[Commlist] Funded PhDs - ethnographic explorations of information security

We have a number of fully funded PhD positions grounded in ethnographic 
explorations of cyber/information security as part of the Centre for 
Doctoral Training in Cyber Security for the Everyday in the Information 
Security Group at Royal Holloway University of London, UK. Importantly, 
none of these projects require a background in cyber/information security.

See below for more information about the specific projects and funding.


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# Ethnographic explorations of collective security practices 'on the edge’
The Centre for Doctoral Training in Cyber Security for the Everyday at 
Royal Holloway University of London seeks to recruit a PhD student to 
explore collective security practices.

Grounded in ethnography, this project explores how (information) 
security is understood, negotiated, shaped and practised among people 
living and/or working on what we might call 'the edge' of societies. 
More specifically, it engages the often hidden, unvoiced and/or 
marginalised groups and communities not generally considered in the 
design of security technologies. 'The edge' is loosely defined and can 
be understood in cultural, economic, geographical, occupational, social 
terms. As such, the PhD can take multiple directions, engaging a 
diversity of groups, communities and/or specific sites of study.

The starting point for this project is an understanding of information 
security as a collective endeavour, grounded in trust relations within 
groups and shared security goals; where security for the group is 
negotiated between group members and where individual security notions 
are shaped by those of the group. In other words, information security 
experienced and practised collectively.

Ethnography is uniquely placed to uncover such collective practices 
through extended field studies, driven by immersion and observation with 
and within the groups it aims to understand. It enables long-term 
explorations of, for example, what security looks and feels like for the 
groups under study. How security is experienced and voiced and how it is 
negotiated and shared between group members. How security technologies 
are used and for what purpose within groups. What security expectations 
are held within groups and how they manifest themselves as well as the 
socio-materiality of their existence.

Qualitative social science is a key research area in the Information 
Security Group at Royal Holloway, with previous and current work 
engaging distinct communities, including refugees and migrants, 
seafarers, Greenlandic women, protesters. We seek PhD students to 
collaborate on, contribute to and extend this body of work. Applicants 
should thus have an interest in (information) security but come from a 
social science background, with at least an undergraduate degree in a 
field cognate to Anthropology, Human Geography, Sociology or Science and 
Technology Studies. Ideally, applicants will have experience in 
conducting ethnographic fieldwork, engaging in participant observation 
and/or collecting and analysing qualitative data.

Prospective applicants are welcome to discuss with Dr Rikke Bjerg Jensen 
((rikke.jensen /at/ rhul.ac.uk) <mailto:(rikke.jensen /at/ rhul.ac.uk)>).

## The studentship includes
* Tuition fees
* Maintenance: £21,285 for each academic year.

The Centre for Doctoral Training in Cyber Security for the Everyday can 
offer up to ten studentships per year, three of which can be awarded to 
international students (which includes EU and EEA.)
Please ensure you are familiar with the eligibility criteria set by UKRI 
and their terms and conditions.
In order to apply please visit the CDT website and follow the 
application instructions.
www.royalholloway.ac.uk/cdt <http://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/cdt>

+++
# Social and Societal Foundations of Cryptography: The Case of 
Large-Scale Protests

The Centre for Doctoral Training in Cyber Security for the Everyday at 
Royal Holloway seeks to recruit PhD students who will explore the social 
and societal foundations of cryptography.

Cryptography is a field that actively interrogates its foundations. 
These foundations are, unsurprisingly and sensibly, understood to be of 
the complexity-theoretic and mathematical variety. However, 
cryptographic security notions -- and everything that depends on them -- 
do not exist in a vacuum, they have reasons to be. While the immediate 
objects of cryptography are not social relations, it presumes and models 
them. This fact is readily acknowledged in the introductions of 
cryptographic papers which illustrate the utility of the work by 
reference to some social situation where several parties have 
conflicting ends but a need or desire to interact. Yet, this part of the 
definitional work has not received the same rigour from the 
cryptographic community as complexity-theoretic and mathematical questions.

This project aims to take first steps towards remedying this situation 
by grounding cryptographic security notions in findings emerging from 
ethnographic fieldwork in adversarial situations. In particular, it 
considers protesters in large-scale protests and aims to understand 
their security needs, practices and the technologies they rely upon. The 
project then also analyses these technologies, i.e. attempts to break 
their security, and proposes new solutions based on the findings from 
fieldwork. By bringing cryptographic security notions to /*the field*/, 
the project provokes a series of security questions about, for example, 
confidentiality and anonymity in online and offline networks, trust 
relations and how to establish them, onboarding and authentication 
practices.

We seek applicants with either a background in mathematics and/or 
computer science or related disciplines or a background in ethnography 
or experience using related qualitative social science methods.

The ISG is one of the largest departments dedicated to information 
security in the world with 21 core academic staff in the department, as 
well as research and support staff. We work with many research partners 
in other departments and have circa 90 PhD students working on a wide 
range of security research. We have a strong, vibrant, embedded and 
successful multi-disciplinary research profile spanning from 
cryptography to systems security and social aspects of security. This 
vibrant environment incorporates visiting researchers, weekly research 
seminars(https://seminars.isg.rhul.ac.uk/ 
<https://seminars.isg.rhul.ac.uk/>), weekly reading groups, PhD seminars 
and mini conferences, the WISDOM group (Women in the Security Domain Or 
Mathematics) and we are proud of our collegial atmosphere and approach. 
The ISG puts a strong emphasis on a meaningful integration of social and 
technological perspectives on information security.

Prospective applicants are welcome to discuss with Dr Rikke Bjerg Jensen 
((rikke.jensen /at/ rhul.ac.uk) <mailto:(rikke.jensen /at/ rhul.ac.uk)>) and Prof 
Martin Albrecht ((martin.albrecht /at/ rhul.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(martin.albrecht /at/ rhul.ac.uk)>).

## Further Reading
https://martinralbrecht.wordpress.com/2020/07/10/what-does-secure-mean-in-information-security/ 
<https://martinralbrecht.wordpress.com/2020/07/10/what-does-secure-mean-in-information-security/>
https://martinralbrecht.wordpress.com/2020/08/24/mesh-messaging-in-large-scale-protests-breaking-bridgefy/ 
<https://martinralbrecht.wordpress.com/2020/08/24/mesh-messaging-in-large-scale-protests-breaking-bridgefy/>

## The studentship includes
* Tuition fees
* Maintenance: £21,285 for each academic year.

The Centre for Doctoral Training in Cyber Security for the Everyday can 
offer up to ten studentships per year, three of which can be awarded to 
international students (which includes EU and EEA.)
Please ensure you are familiar with the eligibility criteria set by UKRI 
and their terms and conditions.
In order to apply please visit the CDT website and follow the 
application instructions.
www.royalholloway.ac.uk/cdt <http://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/cdt>

+++
# In-security in the Automated Economy: the implications of emerging and 
associated technologies for supply communities and mobile labour

The Centre for Doctoral Training in Cyber Security for the Everyday at 
Royal Holloway University of London seeks to recruit a PhD student to 
study the wider security implications of increased technological 
automation and datafication for supply communities. Through this, the 
aim is to contribute to the development of technologies that meet the 
needs and expectations of mobile labour working in different supply 
sectors, including road haulage, maritime, delivery, agriculture and 
warehousing.

A growing number of both established and emerging industries are turning 
to AI-driven automation to respond to global changes and challenges, as 
well as to improve efficiency and productivity throughout the supply 
chain, with significant implications for those who work in these 
sectors. Supply communities are thus at the cutting-edge of these 
developments, evidenced by large-scale UK government and industry 
investments into AI and robotics. This project aims to explore how such 
developments manifest themselves in the often hidden and intrinsically 
mobile communities that support these industries, with a focus on 
security broadly defined – the security of infrastructure and supply 
chains; systems and data; the security of employment, rights, benefits 
and welfare; the security of communities. It explores the extent to 
which such technologies impact upon the ways in which members of these 
communities build trust, maintain work identity and establish security 
in their daily lives, while their work and living environments are 
turning increasingly technological and more automated.

This project focuses attention on the security needs and practices - the 
practical security features, including the diverse ways in which 
strategies and techniques for governing security are experienced, taken 
up, embodied, resisted and augmented by members of supply communities - 
at a time of rapid technological transformation. It is thus solidly 
grounded in these communities at a time when advanced technologies are 
becoming enmeshed in their work environments, often assisting and/or 
replacing human interactions, and re-shaping bodily capacities.

We seek applicants with an interest in (information) security but come 
from a social science background, with at least an undergraduate degree 
in a field cognate to Anthropology, Human Geography, Sociology or 
Science and Technology Studies. Ideally, applicants will have experience 
in the collection and analysis of qualitative data, and experience of 
conducting ethnographic fieldwork, including participant observation and 
semi-structured interviews.

Prospective applicants are welcome to discuss with Dr Rikke Bjerg Jensen 
((rikke.jensen /at/ rhul.ac.uk) <mailto:(rikke.jensen /at/ rhul.ac.uk)>), Prof Peter 
Adey ((peter.adey /at/ rhul.ac.uk) <mailto:(peter.adey /at/ rhul.ac.uk)>) and Dr Anna 
Jackman ((anna.jackman /at/ rhul.ac.uk) <mailto:(anna.jackman /at/ rhul.ac.uk)>).

## The studentship includes
* Tuition fees
* Maintenance: £21,285 for each academic year.

The Centre for Doctoral Training in Cyber Security for the Everyday can 
offer up to ten studentships per year, three of which can be awarded to 
international students (which includes EU and EEA.)
Please ensure you are familiar with the eligibility criteria set by UKRI 
and their terms and conditions.
In order to apply please visit the CDT website and follow the 
application instructions.
www.royalholloway.ac.uk/cdt <http://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/cdt>

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