Mikaela Brough is a PhD researcher in the Information Security Group, studying as part of the CDT in Cyber Security for the Everyday. She previously completed a BA at McGill University in Montréal and an MSc in Social Anthropology at the University of Oxford. She is interested in using novel ethnographic methods to explore the socio-technical security needs of activists involved in large-scale protests.
Rebecca Hartley is a PhD researcher in Information Security at Royal Holloway’s Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Cyber Security. After completing a BA in History and Politics from the University of Oxford in 2020, she worked as a Project Manager for a digital development agency. She employs interdisciplinary approaches and is interested in security narratives and feminist approaches to security. Her PhD focuses on cyber security in connected places.
Stephanie Itimi is a PhD researcher in the Information Security Group at Royal Holloway. She has a BA in Economics from Coventry University and an MSc in Global Economic Governance and Policy from SOAS, University of London. She has played a significant role in the development and manufacturing of high-profile initiatives in Slovakia, Morocco, the United Kingdom and several West and East African nations through her diverse policy and consultative experience with the UK Home Office, BBC Africa, Essex County Council, UN Women and the European Commission, promoting freedom of information, digital literacy and gender equality. Her research interests are centred on security practises targeted at domestic workers in Lagos, Nigeria via the perspective of care and surveillance.
Cherry Jackson is a current PhD candidate in Information Security at the Royal Holloway, University of London.
Having gained their undergraduate degree in Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Oxford and their Master’s degree in Material Culture (Anthropology) at UCL, they bring a perspective to Information Security studies that is thoroughly grounded in the social sciences; indeed, they also have a Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) from the University of Law. Their academic mainstay is the materiality of information security, looking at what stuff does not just what stuff means, from an anthropological perspective. As such, this entails looking between the 0s and 1s. Their PhD focuses on the ongoing GitHub Archive Program.
Rikke Bjerg Jensen is a Reader in the Information Security Group.
Her work is ethnographic in nature and explores information security needs, perspectives and practices among groups of people living and working at the margins of societies. It focuses on how technology, as it is shaped by social structures, relations and interactions, facilitates multiple – individual and collective – security experiences and understandings. Her work is thus grounded in research with and within distinct groups of people, engaging the often hidden, unvoiced and/or marginalised groups not generally considered in information security and technology design. Most recently, she has worked with seafarers, refugees, migrants and protesters.
Before becoming a Lecturer and now Reader in the Information Security Group, Rikke was a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Geography and Department of Law and Criminology, also at Royal Holloway. She obtained her PhD from the Communication and Media Research Institute (CAMRI), after having completed an MA in International Journalism. Both at the University of Westminster. She also has a BA in Drama and Performance Studies from Aberystwyth University. Pronouns: she/her, they/them.
Mbabazi is a PhD researcher in the Information Security Group at Royal Holloway. She holds a Master’s degree in International Cooperation and Development from Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy, and a Bachelor’s degree in Community Psychology from Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda. She graduated with distinction from both degrees.
She has over 10 years of experience in conducting research and implementing development programs within the expansive domain of governance and politics in Uganda and other African contexts. Her academic and professional pursuits are driven by her passion for contributing to solutions to Africa’s governance and developmental challenges.
Her research interests revolve around the intersection of information security with political contest, governance, and democratic processes. Of particular interest is her investigation into the security practices of groups actively engaged in political protests and activism. Her research will deploy quasi-ethnographic approaches to examine the impact of information technologies on the strategies and actions of these groups whilst shedding light on the contemporary socio-political dynamics.
Jessica McClearn is a PhD researcher in the Information Security Group at Royal Holloway. Fully funded as part of the CDT, her research employs ethnographic research methods to explore security in post-conflict contexts. Most recently she has undertaken research in Lebanon focusing on digital access and identity in the face of infrastructural collapse.
Her PhD research builds upon experience gained while studying towards her undergraduate degree in History and Social Anthropology where she obtained first-class honors from Queen’s University Belfast and her MSc in International Business Management with distinction at Ulster University; she explored security concerns for communities in Northern Ireland and Colombia.
Elle Pearson completed a BA in Criminology, Psychology & Social Justice from the University of Sussex where she received the Vice-Chancellors prize for Exceptional Performance and an award for Outstanding Scholarship. She then obtained an MA in War & Society from Swansea University, focusing on how military technology and practices migrate to domestic society and policing. Elle is now a PhD researcher in the Department of Information Security at Royal Holloway’s Centre for Doctoral Training in Cyber Security for the Everyday, securing a fully funded position. She is exploring how digital technologies and data-driven systems are used in UK policing, often borrowing ethnographic methods to explore how they impact the people using, and being processed by them along with the data-flows that sustain them.
Taylor Robinson received her BA in 2020 from Queens University of Charlotte, triple majoring in arts leadership and administration, new media design, and art history. She graduated summa cum laude with a 4.0 GPA and university honours. After her undergraduate degree, she received a distinction for an MLitt in International Business at the University of St. Andrews, where she was introduced to the field of surveillance and information security. Taylor is thrilled to be a part of the CDT at Royal Holloway University of London to continue developing her multidisciplinary skillset. Her research uses ethnographic methods to examine how marginalised communities practice information security.
Associate Member
Nicola Wendt-Lucas is a Research Fellow at Nordregio where her work focuses inter alia on the societal effects of the digital transition in the Nordic countries. She previously worked as a Research Associate at the German Aerospace Centre. Here she headed the ELSA (ethical, legal, social aspects) research group which conducts social scientific research on emerging technologies in the maritime domain and responsible technology transfer processes. Employing ethnographic and community-based participatory research methods, Nicola’s research interests lie at the intersection of digital technology, policy, and social practices, looking at how experiences of technological transitions are negotiated against a backdrop of historic and contemporary inequalities.
Nicola obtained her PhD from the Information Security Group at Royal Holloway where she conducted ethnographic research on the societal implications of digitalisation in Greenland, focusing on gendered notions of security. Her research was supervised by Rikke Bjerg Jensen, ISG, and Klaus Dodds, Geography. She received her BA in International Relations from the University of Groningen and her MA in European Studies from the Universities of Uppsala and Strasbourg.