Dr Rui Zhao is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford; he is also affiliated with Oxford Martin School's Ethical Web and Data Architecture (EWADA) project.

Rui's research targets the intersection between data, privacy, governance and value, with a special interest in improving users' autonomy and control. He investigates technical solutions aiming to improve societal value as a whole while minimising burdens and concerns from individuals.

At the moment, he works on the Ethical Web and Data Architecture project, centred around privacy-preserving and autonomy-respecting data processing in decentralised architectures. Data Terms of Use (DToU) and Privacy-Enhancing Technologies (PETs) are the main themes in his current research.

Prior to this, he received a PhD degree from the University of Edinburgh in 2022, where he worked on formal modelling and automated reasoning of data-use policies in decentralized research contexts.