With thanks to everyone who participated in the first round of our Emerging Technologies Delphi Survey, we are now inviting cybersecurity researchers, technologists, and policy experts to contribute to the second stage of the survey.

This stage gathers expert assessments of a focused set of emerging technologies that ranked highly in the previous round.

The survey forms part of the CRANE initiative to identify technologies that:

📅 Survey closes: 16 January 2026
🕒 Takes ~10–12 minute

Your insights will help shape anticipatory research funding and future cyber security strategy.

Please share with colleagues who might be interested!

Following the call issued in October for CRANE Special Interest Group proposals we are delighted to announce that we are commissioning the following four new SIGs.  Further details, including how to join, will be published in the new year.  

SIG-SANE will bring together UK researchers and industry experts to address emerging security, privacy, and accountability challenges in next-generation intelligent networked systems.  We increasingly live through networks – from the Internet of Things and cyber-physical systems to smart digital twins and large-scale critical infrastructures. These domains operate within complex, interconnected environments that, with the rapid advancement of frontier AI, are evolving into intelligent ecosystems where AI agents and models continuously exchange, interpret, and act upon data.

While this transformation unlocks unprecedented levels of autonomy, adaptability, and optimisation, it simultaneously raises critical questions about what information is shared, how it is protected, and how accountability and trust can be maintained across these interactions.  SIG-SANE will focus on several interrelated research themes that address these questions

The Economics of Cybersecurity SIG will explore the economic dimensions that underpin cybersecurity in society, organisations, and digital markets with the aim of building a shared understanding of how economic factors shape cyber risk, resilience, and innovation. Within this objective the SIG will seek to understand the variation within markets (individuals, SMEs, large firms, CNIs) along with the value-at-risk for the data and infrastructures in each case. The SIG will also consider the costs and benefits from the “perpetrators’” end which motivate the increases in incidents and create the need for enforcement, audits and regulatory actions.

The SafeRobotics SIG aims to establish a UK-wide community dedicated to advancing safe, privacy-aware, and secure autonomous robotic systems in human-centred domains such as healthcare, education, and assistive living environments. Its overarching goal is to develop and evaluate new “security by design” and “privacy by design” frameworks for robots that interact with vulnerable populations, ensuring these systems remain trustworthy, resilient, and ethically aligned with user needs.

The AI and Cyber Security SIG aims to strengthen the UK’s capability in the fast-evolving domain where Artificial Intelligence and Cyber Security converge. Its principal goal is to build a coordinated national community that advances research into trustworthy, explainable, and resilient AI while protecting AI systems themselves from adversarial manipulation.

The group will focus on understanding both how AI can enhance cyber defence and how AI systems can be rendered secure, transparent, and ethically governed. The SIG will explore the application of machine learning, generative and reinforcement learning models to threat detection, vulnerability assessment, and autonomous response in complex digital environments. Equally, it will examine the defensive dimension—protecting AI models and data pipelines from adversarial attacks, model poisoning, and privacy breaches. By bridging these perspectives, the group will encourage a unified research agenda for AI security in critical national infrastructures such as telecommunications, defence, and financial systems.

Thursday 8 January 2026; 10:00 – 12:00, Online

The Inclusive Careers Working Group is a space where we can come together to discuss how to make cybersecurity research career development and opportunities accessible, fair and equitable for everyone. We aim to create a networking culture that supports all researchers development, regardless of their background, identity, or career stage.

Why get involved?

By joining, you will have the chance to shape how we approach inclusivity in CRANE. Whether you have lived experiences to share, innovative ideas to contribute, or just a passion for inclusion, your voice matters.

January Meeting

In the January meeting we will discuss the proposed code of conduct and hold a short workshop to map out the barriers to career progression. 

Register to join via the link below.  If you are unable to join this meeting but would like to take part in the Working Group please contact us at crane@cs.ox.ac.uk

Please save the date for our upcoming CRANE All-Hands Meeting. This event will bring our community together to strengthen connections, hear insights from guest speakers, participate in thematic workshops, and help shape the future direction of CRANE.  Further details, including how to register, will be published in the new year.

Do you have news you want to share with the CRANE community? We invite you to share any events, calls, opportunities, publications or training opportunities in future editions of this newsletter.  Please send your news to crane@cs.ox.ac.uk  to be included in the next edition.

Unsubscribe