The University of Luxembourg and the Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT) have consolidated their research partnership with the University of Ottawa (uOttawa) in Canada by establishing a new joint research programme. The aim of this joint programme will be to increase excellence in research in information and communication technology and facilitate technology transfer through the exchange of people and expertise between both institutions.
“The goal is to create fruitful synergies between the two institutions, starting with two initial research groups, thus enabling more ambitious objectives,” says Prof. Lionel Briand, appointed leader of the joint research programme between SnT and uOttawa, and head of the Software Verification and Validation (SVV) research group at SnT. “We are delighted to be teaming up with scientists at the University of Ottawa to tackle these important research challenges. The programme establishes a close collaboration by focusing on joint projects, which we hope to expand upon in the future,” said Björn Ottersten, director of SnT. Both institutions share common priorities in terms of research focus and collaborative research with industry and government. This partnership will focus on aspects related to the security, safety, and reliability of systems enabled by artificial intelligence (AI), including autonomous and cyber-physical systems. The research will also make use of AI to help automate the verification and testing of such systems. The initiative will be led by the SVV research group at SnT, and its counterparty at uOttawa, the Nanda Laboratory, which is part of the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS).
System dependability, including cybersecurity, remains a prevalent matter in society and industry critically depends on it. When working in such a field of research, finding the right experts can be challenging and is usually the main bottleneck in most endeavours. “Joining forces with peers across the globe, within the framework of a trusted partnership, can alleviate this challenge and help combine different expertise in problem solving,” Prof. Briand continued.
The long-term aim of the joint research programme between SnT and uOttawa is to extend cooperation and include other research groups. The programme will offer the opportunity to postdoctoral researchers and students to broaden their horizons while working in a new environment. This entails better career prospects, with extensive international expertise in the study area. The agreement fosters increased research exchange between Luxembourg and Canada, especially in the field of cybersecurity, as well as autonomous and cyber-physical systems. Increasingly, these two areas of research play a key role in society and many industry sectors, including for example automotive, aerospace, or finance. Cybersecurity research leads to the development of new technologies to protect data from theft and damage, while autonomous systems enable, for example, the development of safer vehicles, manufacturing plants, and aircrafts.
Prof. Lionel Briand is a chief scientist I in software engineering at SnT. His main area of expertise focuses on the testing and verification of software systems, including AI-enabled systems and cybersecurity. He is a professor at uOttawa and a Canada research chair in intelligent software dependability and compliance.