UMSI PhD candidate Amna Batool earned runner up designation for the Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security (SOUPS) conference Impact Award. 

The SOUPS Impact Award, established in 2014 to mark the 10-year anniversary of the conference, is presented every three years to authors whose work has made a significant impact on the field of usable security and privacy. The award winners are announced at the SOUPS conference, recognizing the lasting influence of their research on both academic and practical levels.

“Receiving the runner-up Impact Award for our paper on women's digital privacy in South Asia is such an honor,” Batool says. “This recognition is especially meaningful because it highlights the importance of addressing privacy challenges faced by marginalized groups, particularly in contexts where cultural norms heavily influence technology use. It reaffirms the value of our work in shedding light on the nuanced ways women navigate their digital privacy in shared environments and underscores the need for inclusive design that respects diverse social norms.”

Batool is a fifth year PhD candidate at UMSI. Her research investigates the privacy needs of marginalized communities, particularly women. Her PhD advisor is Kentaro Toyama. 

“For as long as I have known Amna, she has worked to understand and improve the lives of Pakistani women using digital technology,” Toyama says. “What this award shows, though, is that her work resonates beyond any one culture or nation, by broadening our understanding of potential online harms.”

Batool’s paper, “‘Privacy is not for me, it’s for those rich women’: Performative Privacy Practices on Mobile Phones by Women in South Asia’” explores the unique challenges women in South Asia face regarding digital privacy due to lower ownership of personal devices and cultural expectations that dictate shared usage of mobile phones with family members. Through a qualitative study with 199 women conducted in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, researchers investigated how women perceive and manage their personal privacy on shared phones.

At UMSI, Batool has enjoyed the interdisciplinary nature of the PhD program. 

“What I love most about being at UMSI is the freedom it gives me to tackle real-world challenges, perfectly aligning with my passion and research interest,” she says. “The program’s interdisciplinary nature allows me to collaborate with diverse groups within and outside UMSI, resulting in an expanded understanding of technological phenomena and their impact on society.” 

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Learn more about UMSI’s PhD in Information program.