[Commlist] Funded PhD positions in ethnographic explorations of information security

# Ethnographic explorations of information security at the margins
(https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/ethnographic-explorations-of-information-security-at-the-margins/?p149671)


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 how information security manifests at the margins of societies,
using ethnographic methods of inquiry.

Grounded in ethnography, this project explores how information security
is understood, negotiated, shaped and practised among people living
and/or working at the margins 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 margin' 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.

Ethnography is uniquely placed to uncover information security needs and
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.

This project complements existing work in the Ethnography Group
(https://ethnography.isg.rhul.ac.uk) within the Information Security
Group at Royal Holloway. The Ethnography Group was established in
September 2022 and comprises researchers with distinct interests in
using ethnographic approaches to undearth information security needs
among populations with no institutional represenation. Current work by
members of the Ethnograpy Group includes exploring how information
security is experienced and practised among domestic workers in Nigeria,
within single-parent households in Thailand, in post-conflict societies
and among activist and protest networks, to name a few.

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)).
+++

+++
# Ethnographic explorations of security needs and practices in protests
(https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/ethnographic-explorations-of-security-needs-and-practices-in-protests/?p149668)


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 the security needs and practices of participants in protests.

Grounded in ethnography, this project sets out to understand how
information security is understood, practised, negotiated and shaped by
protesters. Through extended fieldwork, it aims to engage with the
social relations, structures and assemblages that underpin protesters'
security needs as well as the technologies they rely upon.

The significance of digital technology in protests is well documented in
existing scholarly work. These settings, where many activities and
interactions map to some form of digital communication, therefore
present distinct and rich research opportunities for ethnography. Their
adversarial and highly digitalised contexts, shaped by dynamic networks,
provoke a series of information security questions: How is trust
established - and with whom? What security expectations are held within
protest groups and how do they manifest themselves? How does onboarding
work? What role(s) do security technologies play within protest groups?
How are concerns over infiltration of networks considered and voiced? In
dynamic protest settings, responses to these questions are likely to be
shaped and continuously re-shaped over time, making extended and
immersive ethnographic fieldwork a particularly useful research approach.

With an emphasis on collective action and shared security goals, it is
expected that the ethnographic fieldwork will explore the mundane
social, political, spatial, cultural notions that underpin large-scale
protests and related information security needs and practices. Moreover,
it will study how technologies facilitate collective action and engage
with participants through on-the-ground observation and engagements,
during protests and related activities.

This project complements existing work in the Ethnography Group
(https://ethnography.isg.rhul.ac.uk) within the Information Security
Group at Royal Holloway. The Ethnography Group was established in
September 2022 and comprises researchers with distinct interests in
using ethnographic approaches to undearth information security needs
among populations with no institutional represenation. Current work by
members of the Ethnograpy Group includes exploring how information
security is experienced and practised among domestic workers in Nigeria,
within single-parent households in Thailand, in post-conflict societies
and among activist and protest networks, to name a few.

Applicants should 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)).
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