Brains and biometrics team up to face down deepfake threat

Academics are joining the effort to stamp out deepfakes, with new scholarships, programs and research digging into the problem from different angles.

Police Scotland launches deepfake-focused scholarship at Abertay University

Scottish police have partnered with researchers at Abertay University to increase their deepfake detection and digital forensic capabilities. FutureScot reports that the Scottish Institute for Policing Research will sponsor a PhD scholarship for the university’s cyberQuarter research center, to “investigate how individuals can distinguish between sophisticated AI-generated visual deepfakes and genuine online media, with the aim of creating training materials to improve detection.”

The partnership will also give Police Scotland access to the Abertay cyberQuarter CPD training Lab and secure Malware Analysis Lab.

According to assistant chief constable (ACC) Stuart Houston, executive lead for organised crime, counter terrorism, and intelligence, and the senior responsible officer for cyber capabilities, “work with Abertay cyberQuarter will be driven by a newly-established Cyber and Fraud Unit, comprising of specialist detectives and staff, that will develop new capabilities and training to tackle emerging digital threats to Scotland.”

Professor Lynne Coventry, director of the Abertay cyberQuarter, says “Police Scotland’s presence within the Abertay cyberQuarter represents a significant step forward in applying academic research to real-world digital policing challenges.”

The government-funded Abertay cyberQuarter, which opened in 2022, defines itself as “Scotland’s base for collaboration, discussion and thought-leadership within the cyber and tech community.”

Sumsub launches AI Academic Program at German university

Sumsub is also canoodling with academics, through a research partnership with Constructor University in Bremen, Germany. According to a press release, the collaboration marks the first initiative of Sumsub’s newly launched AI Academic Program, “a strategic effort to advance innovative, AI-driven solutions that address the growing threats to democratic institutions and digital identities worldwide, while strengthening the global fight against synthetic fraud.”

Sumsub’s co-founder and CTO, Vyacheslav Zholudev, earned his doctorate at Constructor University. The firm says the partnership “serves as a way for the company to give back to the university while advancing research and talent development to address AI-powered fraud globally.”

Sumsub will directly fund academic research, scholarships, and open innovation. Students will also be placed within Sumsub’s product and technical teams.

The goal is for the collaboration to yield academic research and articles, as well as open-source models.

“To fight deepfakes effectively, it is crucial to form alliances with top academic minds, which is why this collaboration is so important – no other player in the market is currently investing in this kind of research at such scale,” says Pavel Goldman-Kalaydin, head of AI and ML at Sumsub.

“Over the past two years, deepfake fraud has been scaling rapidly both in quality and quantity. This partnership will combine research and practical solutions to help society stay ahead of these threats.”

Sumsub plans to build additional relationships with academic institutions around the world, to address a threat its research shows growing rapidly: according to Sumsub’s internal data, global deepfake fraud surged 700 percent in Q1 2025 compared to the same period last year.

PVAMU PhD scores $125,000 from Princeton for deepfake research

Princeton University is also funding research into deepfake detection. The Ivy League school has given Yonghui Wang, an assistant professor at Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU)’s Computer Science Department, nearly $125,000 to “guide the development of advanced algorithms for detecting deepfake videos,” according to a blog post. Dr. Wang will serve as principal investigator for PVAMU, collaborating closely with Princeton researchers.

Article Topics

AI fraud  |  biometrics  |  deepfake detection  |  deepfakes  |  fraud prevention  |  generative AI  |  Sumsub