Workshop Recap: Anonymization and Synthetic Data – Methods, Tools, and Applications

The Swiss Data Anonymization Competence Center conducted a one-day workshop on January 26, 2026, attracting 19 professionals from Switzerland and across Europe. Attendees represented diverse sectors including public health agencies, statistical offices, universities, data protection authorities, healthcare providers, and private organizations.

The workshop advanced the SNF Bridge project’s mission by converting cutting-edge research into practical skills that professionals can immediately implement. Participants learned core anonymization techniques such as microaggregation, local suppression, recoding, noise addition, and PRAM, along with risk assessment methodologies.

The practical centerpiece involved hands-on training with sdcMicro, an R package derived from research that has become an industry standard. Attendees worked with real datasets, configured projects, applied techniques sequentially, and gained direct experience with privacy–utility trade-offs.

The workshop also explored emerging methods including statistical synthesis, GAN-based synthetic data, and LLM-based generation. These topics generated extensive discussion regarding how artificial intelligence could reshape data sharing practices, with conversations extending into the informal networking session.

The significant international participation underscores substantial demand for practical anonymization expertise. The organizers plan additional workshops and welcome input from practitioners regarding desired topics and challenges. Workshop materials are available on GitHub for participants.