The University of Luxembourg and uOttawa partner to create a Joint Research Program in Cybersecurity and Safety

Ottawa, Ontario – (uOttawa – 27 January 2022) – Today, the University of Ottawa announced a new research partnership with the Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT) at the University of Luxembourg. This joint research program aims to increase research excellence in information and communication technology and to 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,” explained Professor Lionel Briand, Canada Research Chair in Intelligent Software Dependability and Compliance. Professor Briand works at uOttawa’s Faculty of Engineering and heads the Software Verification and Validation (SVV) research group at SnT.   

“We are delighted to be teaming up with scientists from the University of Ottawa to tackle these important research challenges. The program establishes a close collaboration between the two institutions by focusing on joint projects, which we hope to expand upon in the future,” said SnT Director Björn Ottersten.

Both institutions share common priorities in terms of research focus and collaborative research with industry and government. This research partnership will focus on:

• The security, safety, and reliability of systems enabled by artificial intelligence (AI), including autonomous and cyber-physical systems.

• Using AI to help automate the verification and testing of such systems.

Research will be led by the SVV research group at SnT and its counterpart at uOttawa, the Nanda Laboratory at the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

System dependability, including cybersecurity, is critical to industry and remains a prevalent topic in society. In this field of study, finding the right experts can be challenging and is usually the primary research bottleneck. “Joining forces with peers across the globe, within the framework of a trusted partnership, can alleviate this challenge and help combine different areas of expertise to solve problems,” added Professor Briand.

The long-term aim of the SnT-uOttawa joint research program is to extend cooperation and include other research groups. The agreement fosters increased research exchanges between Luxembourg and Canada, especially in the field of cybersecurity, as well as in the fields of autonomous and cyber-physical systems. Increasingly, these two areas of research play a key role in society and many industries, including in the automotive, aerospace, and financial sectors. Cybersecurity research leads to the development of new technologies to protect data from theft and damage, while autonomous systems can assist in developing safer vehicles, manufacturing plants, and aircraft.

See the original media release on the uOttawa website.