Leeds engineering researcher awarded grant to advance national security

Dr Raoul Guiazon is set to advance the future of UK intelligence research and technology after being awarded the UK Intelligence Community (IC) Postdoctoral Research Fellowship.

Focusing on areas of basic research, the fellowship supports cutting edge developments in topics relevant to the intelligence community while providing mentoring to a new generation of engineers.

The fellowship, which is offered by the Government Office for Science and administered by the Royal Academy of Engineering, is a vital link between academia and the intelligence community. Each awardee receives funding for at least two years of their project and mentorship from a Fellow of the Academy as well as an advisor from the intelligence community.

Dr Hayaatun Sillem, CEO, Royal Academy of Engineering, said: “Investing in engineering research is essential for the UK to keep pace with threats to national security – as our technological capabilities advance so do the opportunities for exploitation by attackers. The UK IC Postdoctoral Research Fellowships help to connect the very best engineering researchers with the intelligence community, which is an important step to ensuring the UK can address the new security challenges of our modern world.”

Protecting the Internet of Things - Dr Raoul Guiazon

Internet of Things (IoT) devices are increasingly popular but many current cybersecurity tools are ill-equipped to protect these devices from attacks. This project will focus on detecting unusual behaviour in IoT networks, particularly spoofing attacks where a malicious device masquerades as a legitimate one. Dr Raoul Guiazon’s authentication method provides IoT devices with an identity that changes over time, a process that is too complex for attackers to track but easy for a network controller with access to the device’s history. This method needs little energy or computing power, making it suitable for small devices and those located in hard to reach environments such as nuclear reactors.

Other awardee's

• Jerone Andrews, University College London

• Dr David Harris, University of Exeter

• Dr Tim Helps, University of Bristol

Further information

The Government Office for Science offers UK Intelligence Community (IC) Postdoctoral Research Fellowships to outstanding early career science or engineering researchers. These Fellowships are designed to promote unclassified basic research in areas of interest to the intelligence, security and defence community. For more information on the fellowships, visit the website. 

The Royal Academy of Engineering brings together the most successful and talented engineers from academia and business to advance and promote excellence in engineering for the benefit of society. They harness their experience and expertise to provide independent advice to government, to deliver programmes that help exceptional engineering researchers and innovators realise their potential, to engage the public with engineering and to provide leadership for the profession.