Professor Genevieve Liveley University of Bristol
The University of Bristol is very proud to be the new home for The Research Institute for Sociotechnical Cyber Security (RISCS) - one of the oldest of the National Cyber Security Centre's research institutes.
Since its inception in 2012, RISCS has acted as a trailblazer in building a community of experts to tackle some of the most challenging problems faced in making the UK one of the safest places in the world to live and do business online.
It has helped to challenge and change the myth that people are the weakest link in cyber security and has shown that academics, policy makers and business leaders can (and must) work together to tackle cyber security issues collaboratively.
Professor Genevieve Liveley from Bristol's Department of Classics and Ancient History has been appointed as the new Director of RISCS. She will be supported by colleagues across a range of subjects at the University.
In recent years the University of Bristol's flagship Cyber Security Group has built a strong reputation for its highly innovative and interdisciplinary approaches to cyber security challenges. Headed by Professor Awais Rashid, the group has a long and successful track-record of shaping the sociotechnical research agenda in cyber security, and providing a space where computer scientists come together to work with behavioural, social, and crime scientists, as well as working closely with arts and humanities researchers.
Bristol also hosts the UKRI's Centre for Protecting Citizens Online (REPHRAIN), as well as the Cyber Security Body of Knowledge (CyBOK) so bringing RISCS to Bristol offers a perfect opportunity to help build upon this rich body of interdisciplinary work at the university.
Professor Liveley has been a RISCS Fellow since 2020, leading a theme on 'Futures Literacy' – helping the RISCS community develop strategies and stories to help make sense of as well as communicate cyber risk and resilience.
She said: "Whether it's assessing the risk of moving proprietary data to the Cloud, considering the potential impacts of emerging technology on current and future industry, or designing trusted automated products, it's critical that cyber security is informed by rigorous futures thinking – meaning the practical capability that enables us to use strategic foresight to take informed action in the present.
"It's been both a pleasure and a privilege to have been part of the RISCS family for the past three years as a Fellow, and so I'm absolutely delighted to be taking on the role of Director. It's also great to have the opportunity to advance Bristol's reputation for fostering what Classicist Mary Beard has described as a 'distinctively radical' Classics department. Classics is an inherently interdisciplinary subject but sociotechnical cyber security might seem like a pretty radical departure from the norm.
"I'm a narratologist with particular research expertise in the story frames, schemata, and scripts that programme cultural and sociotechnical narratives about human interactions with technologies – ancient, modern, and emerging. In this context, leading a research institute for sociotechnical cyber security actually feels like a natural extension of my research."
The University's vision for RISCS is based upon an understanding that world-leading and scientifically robust research into the unfolding interactions between people, processes, and technology in cyber security demands an integrated multidisciplinary dialogue.
In this context researchers in the arts and humanities are particularly important interlocutors, as these disciplines study what it is to be human and bring important insights into the sociotechnical dynamics that allow cyber security measures to flourish or falter.
Professor Liveley added: "Our commitment to deep interdisciplinarity extends beyond academia and we see the 'real world' expertise of industry and community groups as foundational to our research programme.
"We will use the talent represented by the Fellows and wider business, community, and policy stakeholders to debate critical questions on the sociotechnical conditions of cyber security and so frame the future research agenda in this space."
