Director
Max Smeets is the Director of the European Cyber Conflict Research Initiative and a Senior Researcher at the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at ETH Zurich. He is the author of ‘No Shortcuts: Why States Struggle to Develop a Military Cyber-Force’(Oxford University Press & Hurst, 2022) and published widely on cyber statecraft, strategy and risk. Max was previously a postdoctoral fellow and lecturer at Stanford University CISAC and a College Lecturer at Keble College, University of Oxford. He has also held research and fellowship positions at New America, Columbia University SIPA, Sciences Po CERI, and NATO CCD COE. Before his academic career, Max worked in finance in London and Amsterdam.
Administrative Officer
Anni Adamson is the Administrative Officer at ECCRI. She further serves as the Day-to-Day Manager of the Estonian band Trad.Attack!, coordinates events and leads the inspiration programme at Treski Music and Inspiration Centre, and participates in various other projects in the Estonian cultural sphere. Anni has extensive and diverse experience in project management and related activities, which contribute to the success of projects of any size and reach. In her previous positions, Anni dedicated her time to marketing and social media management, being the Marketing Manager at Estonia’s leading Postimees Media House and Head of Marketing at Postimees Publishing House. Anni holds a degree in psychology and communication from University of Tartu, Estonia.
Senior Researcher
Jakob Bund is a Senior Researcher in Cyber Conflict and Statecraft at ECCRI. Jakob is also an Associate at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), where he serves as threat intelligence liaison in the build-up of the European Repository of Cyber Incidents (EuRepoC). His research focuses on evolutions in state responses to malicious cyber activity. Until 2022, he headed the Cyberdefense Project at the Center for Security Studies at ETH Zurich, advising the Office of Cyberdefense Policy at the Swiss Department of Defense. Previously, Jakob worked as researcher at the University of Oxford and the EU Institute for Security Studies, assessing the inclusive development of cybersecurity strategies for the British Foreign Office and the World Bank and supporting the EU’s track-two dialogues with strategic partners.
Content Manager
Julia Carver is the Content Manager of ECCRI. She is also a DPhil candidate in International Relations, under the supervision of Dr. Robert Johnson and Professor Dominic Johnson. Her research is jointly funded by the Grand Union DTP (Economic and Social Research Council) and Nuffield College. It explores the interplay between geopolitical strategic thought, sovereignty, and the development of cybersecurity policy by the European Union. At present, she leads the Cyber Strategy and Information Operations Working Group for graduate students, facilitated by the Changing Character of War Centre and based at Nuffield College.
Fellowship Leadership
Patryk Pawlak co-directs ECCRI’s fellowship program. He is also a visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe. His fields of expertise are global governance of cyberspace, the impact of technology on foreign and security policy, and the EU’s cyber and digital diplomacy. Until December 2022, Patryk worked for the EU Institute for Security Studies where he was the project director of EU Cyber Direct – EU Cyber Diplomacy Initiative, an EU-funded initiative to support the EU’s engagement on cyber diplomacy worldwide. In this capacity, he was responsible for track 1.5/2.0 engagements between the EU and partner countries. He also ideated and coordinated the European Cyber Diplomacy Dialogue – an annual retreat for EU cyber ambassadors, senior government officials and scholars – and was co-editor of the “Directions Blog” on cyber, digital, and tech issues. His current research focuses on how cyber and digital policies are shaping the multilateral system and the EU’s role in this process. He also works on questions of accountability and coercive diplomacy in cyberspace.
Project Manager
H.P. Gia Nguyen (Boro) is a PhD Candidate in the Department of International Relations at the University of Sussex. He holds an MPhil in International Relations from the University of Oxford and a BSocSci in International Relations and Peace Studies from Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Japan. Boro is also a Doctoral Tutor in the Department of International Relations and the School of Global Studies.
Binding Hook Editors
Katerina Fytatzi is an Editor at Binding Hook, a forthcoming media-spinoff of ECCRI. Prior to joining Binding Hook, she worked at Oxford Analytica for over a decade, covering international issues, including cybersecurity, the geopolitics of cyber conflict, and disinformation. She managed Oxford Analytica’s Global Risk Monitor, which tracks the main global macroeconomic and geopolitical risks in the year ahead, and researched global security issues for a consultancy. She holds an M.A. in International Relations from King’s College London and a B.A. in International Relations from Boston University.
Taylor Grossman is an Editor at Binding Hook, a forthcoming media-spinoff of ECCRI. Taylor is also a Senior Researcher in the Cyberdefence Project with the Risk and Resilience Team at the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at ETH Zurich. Prior to joining CSS, Taylor was a Senior Research Analyst and Project Manager in the Cyber Policy Initiative at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C., where her work focused on capacity-building and financial inclusion. She has also held roles in research at the Hoover Institution and in consulting at a small firm in Silicon Valley. Her other research interests include cyber norm development, ethics of war, and bureaucratic politics in national security decision making. She holds an MPhil in International Relations from the University of Oxford and a B.A. in Political Science from Stanford University.
Alexander K. Bollfrass is an Editor at Binding Hook, a forthcoming media-spinoff of ECCRI. Alex is also a Senior Researcher at the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at ETH Zurich. He was previously a Stanton nuclear security postdoctoral fellow with the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center and a wargame designer at the Harvard Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies. Alex was a nuclear weapons policy researcher at the Washington-based Arms Control Association and Stimson Center before earning a Ph.D. in security studies from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs. His academic writing centers on the role of intelligence services in nuclear politics and the verification of nuclear treaties. Alex has written in the Washington Post, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, Arms Control Today, Survival, Foreign Affairs, and others on the policy implications of his research.
Cyber Security Seminar Chairs
Lennart Maschmeyer is a Senior Researcher at the Center for Security Studies at ETH Zurich. He holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Toronto and an MPhil in International Relations from the University of Oxford. Lennart’s research examines the subversive nature of cyber power, and the parallels between the operational mechanisms and strategic value of cyber operations compared to covert operations. His other research interests include the role of non-state actors in cyber conflict, specifically private threat intelligence providers. Lennart is the founder co-chair of the FIRST Threat Intel Coalition SIG, an initiative to assist vulnerable civil society organizations in preventing, detecting and mitigating cyber attacks.
Lilly Pijnenburg Muller is a PhD candidate at the War Studies Department at King’s College London and co-coordinator of the Cyber Security Research Group. In addition, she is an Associate Research Fellow at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI). Lilly previously worked as a James Martin Fellow at the Global Cyber Security Capacity Building Centre (GCSCC) at the University of Oxford.
Board Members
Dennis Broeders is Full Professor of Global Security and Technology at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs of Leiden University. He is also Senior Fellow of The Hague Program on International Cyber Security and project coordinator of EU Cyber Direct. His research and teaching broadly focuses on the interaction between international security, technology and policy, with specific areas of interest in global security, international cyber security governance, and emerging technologies.
Frédérick Douzet is Professor of Geopolitics at the University of Paris 8, director of the French Institute of Geopolitics research team (IFG Lab) and director of the Centre for Geopolitics of the Datasphere (GEODE). She is a Commissioner of the Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace (cyberstability.org) and is a member of the French Defense Ethics Committee since January 2020. In 2017, she was part of the drafting committee for the Strategic Review of Defense and National Security.
Myriam Dunn Cavelty is a senior lecturer for security studies and deputy for research and teaching at the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at ETH Zurich. She studied International Relations, History, and International Law at the University of Zurich. She was a visiting fellow at the Watson Institute for International Studies (Brown University) in 2007 and fellow at the Stiftung Neue Verantwortung in Berlin, Germany 2010–2011. Her research focuses on the politics of risk and uncertainty in security politics and changing conceptions of (inter-)national security due to cyber issues (cyber-security, cyber-war, critical infrastructure protection) in specific. In addition to her teaching, research and publishing activities, she advises governments, international institutions and companies in the areas of cyber security, cyber warfare, critical infrastructure protection, risk analysis and strategic foresight.
Jason Healey is a Senior Research Scholar at Columbia University’s School for International and Public Affairs specializing in cyber conflict, competition and cooperation. Prior to this, he was the founding director of the Cyber Statecraft Initiative of the Atlantic Council where he remains a Senior Fellow. Jason has unique experience working on issues of cyber conflict and security spanning fifteen years across the public and private sectors. As Director for Cyber Infrastructure Protection at the White House from 2003 to 2005, he helped advise the President and coordinated US efforts to secure US cyberspace and critical infrastructure. He has worked twice for Goldman Sachs, first to anchor their team for responding to cyber attacks and later, as an executive director in Hong Kong to manage Asia-wide business continuity and create the bank’s regional crisis management capabilities. Starting his career in the United States Air Force, Jason earned two Meritorious Service Medals for his early work in cyber operations at Headquarters Air Force at the Pentagon and as a plankholder (founding member) of the Joint Task Force – Computer Network Defense, the world’s first joint cyber warfighting unit. He has degrees from the United States Air Force Academy (Political Science), Johns Hopkins University (Liberal Arts) and James Madison University (Information Security).
Monica Kaminska is co-founder of ECCRI. Monica is an Assistant Professor at The Hague Program on International Cyber Security at Leiden University – Institute of Security and Global Affairs. She holds a PhD in Cyber Security from the University of Oxford, an MPhil in Geographical Research from the University of Cambridge, and a BSc in International Relations from the London School of Economics. Monica’s research examines international cyber conflict, particularly states’ responses to hostile cyber operations.
Previously, at Oxford, Monica was a Research Affiliate at the Centre for Technology and Global Affairs, where she coordinated the work of the Cyber Studies Programme, and served as an expert contributor for Oxford Analytica. Monica is also part of ECCRI’s Big Cyber Ideas Festival management team.
Lucas Kello is Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of Oxford. He serves as Senior Lecturer/Director of the Centre for Technology and Global Affairs, a major research initiative exploring the impact of modern technology on international relations, government, and society. He is also co-Director of the interdisciplinary Centre for Doctoral Training in Cyber Security at the Department of Computer Science. His publications include The Virtual Weapon and International Order (Yale University Press), “The Meaning of the Cyber Revolution: Perils to Theory and Statecraft” in International Security, and “Security” in The Oxford Companion to International Relations (Oxford University Press).
Christian-Marc Lifländer serves as the senior cyber policy official of NATO’s International Staff. As head of the Cyber Defence Section, he is responsible for leading the development and implementation of cyber defence policy across NATO. Before joining NATO, Mr. Lifländer held executive and senior advisory level positions within the Estonian Ministry of Defence, including Acting Deputy Undersecretary for Defence Policy, Director of Policy Planning, and Adviser to the Minister of Defence. Mr. Lifländer also served as a Defence Counselor at the Embassy of the Republic of Estonia in the United States and as a Defence Counselor at the Delegation of the Republic of Estonia to NATO. Mr. Lifländer received a direct commission in the Estonian Defense Forces (Infantry) and has been awarded the Estonian Defence Forces Distinguished Service Decoration as well as Distinguished Service Decorations of the Estonian Ministry of Defence. Mr. Lifländer received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Engineering from the United States Military Academy, West Point. He received his Master of Arts in Security Studies from Georgetown University’s Center for Security Studies (CSS) in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service.
James Shires is co-founder of ECCRI and Senior Fellow at Chatham House. He was previously an Assistant Professor in Cybersecurity Governance at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, University of Leiden. He is a Fellow with The Hague Program on International Cyber Security and the Cyber Statecraft Initiative at the Atlantic Council. He has written widely on issues of cybersecurity and international politics, including cybersecurity expertise, digital authoritarianism, spyware regulation, and hack-and-leak operations. He is the author of The Politics of Cybersecurity in the Middle East (Hurst/Oxford University Press 2021).
Tim Stevens is Reader in International Security at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London and head of the KCL Cyber Security Research Group. He has researched and published widely on cybersecurity politics, policy and strategy and is presently researching the political economy of cyber risk management. Tim is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and Senior Fellow and Associate Researcher at the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers (Cnam), Paris. He is also Senior Academic Fellow at the UK Research Institute for Sociotechnical Cyber Security and visiting professor at UNED, Madrid. His latest book is What is Cybersecurity For? (Bristol University Press, 2023).
Big Cyber Ideas Festival Management (2022 edition)
Taylor Grossman is a Senior Researcher in the Cyberdefence Project with the Risk and Resilience Team at the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at ETH Zurich. Prior to joining CSS, Taylor was a Senior Research Analyst and Project Manager in the Cyber Policy Initiative at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C., where her work focused on capacity-building and financial inclusion. She has also held roles in research at the Hoover Institution and in consulting at a small firm in Silicon Valley. Her other research interests include cyber norm development, ethics of war, and bureaucratic politics in national security decision making. She holds an MPhil in International Relations from the University of Oxford and a B.A. in Political Science from Stanford University.
Lena Riecke is a PhD candidate at Leiden University’s Institute of Security and Global Affairs. Her research focuses on the governance of dual-use cyber surveillance technologies –viz., spyware– and is situated at the intersection of law, intelligence studies, and cybersecurity. She holds a BA in Law from the University of Cambridge as well as a LLM in Public International Law from Leiden University.
Organizers previous BCIF editions:
Jamie Collier is a Cyber Threat Intelligence Consultant at FireEye. He was previously the Cyber Threat Intelligence Team Lead at Digital Shadows and has completed a PhD in Cyber Security at the University of Oxford, where he remains active as a Research Affiliate with the Centre for Technology and Global Affairs. Jamie is also on the leadership team of the non-profit information security publication SecJuice. Jamie was previously based at MIT as a Cyber Security Fulbright Scholar and has previous work experience with the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence, Oxford Analytica, and PwC India.
Florian J. Egloff (DPhil Oxford) is a Senior Researcher in Cybersecurity at the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at ETH Zurich. His research focuses on the politics of cyber security, particularly with regard to intelligence policy and the role of non- and semi-state actors in cyber security. Florian is also a Research Associate at the Centre for Technology and Global Affairs at the University of Oxford. Florian’s current research projects focus on the politics of public attribution, the role of non- and semi-state actors in cyber security, and the use of cyber intrusions for political purposes. In addition to his teaching and research activities, Florian provides strategic consultancy, expert advice, and training, including on cyber foreign policy, attribution, and cyber security, to public and private sector entities.
Robert Gorwa is a fellow at the Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG) in Berlin and a DPhil Candidate in the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford. He works on platform governance, content moderation, and other transnational digital policy challenges, and has held research positions and fellowships looking at these issues at the WZB Berlin Social Science Centre, the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, the Oxford Internet Institute, Stanford University’s Project on Democracy and the Internet, and the Max Bell School of Public Policy at McGill University. His academic work has recently appeared in Information, Communication & Society, Big Data & Society, and Internet Policy Review, as well as popular outlets like the Los Angeles Review of Books and WIRED Magazine UK
PARTNERS
