Designing Secure and Privacy-Enhancing Frameworks for Digital Education Credentials

This project will investigate the security and privacy challenges emerging from the adoption of digital education credentials, such as W3C Verifiable Credentials. As universities and employers increasingly rely on digital systems to issue, store, and verify qualifications, new risks arise—ranging from data breaches and identity fraud to profiling and surveillance through credential verification logs.

The project aims to examine how these credentials can be designed and governed to ensure authenticity and trust while safeguarding learners’ privacy. By combining technical analysis, formal modeling, and policy evaluation, the project seeks to develop privacy-preserving frameworks, security benchmarks, and design guidelines that enable trustworthy, user-centric digital credential ecosystems for global education.