IBM.Data.DB2.Core error in new DB2Connection(connectionString)

We have the IBM.Data.DB2.Core (3.1.0.300) nuget package installed in our .netstandard2.1 application library, to connect to an external DB2 instance on prem.

On running the following code from a .net core azure function v3 Windows 64bit (from a netcoreapp3.1 project)

var connectionString= "Server=DB2_IP:DB2_Port;Database=DB2_DBNAME;UID=DB2_UserId;PWD=DB2_Password;"
var connection = new DB2Connection(connectionString);
(note the values in the connection string are placeholders for anonymity)

We are receiving the following error

IBM.Data.DB2.Core.DB2Exception (0x80004005): ERROR [58005] [IBM][DB2.NET] SQL0902 An unexpected 
exception has occurred in  
Process: 21308 Thread 33 AppDomain: Name:Microsoft.Azure.WebJobs.Script.WebHost
There are no context policies. Function: AESEncryptADONET (Encryption Info)
 CallStack:    at System.Environment.get_StackTrace()
   at IBM.Data.DB2.Core.DB2ConnPool.HandleUnknownErrors(String strFncMsg, Exception exception, Boolean bThrow)
   at IBM.Data.DB2.Core.DB2ConnPool.EncryptString(String value)
   at IBM.Data.DB2.Core.DB2ConnPool.ReplaceConnectionStringParms(DB2Connection connection, String szValue, DB2ConnSettings& pSettings, DB2ConnSettingsInternal& pSettingsInternal, Boolean bAttach, Boolean pushDownStrAppended)
   at IBM.Data.DB2.Core.DB2Connection.set_ConnectionString(String value)
   at IBM.Data.DB2.Core.DB2Connection..ctor(String connectionString)

Does anyone have any idea where we're going wrong, or alternatively have a coherent end-to-end guide on the setup that may give me a clue.

All documentations I have found thus far has been rather sparse and a little inconsistent.