Developers, users, IT integrators or system administrators - each of these groups is responsible for IT security and each can make mistakes that open security gaps. Where and why are mistakes made? How can they be avoided? These are the questions that the research training group "North-Rhine Westphalian Experts in Research on Digitalization", or NERD for short, at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) is working on. It is based at the Horst Görtz Institute for IT Security. The college RTG NERD was launched at the institute in 2018. After three years, it is now being extended: NERD II will be funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia for three and a half years from February 2022 with around 2.5 million euros in the Digital Security funding line. NERD II is the first major project of the RUB Faculty of Computer Science, which was founded in October 2021.
Tandems across disciplinary boundaries
The aim of the research training group is to promote young scientists in IT Security at universities and colleges in NRW through cross-location doctoral studies in cooperative research tandems. The tandems each consist of two people from different universities who are doing their doctorate on a superordinate topic from the research area of Human Centered Systems Security. Each tandem is accompanied by two PhD supervisors, the Principal Investigators Tandem.
Five research projects are on the schedule for NERD II:
- MedMax Preparing Hospital Environments für Future Cyber Incidents
- MoVi SecAnalyse Moderner Videokonferenzsysteme und deren Security
- SCOUT Sicher Online Unterwegs – Interaktive Lernangebote für Schule und Alltag
- SEANSichere E-Mail für alle Nutzer*innen
- SES Strong E-Mail Security
Cooperation partner
In addition to the RUB as organizer, the following universities are involved: Münster University of Applied Sciences, University of Münster, Paderborn University, RWTH Aachen University and the University of Wuppertal.
Press contact
Dr. Martin Degeling
Research Training Group NERD.NRW
Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Germany
Email: martin.degeling(at)rub.de
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