Institute of Advanced Studies in Cyber Security and Conflict (SoCyETAL)

The University of Kent is establishing an Institute of Advanced Studies in Cyber Security and Conflict (SoCyETAL) as an inter-faculty/division/school hub for promoting inter-disciplinary research and teaching activities in the wider research subjects of cyber security and conflict. SoCyETAL is built on the success of the Kent Interdisciplinary Research Centre in Cyber Security (KirCCS), one of only 19 NCSC (National Cyber Security Centre, part of GCHQ) and EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) recognised Academic Centres of Excellence in Cyber Security Research (ACEs-CSR) in the whole UK. SoCyETAL will extend the cyber security research of KirCCS, especially its socio-technical security theme, into wider areas such as international conflict, cyber influence and behaviour, cybercrime, cyber law, and financial technology, among others.

SoCyETAL will have its own dedicated physical space hosting newly recruited academics, administrative staff, research staff, PhD students and visiting researchers in order to promote interaction between researchers from the participating schools and with external collaborating institutions. The current participating schools include

• School of Computing
• School of Engineering and Digital Arts
• School of Psychology
• School of Politics and International Relations
• Kent Law School
• School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research (SSPSSR)
• Kent Business School (KBS)

Some members of the Institute (mainly current academics, research staff, and PhD students) will have offices in their home schools, helping to strengthen the connections between SoCyETAL and the participating schools, for example through shared seminar series, joint PhD supervisions, and equipment sharing arrangement.

Similar to the structure of KirCCS, in addition to the above participating schools providing Core Members, the Institute will also have Associate Members to involve people from more discplines/schools.

We expect that the new physical space for the Institute will be ready in Spring 2020, after which the Institute will be officially launched. A joint seminar series with KirCCS will be started from Spring 2020, too.