Karlstad University coordinating an international research programme

The total cost of the research programme and the international training network Privacy&Us is SEK 34 million and the Computer Science department at Karlstad University has been entrusted with the overall coordination of this internationally extensive programme, linked to the EU frame programme Horizon 2020 and the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action (MSCA). Beside computer science, psychology is involved as one of the critical factors in ensuring internet security is the human factor. Coordinating a programme of this magnitude shows the prominence of Karlstad University’s research groups in the field of privacy and security. Computer Science will be the recipient of 6 out of the total 34 million funding.
Nine universities, companies and organisations from five different countries in Europe cooperate in Privacy&Us on educating thirteen doctoral students in academia and industry. Computer science at Karlstad University will coordinate the financing, delivery and quality of the programme. The preparations have meant that Professor Simone Fischer-Hübner and Leonardo Martucci, associate senior lecturer at Karlstad University, have been involved in the strategically important work for over a year.
“Privacy and usability on the internet constitute an urgent issue and there is a great need to address it. We will contribute with solutions and advance the state of the art,” says Simone Fischer-Hübner, the scientific coordinator of Privacy&Us.
Two of the thirteen doctoral students will be employed at Karlstad University. The students will do spend up to nine months visiting other partners in the project for up to nine months, where they will acquire the skills needed for their research. . This is a new and important part of academia and industry partnership.
”The students will meet for courses and training every sixth month in different places in Europe. Other students and the public will be invited to attend, starting in Karlstad next autumn,” says Leonardo Leonardo Martucci, the project coordinator of Privacy&Us.