Host of Swedens largest meeting place for cybersecurity research

The School of Engineering at Jönköping University hosted the national cybersecurity conference SWITS (Swedish IT Security Research Network for PhD Students) on 9-10 June. The seminar was held for the 26th time and brought together over a hundred researchers, doctoral students, and experts from 20 universities and research institutes.

For Erik Bergström, a researcher and teacher in the Cybersecurity programme at the School of Engineering, hosting the event is both inspiring and strategically important.

“It’s really exciting to showcase our campus and our city. It’s also an important step for our relatively young cybersecurity research group at the School of Engineering. This gives us national recognition as one of Sweden’s leading cybersecurity hubs,” says Erik.

The conference rotates among various Swedish universities, and this year’s program included research presentations, poster pitches, and workshops.

Shared their mistakes

One of the most appreciated segments was a panel where researchers shared mistakes they had made during their careers.

“We almost always only talk about when things have gone well. But in cybersecurity, it’s important to dare to talk about incidents and problems. After all, that’s often how you learn,” says Erik.

One of the conference’s key figures was Simone Fischer-Hübner, coordinator of SWITS and Professor of Computer Science at Karlstad University. It was her first visit to Jönköping, and she was impressed by both the city and Jönköping University.

“The most important thing is to meet new and old colleagues to have the opportunity for knowledge exchange, collaboration, and further research,” says Simone.

Growing research collaboration

She also highlighted the growing international research collaboration between her research group at Karlstad University and the School of Engineering.

“We’ve written several research articles together that have been published, and starting this fall, we’ll have a joint doctoral student, funded by CyberCampus Sweden,” she says.

The conference was funded by CyberCampus Sweden, and the local organizers at the School of Engineering were Erik Bergström together with his colleagues Joakim Kävrestad, Agnieszka Kitkowska, and Görkem Kilinc Soylu.