Legal mechanisms for data stewardship working group

Organisations, governments and citizen-driven initiatives around the world aspire to use data to tackle major societal and economic problems, such as the climate crisis. Realising the potential of data for social good is not an easy task, and from the outset efforts must be made to develop methods for the responsible management of data on behalf of individuals and groups.

The Legal mechanisms for data stewardship working group was initially established by Dame Wendy Hall in 2019 with the aim of exploring different legal structures that support responsible management of data. The group reviewed how legal tools such as trust law, data cooperatives and corporate and contractual mechanisms can be used for realising data stewardship goals.

The Ada Lovelace Institute supported and coordinated the working group towards a final output in 2021, Exploring legal mechanisms for data stewardship.