The risks to society posed by digital technology are to be explored by academics from Bath as part of a major new research collaboration.
The University of Bath’s newly launched Institute for Digital Security and Behaviour brings together behavioural and social scientists to help people and organisations navigate the digital revolution, including artificial intelligence (AI), social media and digital data.
According to the university, they will study “the fundamental causes of vulnerability to harm” along with the factors that can make people, organisations and societies safer and more secure, “understanding more about the context of geopolitics, regulation, economy and business”.
The institute was launched by government chief scientific adviser Prof Dame Angela McLean at Bath’s Guildhall in a keynote speech on Securing the Future.
Speaking ahead of the event, Prof McLean said the technologies most critical to the UK’s future had complex data and security requirements.
“They need expert input, and not just from the scientists and engineers responsible for advancing these technologies,” she added.
“By putting the interests of people and society at the heart of its work, the University of Bath’s Institute for Digital Security and Behaviour should play a major role in tacking major issues around the safe and successful deployment of technologies.”
The researchers hope that by working alongside businesses, parliamentarians and government stakeholders, their insights will be implemented in practice and in regulation over the next five years, so helping to create a safer world.
Institute co-director and University of Bath Professor of Information Systems, Adam Joinson, said: “While new digital technologies provide incredible opportunities for growth, innovation, and prosperity, they also create risks and threats, and the human and social challenges they present are often the most intractable.”
Laura GE Smith, who is also a co-director of the institute, said it was taking a ‘whole of society’ approach, which puts people at the heart of digital security.
“We want to help make the UK a more innovative, safe, secure and resilient digital society, to develop the next generation of leaders in digital security and behaviour, and to help advance the UK as a global leader in this domain,” she added.
“We see the impact on individual lives – our children vulnerable to social media abuse, and people and businesses falling victim to cybercrime such as phishing and hacking.
“Threats to UK institutions increased with the war in Ukraine, and the general public have been targeted with disinformation seeking to interfere in elections.
“Terror groups use social media to spread hate, recruit members and plan terror attacks in the real world.”
