Community Privacy Residency (2026)
A 3-week residency bringing together researchers, builders, and community organizers to co-design and build open-source tools for community privacy, with a focus this year on Countersurveillance, Privacy & Cryptography in AI, and Community Infrastructure.
As surveillance technologies proliferate and AI systems reshape how data is collected and used, communities need practical, human-centered privacy tools. The Community Privacy Residency supports collaborative research and prototyping, grounded in real-world community needs, participatory design, and an open-source ethos.
We open applications in early February, stay tuned for updates. In the meantime, check out our highlights from 2025.
2026 Residency Info
- Dates: July 15 – August 6, 2026
- Location: Berlin, Germany
The Community Privacy Residency convenes experienced practitioners across research, participatory design, community organizing, policy, engineering, cryptography, privacy, security, journalism, activism, and more.
Residents learn, collaborate, and build through open-source research and prototyping focused on real-world community privacy needs. Alongside focused project work, we emphasize community building and cultivating an environment that is rigorous, generative, and compassionate.
The residency is intentionally designed to encourage cross-domain collaboration and learning among experts in their field, develop high-quality open-source outputs, and foster a long-term community that continues beyond the residency.
Residents will:
- Collaborate across disciplines on research, co-design, prototyping, and more
- Learn with and from one another through residency programming and peer-led workshops
- Develop and publish open-source projects
- Join a growing alumni ecosystem of multi-domain experts working at the intersections of technology, privacy, design, and activism
Project Tracks
Our project tracks are meant to be inspirational rather than prescriptive, representing areas of focus for the upcoming residency we believe will be especially pertinent or impactful. Residents are welcome to collaborate on projects beyond these proposed focus areas. More details and example project ideas will be shared when applications open.
» Countersurveillance
How can we detect if we are being surveilled? What measures can we take to resist these modes of surveillance, and to hold corporations and governments accountable? Countersurveillance begins in understanding our rights as citizens and consumers; auditing the services and policies that we interact with; and taking action to resist violations of our privacy.
» Privacy & Cryptography in AI
What are the implications of cryptography for AI safety? What frameworks do we have for data ownership, governance, and privacy in model training? This track focuses on both privacy layers around AI usage and the implications of cryptography for AI Safety and efficiency and encompasses privacy-preserving machine learning, cryptographic techniques for AI safety and efficiency, and data governance, consent, and agency.
» Community Infrastructure
Digital public infrastructure can support public goods for the masses. At the same time, what happens when state or corporate systems become unreliable, exploitative, or antagonistic? This track focuses on community infrastructure that is human-centered, cryptography-enabled, and/or privacy-first, such as through frameworks of platform justice, collective data action, censorship or surveillance resistance, and more.