Cyberspace has become a critical part of our life and economy. On the one hand, the digital economy drives innovation and organisational growth and provides vast opportunities for companies and society. On the other hand, digital space comes with new attack possibilities that organisations and end- users may be prone to. Organisations and governments invest much effort into training users on specific cyber security behaviours like anti-phishing campaigns or creating a general cyber security awareness. However, employees are still responsible for a significant part of all cyber security incidents in organisations. Many attackers exploit behavioural techniques (like heuristics, biases, nudges) to conduct social engineering, phishing, and similar attacks. To address this issue, we need to arm people with usable security tools and match security designs with users’ main goals to make it work. We aim to address several challenges related to the above-described issue. The first is to find out what is security behaviour and who determines it. The second is to develop a robust approach or techniques to measure actual security behaviour. The third is how to explain the security behaviour of professionals. This PhD position is focused on the topic of security behaviour and human factors in cybersecurity. You will:
- conduct research on exploring how security behaviour is defined and perceived at different layers in a company (employee, management, C-suite, security engineers);
- collect data through interviews, surveys, and observations, but also analyse qualitative and quantitative data extracted from information systems, log systems, or collected in controlled experiments or empirical case studies to understand security behaviours among professionals;
- develop an explanatory model of security behaviour in organisational settings;
- design and validate targeted behavioural interventions based on the developed model to improve the cybersecurity resilience of organisations.
The position includes research as well as teaching. Approximately 30% of your time will be spent performing varying teaching (support) activities. We offer the opportunity to take significant steps towards acquiring a basic teaching qualification (BKO), which qualifies you as a teacher in the Dutch higher education system.
Profile
We are looking for a motivated researcher with a curious and critical mindset that meets the following qualifications:
- A Master’s degree in Information and Computing sciences or a degree from an interdisciplinary field like business informatics / business administration / systems engineering or management of technology. Or a Master’s degree in computer science with a background in the area of human factors.
- Good academic writing skills and excellent communication skills in English, both in speaking and in writing.
- Speaking Dutch is a plus because we will interview professionals in Dutch organizations.
- You can work together in an interdisciplinary team but are also able to organize your work independently.
- Experience in teaching is a plus.
offer
We offer an exciting opportunity to collaborate with leading cybersecurity researchers, present your work at international conferences and conduct research abroad. Personal and professional training courses in the Graduate School.
Besides this, we offer:
- a full-time position for 5 years;
- a full-time gross salary that starts at €2,443 and increases to €3,122 per month (scale P of the Collective Labour Agreement Dutch Universities (CAO));
- 8% holiday bonus and 8.3% end-of-year bonus;
- a pension scheme, partially paid parental leave, and flexible employment conditions based on the Collective Labour Agreement Dutch Universities.
In addition to the employment conditions laid down in the CAO for Dutch Universities, Utrecht University has a number of its own arrangements. For example, there are agreements on professional development, leave arrangements and sports. We also give you the opportunity to expand your terms of employment via the Employment Conditions Selection Model. This is how we like to encourage you to continue to grow.
About the organization
The Department of Information and Computing Sciences is nationally and internationally renowned for its fundamental and applied research in computer science and information science. In our constantly changing (digital) society, the department of Information and Computing Sciences is constantly looking for new, realistic ways to push the boundaries of both science and social application. We contribute to innovative information technologies through the development and application of new concepts, theories, algorithms, and software methods. Relevant areas of interdisciplinary research include Game Research, Foundations of Complex Systems, Applied Data Science, and Artificial Intelligence.
At the Faculty of Science, there are 6 departments to make a fundamental connection with: Biology, Chemistry, Information and Computing Sciences, Mathematics, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Physics. Each of these is made up of distinct institutes that work together to focus on answering some of humanity’s most pressing problems. More fundamental still are the individual research groups – the building blocks of our ambitious scientific projects. Find out more about the Faculty of Science.
Utrecht University is a friendly and ambitious university at the heart of an ancient city. We love to welcome new scientists to our city – a thriving cultural hub that is consistently rated as one of the world’s happiest cities. We are renowned for our innovative interdisciplinary research and our emphasis on inspirational research and excellent education. We are equally well-known for our informal atmosphere and the can-do mentality of our people. This lively and inspiring academic environment attracts professors, researchers and PhD candidates from all over the globe, making both the University and the Faculty of Science a vibrant international and wonderfully diverse community.
Apply
If you have any questions that you’d like us to answer, please contact Dr. Kate Labunets via k.labunets@uu.nl.
Do you have a question about the application procedure? Please send an email to science.recruitment@uu.nl.