Seny Kamara is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Brown University, where he directs Brown's Computing for the People project and the Encrypted Systems Lab. He is also affiliated with Brown's Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies, the Data Science Initiative and The Policy Lab. Prior to joining Brown, he was a Research Scientist at Microsoft Research in the Cryptography Research group. 

Professor Kamara conducts research in cryptography with a focus on problems motivated by social and policy issues. His pioneering work on encrypted search algorithms laid the foundation and pushed the state-of-the-art of end-to-end encrypted database technologies. His work has consistently appeared in the top peer-reviewed venues in data security and cryptography and has been featured in numerous outlets including Wired, Forbes and The Register. 

In 2016, he was appointed by the National Academies of Sciences to study the impact of end-to-end encryption on law enforcement and intelligence and in 2019 he testified to the Financial Services Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives about the privacy and fairness implications of Big Data.  In 2020, he was appointed by the National Academies of Sciences to study the future of encryption. He has received a Google Faculty Award and was named a Leadership Fellow by the Boston Global Forum for his work and commitment to global peace.