Dr. K. (Kate) Labunets

Assistant Professor
Software Production
k.labunets@uu.nl

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Information and Computing Sciences at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. Before joining Utrecht University, I was a cyber security postdoc for the VSNU Digital Society track on Safety and Security and H2020 CYBECO projects at the Delft University of Technology. I hold a PhD in Information and Communication Technology from the University of Trento (Italy) and a Master in Mathematics from Belarussian State University (Minsk, Belarus).

As a researcher, I am passionate about using empirical methods to solve problems in the intersection of cyber security and human factors fields. During my PhD, I studied the effectiveness of existing security methods and whether current security methods are worthy of being adopted. The main goal behind these studies was to help practitioners save time and money in selecting the most appropriate security method among dozens of existing approaches.

As a supervisor, I enjoy bringing out the best in my students and junior colleagues and helping them discover where their strengths lie.

My research interests: security behaviour, human aspects, cyber risk management, and empirical methods.