Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT) - Phase 3

Lead Research Organisation: Queen's University Belfast
Department Name: Sch of Electronics, Elec Eng & Comp Sci

Abstract

Cyber-attacks such as those recently perpetrated on Solarwinds, Colonial Pipeline and Viasat are scaling at an alarming rate. Resilient cyber security technologies are vital to ensure that society can safely and confidently adopt new digital technologies. As our world becomes increasingly digitally connected for utilities, travel, healthcare, education, and commerce, and with the increasing use of artificial intelligence, cyber-physical infrastructure and the commercialisation of space-based entities, new security vulnerabilities are also emerging. This for novel cyber security solutions and secure technology supply chains presents key opportunities for research, innovation and economic impact.

Based at Queen's University Belfast, CSIT is a global research and innovation hub for cyber security, and the UK's Innovation and Knowledge Centre (IKC) for cyber security research. CSIT is therefore in a strong position to make further and significant contributions, maintaining the UK's international research reputation and enhancing its economic and business competitiveness. Through its unique open innovation model with trusted industry partners, CSIT is pioneering research and innovation to protect citizens and businesses and drive economic impact. CSIT's unique model of innovation incorporates a significant engineering and professional services capability differentiating it from other cyber security academic research centres. As a delivery partner of LORCA, the DCMS funded cyber security accelerator, CSIT supported the growth of 70+ UK cyber security companies through knowledge transfer and product development.

CSIT has successfully delivered during IKC Phases 1 and 2, and over the next 5 years we will consolidate and raise our level of impact nationally and internationally, continuing to fulfil our key role linking industry, government and academic expertise to promote economic growth. Under the theme of "Securing Complex Systems", CSIT will research and develop new technologies, acting as a nucleating point to accelerate and promote disruptive business opportunities that arise for the wider benefit of the UK cybersecurity industry. This will enable CSIT to seed new research activity in emerging areas of cyber security including, Semiconductor Chip Security, Secure and Resilient Cyber-Physical Infrastructure, Securing Machine Learning, as well as targeting Space Security as a new sectoral focus, with the aim of attracting new funding to drive collaborative research and innovation in these areas.
To raise our level of impact, CSIT will build Hubs of Impact with industry partners in one or more of the research areas identified above, modelled on the proposed 'Cyber-AI Technologies Hub' in which CSIT will partner with eight cyber security technology companies to collaborate on the development of new solutions to shared challenges.

We conservatively estimate that the £3M investment for CSIT3 could help to unlock up to £10.7M in economic impact across the UK, facilitated by job creation through research projects, support for economic clusters across the UK, engineering support for start-ups and scale-ups, and through public engagement with potential investors to the UK.

CSIT3 targets over the next 5 years include: (a) £12M in public research and innovation funding; (b) £900k in industry membership fees; (c) at least 5 examples of successful translation and IP activity from CSIT research; (d) 10 funded industry-academic collaborative projects; and (e) 1 Hub of Impact. Based on CSIT's track record, we fully expect to deliver additional impact beyond these targets and further strengthen the UK's reputation as a global leader in cyber security research and innovation.
 
Description AI UK: Creating an International Ecosystem for Responsible AI Research and Innovation
Amount £26,768,601 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/Y009800/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 04/2023 
End 03/2028
 
Description D-Ron: Rogue behaviour detection in the drone swarms using digital twins (Phase-2)
Amount £59,122 (GBP)
Organisation Innovate UK 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 09/2022 
End 09/2025
 
Description Digital Twins for Cyber-Physical Cyber Security
Amount £85,605 (GBP)
Organisation Higher Education Authority 
Sector Public
Country Ireland
Start 07/2022 
End 07/2025
 
Description EXCITE - Phase 2
Amount £96,663 (GBP)
Organisation Government of the UK 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 09/2022 
End 09/2025
 
Description Enhanced security and tamper protection using software Multi-PUF - Y2
Amount £118,647 (GBP)
Organisation Rolls Royce 
Sector Private
Country United States
Start 04/2023 
End 04/2026
 
Description Exploring operational capabilities of Arm Morello for security configurations of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Amount £99,847 (GBP)
Organisation Ministry of Defence (MOD) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 03/2023 
End 02/2026
 
Description Hardware Security for Approximate Computing
Amount £298,063 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/X009602/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 03/2023 
End 09/2025
 
Description Homomorphic Encryption Platform
Amount £48,044 (GBP)
Organisation Nokia 
Department Nokia Bell Labs
Sector Private
Country United States
Start 09/2022 
End 09/2025
 
Description IAA Additional allocation - Equipment -ADK-VA600
Amount £43,874 (GBP)
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 03/2023 
End 02/2024
 
Description NICYBER CSIT Doctoral Training Programme Update
Amount £1,663,852 (GBP)
Organisation Innovate UK 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 02/2023 
End 01/2026
 
Description NIO New Deal Cyber Bid -AIDE_NICYBER2025
Amount £7,592,661 (GBP)
Funding ID NIO New Deal Cyber Bid -AIDE_NICYBER2025 
Organisation Innovate UK 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 12/2022 
End 11/2026
 
Description RISE Phase 3
Amount £1,238,329 (GBP)
Organisation Government of the UK 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 02/2023 
End 01/2026
 
Description SCHEME (Safety Critical Harsh Environment Micro-processing Evolution)
Amount £22,451,154 (GBP)
Funding ID 10065634 
Organisation Innovate UK 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 04/2023 
End 04/2027
 
Description SPRITE+ 2: The Security, Privacy, Identity and Trust Engagement Networkplus (phase 2).
Amount £2,652,185 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/W020408/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 08/2023 
End 08/2027
 
Description Shooting Star proposal with Thales
Amount £33,246 (GBP)
Organisation Thales Group 
Department Thales Research & Technology (Uk) Ltd
Sector Private
Country United Kingdom
Start 02/2023 
End 01/2025
 
Description T6: Trustworthy Traceable Terrestrial Time Transfer Technology
Amount £42,708 (GBP)
Organisation Innovate UK 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 02/2023 
End 01/2026
 
Description TUDOR: Towards Ubiquitous 3D Open Resilient Network
Amount £440,968 (GBP)
Organisation Government of the UK 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 04/2023 
End 04/2026
 
Description TruDetect: Trustworthy Deep-Learning based Hardware Trojan Detection
Amount £881,074 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/X036960/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 08/2023 
End 08/2026
 
Description Trustworthy Distributed Brain-inspired Systems: Theoretical Basis and Hardware Implementation
Amount £299,311 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/Y03631X/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 03/2024 
End 02/2027
 
Description University Directed Grant in support of Queens University Belfast Doctoral Training Program for Emerging Areas of Cyber Security
Amount £47,089 (GBP)
Organisation University of California, San Diego (UCSD) 
Department Qualcomm Institute
Sector Academic/University
Country United States
Start 11/2023 
End 10/2026
 
Description CSIT Membership Qualcomm 
Organisation Qualcomm
Country United States 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Qualcomm (guest lecture to MSc students Nov22)
Collaborator Contribution In kind contribution: Qualcomm (guest lecture to MSc students Nov22) to the value of £1000
Impact Qualcomm (guest lecture to MSc students Nov22)
Start Year 2022
 
Description CSIT Membership Rolls Royce 
Organisation Rolls Royce Group Plc
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution CSIT Membership
Collaborator Contribution CSIT Membership
Impact CSIT Membership
Start Year 2022
 
Description CSIT Membership Thales 
Organisation Thales Group
Department Thales UK Limited
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution CSIT Membership
Collaborator Contribution CSIT Membership
Impact Thales (Deep dive day with NI team; CyberAI Hub - exploring project) Shooting Star Project
Start Year 2022
 
Description Rolls Royce Cyber Technology Network 
Organisation Carnegie Mellon University
Country United States 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Collaborative research projects
Collaborator Contribution Attendance at CSIT Advisory Board meetings, provision of market insight, real-world challenges etc. Funding of collaborative research projects
Impact None yet
Start Year 2021
 
Description Rolls Royce Cyber Technology Network 
Organisation Purdue University
Country United States 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Collaborative research projects
Collaborator Contribution Attendance at CSIT Advisory Board meetings, provision of market insight, real-world challenges etc. Funding of collaborative research projects
Impact None yet
Start Year 2021
 
Description Rolls Royce Cyber Technology Network 
Organisation Rolls Royce
Country United States 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Collaborative research projects
Collaborator Contribution Attendance at CSIT Advisory Board meetings, provision of market insight, real-world challenges etc. Funding of collaborative research projects
Impact None yet
Start Year 2021
 
Description Co-organiser of 36th IEEE International System-On-Chip Conference (Prof Sakir Sezer) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact SOCC offers a three days technical program including keynote and plenary speeches, oral and poster presentations, hot-topic panel sessions, and one day of tutorials and industrial talks.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description CyberUK 2023 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact CYBERUK 2023 was the UK government's flagship cyber security event hosted by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). It took place in Belfast on April 19-20, 2023. The theme of the event was "Securing an Open and Resilient Digital Future." Over 2,000 cyber security leaders and professionals gathered to discuss and collaborate on the future of cyber security. The conference featured expert speakers, networking opportunities, and engagement with over 100 technology and cyber security organizations
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.cyberuk.uk/
 
Description Exhibited at DSEI, London 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Exhibited at DSEI, London
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.dsei.co.uk/publications
 
Description NI Cyber Breakfast event, monthly 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact This monthly breakfast club is an open house session to keep the cluster members, partners, stakeholders up to date on NI Cyber and each other's business.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023,2024
URL https://cyberexchange.uk.net/events/ni-cyber-the-breakfast-club/
 
Description NI Cyber Tech & Tipples event, June 2023 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact These engaging events have provided a platform for our members to delve into cutting-edge topics, exchange knowledge, and ignite meaningful discussions.
We're aware that not everyone gets the opportunity to hear these talks so, we're bringing some of them to you!
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://ukc3.co.uk/event/ni-cyber-tech-tipples-midsummer-edition/
 
Description NI Investment Summit, Sept 2023, Máire O'Neill 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact The Summit was a significant economic and forward-looking moment, bringing together one of the largest groups of international investors and businesses and highlighting that Northern Ireland is a fantastic place to live, work and do business. The event profiled Northern Ireland's innovative and technological strengths, which are admired on the international stage. In particular, it focused on financial and professional services, life and health sciences, the green economy, advanced manufacturing and engineering, technology, the creative industries and capital investment.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.events.great.gov.uk/website/11559/northern-ireland-investment-summit-2023/
 
Description UK Cyber Security Sectoral Analysis 2023 & 2024, DCMS/DSIT (Published) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact UK Cyber Security Sectoral Analysis 2023 & 2024, DCMS/DSIT
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023,2024