# Administrative Supplement to P41EB028242 award  (The mDOT Center):  WristPrint: Bioethical Policy Implications of the Emerging Re-identifiability Risks from Wrist-worn Activity Data.

> **NIH NIH P41** · UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS · 2024 · $144,998

## Abstract

Administrative Supplement to P41EB028242 award (The mDOT Center): WristPrint: Bioethical Policy
Implications of the Emerging Re-identifiability Risks from Wrist-worn Activity Data.
Principal Investigator: Santosh Kumar, PhD
Abstract/Project Summary:
Raw motion data obtained from wrist-worn sensors (e.g., activity trackers, smartwatches) consists of data that,
to date, have been considered de-identified for the purposes of data sharing, informed consent, and ethical
considerations of human subjects research. Emerging research indicates that such data may re-identify a
specific person with only hours to a day’s worth of collected data. With the growing impetus for more open data
sharing of de-identified study data, both as a matter of open science policy from publicly funded research and
as a matter of necessity to advance and refine artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) approaches, this
discovery of re-identifiability of wrist-worn motion data has considerable implications on the privacy,
confidentiality, rights, and welfare of human research participants who participate in the ever-growing numbers
of research studies involving these wearable devices. This project will develop and disseminate, at a much faster
capacity than via the dissemination of research as it is traditionally published, the risk characterizations and
mitigation strategies among the scientific community regarding the bioethics risks embedded in these types of
data. The educational and dissemination strategies from this project will help ensure that research of this type
can continue while being proactive to prevent major violations of trust and confidentiality from the public and
among the research community, should these re-identification risks begin to bear real harm.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11064358
- **Project number:** 3P41EB028242-04S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS
- **Principal Investigator:** Santosh Kumar
- **Activity code:** P41 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $144,998
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2020-07-15 → 2025-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11064358

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11064358, Administrative Supplement to P41EB028242 award  (The mDOT Center):  WristPrint: Bioethical Policy Implications of the Emerging Re-identifiability Risks from Wrist-worn Activity Data. (3P41EB028242-04S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11064358. Licensed CC0.

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