[AfrICANN-discuss] Cyber Stewards Program at the, Canada Centre for Global Security Studies

[Alice Munyua]

Dear all,

See below an opportunity for research in the area of cyber security.

Deadline is Monday next week.

Apologies for cross posting.

Best

Alice.
------------------------

Are you a South-based cyber security scholar, advocate, or practitioner
interested in articulating a vision of cyber security in which rights
and openness are protected on the basis of shared research and empirical
knowledge ?

If so, please do consider applying to the Cyber Stewards Program at the
Canada Centre for Global Security Studies (Canada Centre) and the
Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs , University of
Toronto.

Suffice it to say, I and others on the selection committee would be
delighted to have candidates apply from the African region!

The deadline is July 16th, next week! Further details are below..

regards


Robert
--
Robert Guerra

Senior Advisor, Citizen Lab
Munk Centre for Global Affairs, University of Toronto
Phone: +1 416-893-0377 Cell: +1 202 905 2081
Twitter: twitter.com/netfreedom
Email:robert at citizenlab.org
Web:http://citizenlab.org



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https://citizenlab.org/2012/06/university-of-torontos-canada-centre-and-
citizen-lab-announce-the-cyber-stewards-program/

University of Toronto's Canada Centre and Citizen Lab Announce the Cyber
Stewards Program

The Canada Centre for Global Security Studies (Canada Centre) and the
Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto
(with the support of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC
)) are pleased to announce the launch of the Cyber Stewards program .

The Cyber Stewards program is designed to address the urgent need to
support South-based cyber security scholars, advocates, and
practitioners to articulate a vision of cyber security in which rights
and openness are protected on the basis of shared research and empirical
knowledge.

Cyber Stewards will be selected from across the global South. They will
work locally while networking globally through the auspices of the
Canada Centre and Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto.

Cyber Stewards will define their own scope of work and activities based
on their local context and pressing concerns. The expectation will be
that Cyber Stewards will map, analyze, and ultimately impact the cyber
security priorities of their own countries and regions on the basis of
shared knowledge and practices.

"We are excited about this opportunity, and the prospects that the Cyber
Stewards network can accomplish," says Ron Deibert , Director of the
Canada Centre and Citizen Lab. "Working together, we envision the Cyber
Stewards will help contribute to a growing global movement of citizens,
scholars and practitioners - a community of practice - whose aim is to
protect cyberspace as a secure but open commons of information in which
human rights are respected."

Detailed Overview

As cyberspace expands and deepens in the global South, there are growing
concerns around how cyberspace will be governed and
constituted. The security of cyberspace is now an urgent concern. A
cyber arms race among governments and non-state actors has begun in
earnest. Facing a growing number of threats, from cyber crime to
espionage and warfare, governments are developing ambitious cyber
security strategies, some of which include far-reaching and potentially
ominous censorship, surveillance, and information operation components.

Unless proper checks and balances are instituted locally, there will
continue to be strong pressures to build "surveillance-by design" into
newly built infrastructure -- particularly the newly emerging mobile and
social media ecosystems. These troubling trends of information control
and securitization portend the gradual disintegration of an open and
secure commons of information on a global scale.

It is essential that the process of cyber securitization taking place in
the South includes local voices who can articulate a vision of
cyber security in which rights and openness are protected on the basis
of shared research and empirical knowledge.

The aim of the Cyber Stewards project is to help support and develop
those local voices.

Why "Steward"? Stewardship is typically defined as an ethic of
responsible behaviour in a situation of shared resources, typically
with respect to the natural environment and the commons, such as the
oceans and outer space. Although cyberspace is more of a mixed pooled
resource that cuts across public and private sector than a commons per
se, the concept of stewardship still carries considerable merit: it
implies behaviour that goes beyond self-interest to accomplish something
in the service of a wider public good. It emphasizes the need for
balance and the appreciation of the complexity of the system. It carries
with it a connotation of custodianship and citizen-based monitoring, all
of which mesh with the aims of the network we are setting out to build.

Why should South-based scholars and practitioners link up with a
North-based institution, like the University of Toronto? Moving
forward, it is imperative that stewards of cyberspace include
representation from all stakeholders in the global communications
environment, and that bridges are built between communities across
North, South, East and West. Although the challenges of each locality
are unique, together we live in a shared communications space that is
becoming increasingly dense and interconnected. We have a shared
responsibility to sustain that space in a manner that supports
everyone's rights, while keeping it secure. Networking South-based Cyber
Stewards with the University of Toronto's Canada Centre and Citizen
Lab's already existing network of collaborative partnerships will help
accomplish that goal and hopefully build a broad community of global
Cyber Stewards that empowers us all collectively.

Who will make up the Cyber Stewards program and how will it operate?
There will be a diversity in research topics and methods, as well as
regional and disciplinary backgrounds, in the constitution of Cyber
Stewards. We anticipate that the group will form a network of peers, in
which the Cyber Stewards regularly interact with each other, engage in
knowledge sharing and joint research and development, and mutual
mentorship. Cyber Stewards will interact virtually as well as through
occasional joint workshops and major conferences, facilitated by the
Canada Centre and Citizen Lab.

Interested parties from any of the following regions should send a CV
and a five page outline that details project ideas to
cyberstewards at citizenlab.org  (Central America, Caribbean, South America,
sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East and North Africa, and Asia).

About the Canada Centre for Global Security Studies The Canada Centre
for Global Security Studies at the Munk School of
Global Affairs is a centre of interdisciplinary research, policy
development, and other activities in emerging security issues that are
critical to Canada's future. Established in spring 2010 with a grant
from the Government of Canada, the Canada Centre's areas of
interdisciplinary study include cyber security, global health, food
security, and region-specific concerns, such as the future of the
Arctic, post-Soviet Europe, the new Asian powers, and the changing face
of the Americas.

About the Citizen Lab
The Citizen Lab is an interdisciplinary laboratory based at the Munk
School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, Canada focusing
on advanced research and development at the intersection of digital
media, global security, and human rights.

We are a "hothouse" that combines the disciplines of political science,
sociology, law, computer science, engineering, and graphic
design. Our mission is to undertake advanced research and engage in
development that monitors, analyses, and impacts the exercise of
political power in cyberspace. We undertake this mission through
collaborative partnerships with leading edge research centers,
organizations, and individuals around the world, and through a unique
"mixed methods" approach that combines technical analysis with intensive
field research, qualitative social science, and legal and policy
analysis methods undertaken by subject matter experts.

The Citizen Lab's ongoing research network includes the OpenNet
Initiative , OpenNet Eurasia, and Opennet.Asia as well as the Cyber
Security Stewards network. The Citizen Lab was a founding partner of the
Information Warfare Monitor (2002-2012). The Citizen Lab developed the
original design of the Psiphon censorship circumvention software, which
spun out of the lab into a private Canadian corporation (Psiphon Inc.)
in 2008.



Ronald Deibert
Director, the Citizen Lab
and the Canada Centre for Global Security Studies
Munk School of Global Affairs
University of Toronto
(416) 946-8916
PGP:
http://deibert.citizenlab.org/pubkey.txthttp://deibert.citizenlab.org/
twitter.com/citizenlab
r.deibert at utoronto.ca

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