The research team at NCSC-NL contributes to the mission of NCSC-NL by identifying scientific innovations in cybersecurity and by defining, carrying out and stimulating relevant research. As a result, NCSC-NL has current and relevant knowledge about and within cybersecurity. Jointly with renowned research institutes, we are working on innovative solutions. To scope our research, we have outlined our focus for the upcoming years in the NCSC-NL Research Agenda 2023 – 2026.
NCSC Research Agenda 2023-2026
The Research Agenda specifies the theoretical foundation of our work and details three main themes in which we carry out our research. We approach cybersecurity from three levels: macro, meso, and micro. This allows us to research cybersecurity on a strategic, tactical, and operational level. This enables NCSC-NL to enhance the digital security of countries, organisations, individuals, and everything in between with the insights from scientific and applied research. We use it to formulate research questions, to decide on project participation, and to initiate and carry out our own research. The three main themes are:
- Cybersecurity ecosystem
- Socio-technical cybersecurity: people, processes, and technology
- Technology in cybersecurity
These main themes are subdivided in a diverse range of themes, which are outlined in the attached document.
Educating and training professionals
Thanks to new degree programmes in universities of applied sciences and Master’s programmes in universities, more and more professionals trained in cybersecurity are entering the job market. This trend is of significant interest to NCSC-NL, not in the least to strengthen its own ranks.
Our collaboration with higher education has meant that students have been able to take the Master's programme in Cybersecurity at the Cyber Security Academy since 2015. This initiative came about in cooperation with Leiden University, Delft University of Technology and The Hague University of Applied Sciences.
Participating in the NCSRA
In 2019, the third NCRSA (NCRSA-II) was published. This third publication offers a broad summary of the research fields. The themes of the NCSC research agenda tie in with the NCSRA.
The implementation of NCSRA-III specifically addresses the fifth objective of the strategy: ‘The Netherlands has sufficient cybersecurity knowledge and expertise, and it invests in IT innovation to attain cybersecurity objectives.’ NCSRA-III is also the basis for short- and long-term research at a national and international level.
Collaboration
Are you interested in our research agenda and the themes we are working on? We welcome initiatives for collaboration on the specified topics of the research agenda. You contact us for this and other questions via research@ncsc.nl.