Kent at forefront of UK-Singapore collaboration

Kent is one of only 5 UK HE institutions to have been selected for a series of joint projects with universities in Singapore to develop better defences against cyberattacks.

Andy King ^[1], Professor of Program Analysis in the School of Computing ^[2], and Dr Joxan Jaffar, Professor of Computer Science at the National University of Singapore  ^[3], are coordinating partners researching Vulnerability Discovery using Abduction and Interpolation. Professor King's colleague and co-investigator Dr Aziem Chawdhary played a key role in Kent's bid.

The other universities involved are Oxford, Surrey, Imperial College and Southampton.

Funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council  ^[4](EPSRC) and Singapore's National Research Foundation  ^[5], the joint grant call, launched in May 2015, sought to strengthen knowledge and capabilities in cybersecurity and foster closer collaboration in cybersecurity research between both countries. A total of 22 proposals were received by the EPSRC.

The UK recently announced a doubling of investment to protect Britain from cyber attack and develop sovereign capabilities in cyberspace, totaling £1.9 billion over five years. Combined with spending on core cyber capabilities, this will bring the UK government's total cyber spending to more than £3.2 billion.