Editor's note: The Academic Spotlight Series highlights past IAPP Westin Scholar Award recipients sharing their academic journey and higher education institutions with compelling privacy and data protection programs. The series is sponsored by the IAPP's Academic Relations, whose mission is to help advance privacy and data protection curricula and transition students into careers in the discipline, emphasizing equity, inclusion and diversity.
The worlds of technology and law have collided more than ever in recent years as digital technologies advance at breakneck speeds with more and more regulations needed, including to protect individuals.
It is a collision Dublin City University is embracing "in synergy," School of Computing Assistant Professor Irina Tal said.
What began with an effort to meet a need for specialists in data protection and privacy grew into two specialized programs at DCU — the Master in Data Protection and Privacy: Law and Computing and European Master in Law, Data and Artificial Intelligence.
Tal said that need has only grown as specialists focused on law, who also have an understanding around computing operations and more, are highly sought after.
"And it just evolved," she said of DCU's privacy program. "It's something very beautiful in the end that just grew so nicely from a seed."
DCU launched its one-year MDPPLC program in 2020. It is managed by the School of Law and School of Computing, which rotate in chairing the program. "We keep a strong collaboration at various levels, not only at the management level, but also in teaching — the program includes modules provided by the School of Law and modules provided by the School of Computing — and research — in the context of a law and tech research cluster," Tal said. "There is a close collaboration throughout the program at all levels."
On the legal side, the program emphasizes how law reacts to the challenges of the digital revolution, she said, while the computing side raises awareness of technologies' impact on societies and the need for privacy at the core of design, "not as an afterthought."
Managed by the School of Law, the two-year EMILDAI program, an Erasmus Mundus program funded by the EU with partner universities from France, Italy and Spain, began two years ago. The first group of students graduates this year. Scholarships are available for the EMILDAI program, and Tal said DCU receives "hundreds" of applications each year.
The program, she said, focuses on "AI and cybersecurity as a technology because of the way these technologies are affecting our lives and society, especially AI."
"AI is quite disruptive at the moment, so our programs are trying to teach both about the risks but also about the potential of the technologies," she said.
Both the EMILDAI and MDPPLC programs focus on European law with modules on EU data protection law, comparative digital law, privacy data and AI, European and international human rights law, and EU institutional law.
EMILDAI Program Chair Edoardo Celeste said DCU is "committed to investigating how the law reacts to the challenges of the digital revolution," and its master's programs "combine the study of law with a hands-on investigation of digital technologies."
"AI is disrupting multiple aspects of our societies and our programs teach about the risks and potential of these technologies," he said. "The EU is leading in regulating digital technologies. Our modules offer an examination of the latest legal and policy developments at EU level and in a comparative perspective."
Both the MDPPLC and EMILDAI programs can be full or part time, and Tal said there is a mix of students, with some continuing their education while working in the professional world. For the MDPPLC program, this includes privacy professionals who are already working in a regulatory environment, private practice or government and are looking to advance their experience, she said.
Eric McAuliffe, CIPP/E, a senior data protection executive, earned his MDPPLC while working in the telecommunications sector. He graduated in April and, as the top-ranking student in the MDPPLC program, received the IAPP Westin Scholar Award.
Courses reinforced topics like EU data protection law that McAuliffe said he works with on a day-to-day basis, while also digging deeper into other areas, like a module on comparative privacy law during which guest lecturers provided insights into the data protection landscapes in the U.S. and internationally.
"The master's has provided me with the additional skills to have a much wider appreciation for data protection," he said. "It's really helped me in my day job to conduct transfer impact assessments and get a better understanding of the privacy landscape in other countries and jurisdictions."
Completing the program part time while continuing to work, McAuliffe said he was able to incorporate experiences from his day job, and doing so alongside fellow part-time students working in data protection led to productive and lively class discussions, as well as opportunities to enhance professional contacts and network.
"We were able to have great, in-depth discussions with different varieties and perspectives on different situations," he said, noting one module on EU data protection law offered situational discussions and case studies. "So it wasn't just deep academic theory. There was a lot of being able to put it into practice, which was great."
Tal comes from a computing background, which she said focuses on getting programs working and not necessarily on the product or technology's impact on society. But that impact is an important component as technology advances, she said, and one DCU's programs help bring awareness and action to.
"We cannot run, even if we want to, from these responsibilities. And we need to be more aware about it," she said.
"I feel like the law is kind of running after technologies to regulate them. It's kind of natural in a sense. The technologies appear first and then you try to regulate them to have this legal framework. But I think it's a bit of a bigger gap there. It shouldn't be this big gap between technology landing and so much time until the regulations appear. I think these kinds of programs could reduce that gap."
Jennifer Bryant is an associate editor for the IAPP.
