Call for Papers 2025
The EU legal framework on personal data protection is key in an effort to better control the processing of personal data while ensuring an adequate level of protection. Even the best legislative efforts cannot keep up to speed with the pace of innovative technology and business models that challenge the way personal data is processed and privacy is protected across the EU and beyond; therefore, examining what is at stake and where threats thereto originate from becomes of paramount importance.
Against this background, RSAC™ Conference, ENISA, DG Connect, Goethe-University Frankfurt, and Karlstad University jointly organize the Annual Privacy Forum (APF) 2025 in Frankfurt a.M., Germany.
In APF 2025, we invite papers presenting original work on the themes of data protection and privacy and their repercussions on technology, business, government, law, society, policy and law enforcement. An inter-disciplinary approach is high in demand to contribute to bridging the gap between research, business models and policy, much like proposing new models and interpretations.
Exhaustive Topics of Interest
APF 2025 seeks original contributions from researchers and academia, policy makers and implementers, data protection authorities, industry, consultants, NGOs, as well as civil society. Both research and opinion papers should deal with one or more of the following topics:
- Data Protection by Design and by Default
- Real-world applications of privacy enhancing technologies
- State of the art in privacy and data protection engineering
- Data protection policies
- Real-world aspects and case studies of privacy management
- Privacy risk management and impact assessments (DPIA, FRIA, etc.)
- Data portability and standardization
- Transparency, intervenability, and unlikability
- Anonymisation and pseudonymisation techniques
- Trust management and accountability
- Consent management and data subject rights
- Economics of privacy and personal data
- Usability of privacy and security (nudging, dark patterns, etc.)
- Certification and auditing of data protection
- Personal data breaches
- Data intermediaries and data custodianship
- Concepts for self-sovereign identity management
- Implementation aspects of the GDPR and ePrivacy
- Aspects of privacy and data protection in the EU Data Strategy (Data Act, DGA, DSA, etc.)
- Aspects of privacy and data protection in current and upcoming European Union cybersecurity policy and law (NIS2, DORA, CRA, etc.)
- EU Digital Identity Wallets and applications
- Data protection in artificial intelligence and federated learning
- Privacy in 5G+ and 6G networks
- Privacy in the Internet of Things
- Privacy and data protection in the metaverse
- Data protection for vulnerable groups (child protection, etc.)
Paper Categories
Full & Opinion Papers
Up to 8,000 words (excluding bibliography and well-marked appendices). Full research papers need to be genuine in content and should not overlap with work published elsewhere. Opinion papers are expected to reflect the views of the author(s).
Student Papers
Up to 4,000 words. To encourage participation of young researchers, these papers are treated as thoroughly as full papers but reflect novel thinking that might not have been fully elaborated yet.
Short Papers
Up to 4,000 words. Open to anyone who has a sketch of an idea, an opinion, or a call for collaboration.
Submission & Review Process
Submissions must be drafted in English and comply with the Springer LNCS style guide. Within the submitted manuscript, authors are advised to note whether their submission is a research/opinion paper, a student paper, or a short paper.
All submissions will be thoroughly reviewed by our PC members (minimum 3 reviews per paper). Authors must submit their papers via EasyChair.
Publication & Privacy Studies Journal
Proceedings will be published by Springer LNCS.
Selected papers will be invited to submit an extended version of the manuscript to a special issue of the Privacy Studies Journal, an interdisciplinary, open access, peer-reviewed journal. An extended version can be published in a journal when it includes at least 30% new material, cites the original publication, and includes an explicit statement about the increment.
Important Dates (2025)
| Submission of full papers: | 23 May June 1st, 2025 (23:59 AoE) |
| Notification to author(s): | 10 July 2025 |
| Camera-ready copies: | 31 July 2025 |
| APF 2025 Conference: | 22-23 October 2025 |