Institute of Cyber Security for Society (iCSS)

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Institute of Cyber Security for Society

Welcome to the Institute of Cyber Security for Society (iCSS)

We promote wide-ranging interdisciplinary research in cyber security and help enhance the cyber security skills and awareness of our students and the wider community. We achieve this through a diverse range of cyber security activities, including research, educational activities, professional training, industrial consultancies, expert talks and media communications. Our external partnerships with industries, governmental bodies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) enable us to develop wide-ranging collaborations with the cyber security community in the UK and worldwide.

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Research and innovation
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Educational activities
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Public engagement
Aerial view of University of Kent's Canterbury Campus

Events

Built on the success of the former Kent Interdisciplinary Research Centre in Cyber Security (KirCCS) established in 2012, since January 2021 iCSS has been representing the University of Kent as one of only 19 UK universities that are recognised as Academic Centres of Excellence in Cyber Security Research (ACEs-CSR) by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC, part of the GCHQ) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC, part of UKRI – UK Research and Innovation). The University of Kent’s ACE-CSR recognition was achieved originally from 2015-2017 and then from 2018-2023. iCSS further extends the cyber security research of the former KirCCS, especially within its socio-technical security and privacy research theme, into wider areas such as international conflict, cyber influence and behaviour, cybercrime, cyber law, and digital financial technology.

Alongside our activities in research and innovation, iCSS also coordinates university-wide educational activities around cyber security, including our pool of cyber-related modules across different schools and new cyber-related interdisciplinary degree programmes. iCSS also supports the University’s Cyber Security Improvement Group (CSIG) established in 2021 together with the Institute. iCSS has its dedicated physical space in Keynes College (B2 and C2), which hosts the management team, core academic staff, administrative staff, research staff and PhD students, in order to promote exchanges and collaborations between its members across different participating schools.

From time to time, we have calls for applications for PhD studentships and job posts. To find out more, visit our Join us page.

If you are interested in studying a cyber security degree, learning more about our activities, working with us on cyber security projects or anything else related to cyber security, please contact us. In addition, iCSS is a one-stop hub in cyber security matters for everyone – if you have a question on cyber security, or need help and don’t know what to do, feel free to reach out and we will find out how we can help you.