Northumbria University in Newcastle is one of two universities to be recognised this year as an Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Research by the National Cyber Security Centre and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

The Academic Centres of Excellence in Cyber Security Research (ACEs-CSR) scheme is sponsored through the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

It is one of a number of initiatives outlined in the UK Government’s £1.9bn National Cyber Security Strategy2016-2021, ‘Protecting and Promoting the UK in a Digital World’, which outlines how Government is working with academia and industry to make the UK more resilient to cyberattacks.

After meeting the scheme’s requirements, Northumbria has now been recognised as an ACE-CSR. The Northumbria Cyber Security Research Group leads the University’s research across this area.

This multi-disciplinary group combines technical research on biometric encryption, wireless sensor networks, web security protocols, and image recognition, with human-centred work on usable security, privacy, trust and behaviour change.

The group’s work identifies both the virtual and physical risks associated with connected smart cities and complements other work ongoing at the University relating to the digital living space, which explores the intersection of people, place and technology in the digital and urban environment.

“Cybersecurity research has typically been directed towards finding technological solutions, but as our technological perimeter has strengthened, people have been left behind and become prime targets for cyber attackers,” said Professor Lynne Coventry, Principal Investigator and Research Director of Psychology who leads the Northumbria Cyber Security Research Group.

“We are delighted to receive this recognition for our work in these areas.”

Northumbria will join a community of a total of 19 Academic Centres of Excellence in Cyber Security Research, encompassing many hundreds of academic researchers across the full range of Cyber Security disciplines and representing the very best academic research capability in the UK.