January 2022 marks the start of the new Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Cyber Security PhD Programme. This four-year doctorate programme links the scientific knowledge of Leiden University, TU Delft and Erasmus University Rotterdam with the experience of partners Ahold Delhaize, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management and Agentschap Telecom. The aim of this collaboration is to acquire a broad understanding of the governance, risks and costs of cyber security and to find multidisciplinary solutions.
The link between scientific knowledge and the real-time experience with cyber attacks is sure to yield important added value.’
Dr Bernold Nieuwesteeg, Erasmus School of Law, co-initiator of this programme: ‘I am very pleased with this joint programme. In the first instance, with the collaboration of the three universities on the subject of cyber security, but also very much with the partners involved. The link between our scientific knowledge and their real-time experience with cyber attacks and all kinds of digital crime is sure to yield important added value.’
Programme
The partners in the Cyber Security PhD programme have agreed on a term of 4 year, 2022-2025, for the programme. The research projects will be supervised by the Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Universities. Supervisors and PhD candidates will meet on a regular basis, present working papers and share their research and ideas in order to fuel knowledge sharing with all stakeholders. Relevant training on the many facets of cyber security research will also be provided by the universities.
Partners
The partners funding the PhD positions are a key element of this programme. Each PhD position is linked to specific cyber security cases:
Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management
The increase in cyber incidents and the impact of these on organizations and society makes knowledge and awareness of cyber security necessary.'
This PhD position aims to get insights into how cyber security can be further improved within the organisation and its sectors. This might include interventions in the field of knowledge sharing and data exchange. This project will be supervised by the Erasmus University Rotterdam and Leiden University.
Rian van den Broek, Director of Information Policy and acting Chief Information officer (CIO) at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management: 'The increase in cyber incidents and the impact of these on organizations and society makes knowledge and awareness of cyber security necessary. This is done by allocating sufficient budget, strengthening the position of and advice given by the Chief Information Officer and by carrying out a cyber-awareness program on a structural basis. '
System responsibility deals with the cyber security aspects and processes for which the minister bears political-administrative responsibility.'
'The PhD research focuses on bottlenecks that prevent the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management from fulfilling its system responsibility in the field of cyber security. System responsibility deals with the cyber security aspects and processes for which the minister bears political-administrative responsibility. This system responsibility extends over nine vital sectors. This number of sectors will be further expanded within a few years.'
Ahold Delhaize
It is essential that organizations, whether public, private, large, or small work together to face cyber security challenges.'
This PhD position will focus on whether it is possible to analyse the effectiveness and efficiency of various cyber security measures and what the return on investment of the measures is. This project will be supervised by Erasmus University Rotterdam and TU Delft.
Drs. Florence Mottay, Global Information Security Officer of Ahold Delhaize: ‘It is essential that organizations, whether public, private, large, or small work together to face cyber security challenges. We have a very tight collaboration with other government agencies and non-profit organizations in the Netherlands. With this new partnership with Erasmus, we hope to gain an approach to human risk that is measurable and effective in reducing the risks associated with cyber-attacks targeted to our biggest asset that is our associates. We also trust that this will help other organization and our broader communities to gain a deeper understanding of cyber security as it relates to human risk.’
Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Universities
In close collaboration with the two PhD projects with Ahold Delhaize, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management and Leiden-Delft-Erasmus, this third project will build on the theoretical and empirical framework of the law and the economics of cyber security.
Agentschap Telecom
This PhD position will cover the question of how to organise the supervision of 5G in the Netherlands. This project will be supervised by Leiden University and Agentschap Telecom.
By exploring the scope of the challenges in cyber security this Cyber Security PhD programme will also contribute to decision-making, with a multidisciplinary perspective on the societal aspects of digital security, from technology, economics, law, public administration and the political perspective as well.
Cyber security is a subject that benefits from this multidisciplinary approach to a very great extent.'
Prof. Wim van den Doel, dean of Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Universities: ‘The collaboration of the three LDE universities has existed for 10 years now. We are strong believers of the power of collaboration between scientific disciplines to create better solutions for societal challenges. Cyber security is a subject that benefits from this multidisciplinary approach to a very great extent, the technical, economic, governance and legal perspectives, for example. We are looking forward to working together with the external partners involved.’
Join us!
For organisations: The Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Cyber Security PhD Programme is open for new joint PhD projects with companies and governmental and other organisations. Please contact us.
For students: Vacancies will be posted on the Leiden-Delft-Erasmus website, the Academic Transfer website and the websites of the LDE universities. Current positions can be found here.
Contact: Eveline Vreede e.m.vreede@tudelft.nl and lde-cybersecurity@tudelft.nl
Learn more about the Leiden-Delft-Erasmus collaboration in the field of cyber security: https://www.leiden-delft-erasmus.nl/nl/cyber-security
