I was in Stavanger this week, combining a lot of activities. Monday was for meetings. We had the steering committee for the Norwegian network-based COINS Research School of Computer and Information Security, followed by a meeting in the standing committee of the Forum for Research and Innovation in Security and Communications. In the afternoon, I joined the national faculty meeting for computer science.
Tuesday was devoted to the NIK, NISK and NOKOBIT conferences. These are the annual Norwegian Computer Science conference, the Norwegian information security conference, and the conference on the use of IT by norwegian companies. The conferences aim to present research results from many institutions in Norway and are a place to meet people. Yi-Ching Liao presented our joint survey paper on process activity tracking systems at the NISK conference.
Wednesday was part NISK, part COINS. After lunch we opened the first COINS Ph.D. student seminar. 14 COINS students attended (40%). I gave an introduction to the goals in COINS, what we did in 2013, what we plan to do in 2014. We had a lively discussion on what students expect from COINS. We assembled some supervisors for a panel discussion „Ask the professor“; students were mostly interested in publication of research results, authorship, and job prospects. Simona Samardjiska shared her experience with pursuing a Ph.D.
On Thursday we gathered at University of Stavanger, and had all students present to each other what they were working on, planning to do, or raising issues on which they desired feedback. Many thanks to Aryan TaheriMonfared who shouldered local organisation!
The next COINS Ph.D. student seminar is envisioned to take place 13-15 October 2014 in Tromsø, followed by the NordSec conference 15-17 October also in Tromsø.
I stayed inside in the conference hotel during most of the day, the only time I got into town was in the evening, so I remember Stavanger as a dark city…