Overview

The concept of identity underpins many aspects of trusted and trustworthy secure digital systems.

SPRITE+, in conjunction with the Trustworthy Digital Identity programme at the Alan Turing Institute, aim to support the development of a global community of interest in digital identity. Leveraging the strengths and connections of the existing ATI programme (including their Gates Foundation grant), this community will develop and share research and practice relating to understanding and mitigating the technical, social, and other risks of/to digital identity.

This collaboration involves the development of understanding the problems and challenges of trustworthy national digital identity systems, and input into the development of appropriate methodologies, techniques, tools, and processes to address these challenges.

The project is multidisciplinary and considers systems in the context of both developed and developing nations and seek to understand commonalities and divergence in the problems and solutions. It will consider social, technical, economic, and legal dimensions and bring together those with necessary expertise to deliver knowledge and impact.

Research Questions  

• How can we understand resilience in digital identity systems?  

• What are the scenarios though which digital identity systems can be breached or compromised?    

• Who what and how are individuals and groups excluded from/by digital identity systems?   

The project aims to coordinate a range of activity including:

(a) A rapid evidence review (undertaken in Jan-March 2024) with global stakeholders to identify good practice and gaps and set the research agenda for future investments.

(b) A deep dive project. Lasting up to 2 years employing a research associate to address some of the questions identified as gaps in the scoping review.

(c) Up to six workshops where policymakers and researchers will together explore findings from the evidence review and other relevant research, each resulting in a summary report and recommendations.

(d) An international conference on digital identity to stimulate conversation and showcase research of international colleagues working in digital identity.

To date: 31st October 2025 the following activities have taken place:

1. Rapid evidence review

2. Scoping workshop in May 2024

3. Employed a researcher commencing May 2025

4. Held a 'Resilience in Digital Identity - Systematic Risks from Emerging Technologies' workshop on 9th July 2025.

Get involved:

1. Workshop on 26th November 2025: Threat Modelling for Sleeper Agents in Agentic AI: Attack Chains and Resilience for Digital Identity Systems.

   This interactive workshop will explore emerging cyber risks at the intersection of shadow AI, sleeper agents, malware, and disinformation, focusing on how these can combine into autonomous AI attack chains targeting digital identity systems.

   Participants will engage in guided discussions and scenario-based breakout sessions, working collaboratively to model and respond to complex threat scenarios and consider strategies to strengthen resilience in digital identity ecosystems.

   Register here.

2. Join the community of Interest. Sign up here.

Past workshops:

Resilience in Digital Identity - Systemic Risks from Emerging Technologies (9th July 2025). Details here.