Leonie Maria Tanczer

My research focuses on questions related to Internet security and I am specifically interested in the intersection points of technology, security and gender. My work is interdisciplinary and I draw on different fields, stretching from Political Science, International Relations, Gender Studies, Human-Computer Interaction to Cybersecurity.

Tech Abuse

I am the Principal Investigator of the "Gender and IoT" study which examines the implications of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies on victims of gender-based domestic violence and abuse. The research project was initially funded by UCL’s Social Science Plus+ scheme and ran in collaboration with the London Violence Against Women and Girls Consortium (VAWG), Privacy International, and the PETRAS IoT Research Hub. However, since the pilot kicked off in January 2018, the project developed a life of its own. Thus, "Gender and IoT" is no longer a single, narrowly-defined study but an ambitious research programme with a flourishing team.

This diversification of the "Gender and IoT" research portfolio is showcased through follow-up studies supported through the UK Home Office Domestic Abuse Perpetrators Research Fund (2021) and the National Research Centre on Privacy, Harm Reduction and Adversarial Influence Online (REPHRAIN). The latter is still ongoing (2021-2022), and involves analysing the applicability of the UK Computer Misuse Act (CMA) 1990 for cases of technology-enabled domestic violence and abuse.

I am also part of one of eight UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)-funded mental health networks. As member of the "Violence, Abuse and Mental Health: Opportunities for Change" (VAMHN) team, led by the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College London, I study how digital technologies are changing people's experiences of abuse and how this impacts on mental health. I also run the network’s early-career researcher activities, including a bursary scheme and the lunchtime seminar series.

Most recently, I became Co-Investigator of a five-year-long data analysis project (2021-2026) on "Violence, Health and Society" funded by the UK Prevention Research Partnership (UKPRP) and led by City, University of London. In the consortium, I help integrate UK datasets from surveys and administrative sources and generate a specialised dataset on tech abuse to investigate causal pathways. I am also adapting and extending metrics to capture newly identified forms of abuse, such as those facilitated by technology.

Emerging Technologies

I try to continuously navigate the technology sector’s alphabet soup, whether it is NLP, 5G or AI. From 2017 until 2018, I was a Postdoctoral Research Associate for the EPSRC-funded PETRAS IoT Research Hub, a consortium of nine UK universities. I was part of its "Standards, Governance and Policy" stream and worked closely with stakeholders such as the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), Pinsent Masons, and Lloyd's of London. My work explored the privacy and security challenges of IoT systems and resulted, amongst others, in analyses of emerging risks and opportunities, national and international governance developments, as well as IoT’s impact on informed consent.

From November 2021 until February 2022, I lead the Security, Privacy, Identity and Trust Engagement NetworkPlus (SPRITE+) project “First RespondXR", which evaluates the digital vulnerabilities of immersive technologies in the training of English police officers. As Extended Reality (XR), including both virtual and augmented reality, is becoming more prominent, this analysis can map and expose pressing social, technical, legal, and ethical risks and shortcomings.

Hacking and Hacktivism

In December 2016, I submitted my interdisciplinary PhD thesis with the title "Hacking (In)Security: Discourses and Practices of Politics, Technology and Activism". In the course of my PhD, I merged Critical Security Studies theory with the digital realm. My research examined the (in)securitisation of hacking and hacktivism. The emphasis laid on the European Union. The PhD project investigated the sphere of politics and bureaucracy, the industrial cybersecurity sector and self-identified hackers and hacktivists.

In doing so, I studied distinct perceptions on hacking and hacktivism and identified (in)security discourses and practices within the governmental, corporate as well as civil society level. The PhD research compared these varying perspectives and determined how these viewpoints contradict or overlap. The thesis gives an insight into the social construction of security risks and (in)security practices. It further fosters a more critical engagement with the framing of security threats and the ongoing cybersecurity developments in general.

Further Interests

Some of my other research projects included studies on the Pirate Party of Austria, Computer Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRTs), gender stereotypes within the hacktivist community, and sexism online. I also developed a passion for the analysis of censorship and surveillance and am outspoken about security issues within academia. I have also dipped my toe into new waters such as cyber insurance and security training/education.

Please consult my list of publications for further details on my scholarly work.