Research manager Safety and Cyber Resilience

The research manager Safety and Cyber Resilience will further extend DistriNet’s research at an international level. This includes the following responsibilities :

• You initiate, attain and coordinate research project ideas. This includes knowledge acquisition of relevant national and international research programs, participation in project idea initiatives, negotiations with industry and academic partners and defining project plans.
• By attending and organizing workshops and stakeholder meetings you expand DistriNet’s national and international network in research, industry and government.
• You follow and assess relevant internal and external developments within the research domain of software engineering for safety, security and resilience; you cover a broad range of research topics directly coupled to software safety, software security and cyber resilience.
• You compare internal research results with those of other research centers.
• You stimulate and drive the creation and enhancement of security and safety solutions through the development of case studies and applied research in real world projects and collaborations with regional industry
• You contribute to the development of the research strategy related to safety, cybersecurity and resilience within the DistriNet research group.

DistriNet is an international research group with extensive expertise in secure & distributed software. Embedded in the Department of Computer Science of KU Leuven, DistriNet brings together a substantial critical mass of over 100 researchers, including 15 full-time professors, 10 permanent research staff members, 15 postdoctoral researchers, and about 80 PhD researchers. The conducted research is systems-centric, always application-driven and often performed in close collaboration with industry. The know-how of DistriNet formed the basis of multiple spin-off companies (https : / / distrinet.cs.kuleuven.be / spinoffs / ). The dominant expertise of DistriNet focuses on Secure Software and Systems, covering applications, services, middleware and systems, infrastructures, methods and tools.

DistriNet seeks to expand its team with a research manager in the domain Safety, Resilience and Secure Software.

In the field of Secure Software and Software Engineering, there is a growing need to strengthen the link between security and several strategically important domains, such as resilience (reliability in the broad sense) and safety. Safety has its own history and dynamics, but from an efficiency perspective, there is a strong demand for greater integration between security and safety. Currently, this connection is still underdeveloped, while applied research shows a high demand. Several members of our research group have already been investing successfully in this area for years, creating a strong foundation for further growth. Within DistriNet, a growing subgroup of researchers is focusing on software and systems engineering projects that address the combined set of requirements that come with safety, security and resilience : three areas that historically incorporate different techniques (from design to testing and certification), imposing crucial challenges such as trade-off engineering, cost effectiveness and standardization. The ambition of the research group is to further develop this strategic subdomain, from the perspective of enhancing strategic research, and by developing applied research projects, in collaboration with regional and international industry partners.

We offer a permanent fulltime position as Research Manager at KU Leuven in a very dynamic and internationally oriented research group at one of the best universities in Europe.

The candidate will work on KU Leuven’s campus in Bruges and will typically spend 20% of the time in Leuven.