Phish and Chips #4: Communities of Practice in UK–EU Cybersecurity Relations

Abstract

Whilst formative work on characterising UK-EU cybersecurity cooperation post-Brexit points to re-engagement rather than disengagement (Wolff et al., 2022), the present presentation seeks to take this as its starting point in order to build a more complex picture on how Brexit has impacted practitioners at policy and operational levels.

The presentation argues that while UK-EU collaboration in cybersecurity has historically been robust, the politics of withdrawal/ Brexit have had varying effects on engagement at the level of the everyday, with distinct communities of practice being affected differently. By focusing on two of the main communities of practice in UK-EU cybersecurity, the talk considers that following outcomes:

re-engagement in the cybercrime and law enforcement realm; and
a formal partial disengagement in the cybersecurity policy and institutional realm.

We therefore highlight in this presentation a more nuanced and differentiated impact relating to Brexit and cybersecurity cooperation and show how established communities of practice have been able to utilise mechanisms of resistance to achieve their goals in a time of political turbulence. The presentation takes inspiration from a recently published article (Carrapico and Christou, 2024) but also seeks to go beyond it by considering how the normalisation of UK-EU relations is shaping cybersecurity relations, in particular in view of the 2026 Trade and Cooperation Agreement review.

About the speaker

Helena Farrand Carrapico is Full Professor of International Relations and European Politics at Northumbria University and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. Her research focuses on European internal security governance, examining how threats such as cybercrime, organised crime, and migration are constructed and addressed by actors in the EU and UK. She has authored a large number of academic outputs in top journals and publishers including the Journal of Common Market Studies and Geopolitics.

She has a forthcoming edited volume with Hart on UK-EU Police and Judicial Cooperation Post-Brexit (July 2025). Helena has secured funding from bodies such as ESRC and the European Commission, served on committees for leading associations (BISA, UACES), and regularly advises policymakers including the UK Parliament and government departments.