069 Internet Computing - HiDip ACT, MSc and PGDip DSA, BSc Math Sci 2014 Term II, University College Cork
- CS5015, CS6120 Object-Oriented Software Development - 2014 Term II, University College Cork