The 26th edition of the annual Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium (PETS), which brings together privacy experts from around the world to discuss recent advances and new perspectives on research in privacy technologies, will take place in person in Calgary, Canada, from July 20 to 25, 2026, with a concurrent virtual event.
PETS is described as the premier forum for research, development, and deployment of privacy-enhancing technologies, and brings together leading researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and industry stakeholders from around the world to present cutting-edge work and engage in cross-disciplinary dialogue. It addresses the design and realization of privacy services for the Internet and other digital systems and communication networks.
PETS attracts an international audience of privacy professionals, including researchers and faculty members from top universities, industry privacy and security engineers, Government and policy makers, as well as graduate students and emerging scholars, with attendance between 250 and 300 people, representing dozens of countries and wide disciplinary diversity. Sponsors gain visibility with an engaged, influential community shaping the future of privacy technologies.
Papers to be presented at the symposium will undergo a journal-style reviewing process, and accepted papers will be published in the journal Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PoPETs).
Although authors of accepted papers are encouraged to attend and present at the physical event, where their presentations can be recorded for the virtual event and where they can participate directly in in-person research, technical, and social activities, in-person attendance is not strictly required for publication in the proceedings.
PoPETs, a scholarly, open-access journal for research papers on privacy, provides high-quality reviewing and publication while also supporting the successful PETS community event. PoPETs is self-published and does not have article processing charges or article submission charges.
Note that Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning in the main campus of the University of Calgary in Calgary, Alberta, will be the primary location for conference activities and will host the majority of PETS 2026 sessions, including talks, workshops, panels, and poster sessions, while the keynote sessions will be held in the adjacent Engineering Block A Building.
A number of awards will be presented during the event, including the 2026 Caspar Bowden Award for Outstanding Research in Privacy Enhancing Technologies, which is presented annually to researchers who have made an outstanding contribution to the theory, design, implementation, or deployment of privacy enhancing technologies.
In addition, the Andreas Pfitzmann PETS 2026 Best Student Paper Award will be given to papers written solely or primarily by a student who is invited to present the work to PETS 2026, while a winner will also be announced for the PETS 2026 Artifact Award from among papers accepted to PETS 2026.
A part of the symposium will be devoted to HotPETs, described as the “hottest,” most exciting research ideas still in a formative state, as well as to the Free and Open Communications on the Internet (FOCI) conference (FOCI26), a workshop showcasing the latest results from the Free and Open Communication on the Internet community.
In a statement of principles, the organisers said the PETS community strives to foster a space for rigorous, challenging intellectual exploration that is at the same time, open, inclusive, and diverse, and urged participants to engage with one another encouragingly and constructively, and especially encourage participants to interact with those whose viewpoints, research interests, cultural backgrounds, or experiences may be unfamiliar to them or outside their comfort zone.
According to them, anyone participating in PETS is expected, at a minimum, to treat others with respect for their dignity and autonomy.
Correspondingly, the organizers organisers said, any behavior that violates these principles will not be tolerated, and may include sanctions up to and including expulsion from PETS.
They called on anyone feeling threatened or harassed while participating in PETS to reach out to the PETS Safe Spaces contacts, assuring that they “can expect that any concerns shared will be taken seriously and handled with both discretion and dispatch.”
