– The project is very important for the department and Ostfold university college as a whole, given that it will connect education with industry needs and research institutes with higher education institutions to both provide advanced research and education in cybersecurity, one of the key aspects and enablers of the digital society, says professor Ricardo Colomo-Palacios at Ostfold university college.
– Moreover, it will establish long-term relationships with relevant actors in the educational field inside Norway, like NTNU, or globally, like Virginia Tech. It will also strengthen the important relationship with IFE, project coordinator. Apart from the research aspects, the project will impact in the educational offer at Ostfold university college developing courses on cybersecurity of critical infrastructures, Colomo-Palacios says.
Key objectives
- Develop and implement a roadmap for strategic research and teaching collaboration between IFE, Ostfold university college, NTNU and Virginia Tech.
- Develop advanced master's and doctoral courses on holistic cybersecurity
- Organize mobility stays for researchers and students
- Organize annual industrial workshops on network security
Summary of the project
Securing critical infrastructure is of national interest and requires a high degree of security. Norway and many other nations face challenges that require more professional resources with expertise in cyber security. The need for this expertise is stated as one of the strategic objectives of Norway's national cyber security strategy. In Norway, few educational institutions have comprehensive online security programs or courses, and most of the available topics are in IT cyber security and not on industrial control systems (ICS). There is also a need to address organizational and human aspects of cyber security.
The RECYCIN project will assimilate the expertise and enable the Norwegian and US partner institutions to support the development of a state-of-the-academic infrastructure. The project will link education with industrial needs and research institutes with institutions of higher education to provide both advanced research and education in cyber security.
INTPART is the Research Council's international partnership for outstanding education, research and innovation. INTPART will help Norwegian higher education and research institutions develop lasting relationships with strong academic environments and institutions in eight priority countries: Brazil, Canada, India, Japan, China, Russia, South Africa and the United States. INTPART is a collaboration between the Directorate for Internationalization and Quality Development in Higher Education (Diku) and the Research Council.
The RECYCIN project has received funding from the Research Council of Norway's (NFR) INTPART program. The project is a Norwegian-American collaboration and will help to strengthen the expertise in cyber security for critical infrastructure. The project is a collaboration with the Virginia Politechnic Institute and State University, NTNU and Ostfold University College.