Professor Emma Barrett OBE
Director of SPRITE+
Oz Alashe, CEO of CybSafe, and Dr John Blythe, Head of Behavioural Science at CybSafe are joined by Professor Emma Barrett OBE. Emma is a Professor of Psychology, Security and Trust, and the Strategic Lead for Digital Trust and Security at the University of Manchester. She is also the Director of Sprite+. They discuss the impact and challenges of the collaboration between academia, government and industry. They also discuss Emma’s work on digital trust and the psychology of behaviour in extreme environments.
Discussion points:
- How have issues of trust and security changed during Emma’s career?
- Why do law enforcement lack the skills to combat the increasing digitisation of crime?
- What is the mission of Sprite+ and what challenges does Sprite+ seek to address?
- What are some of the challenges involved with bringing together academia, policy-makers and industry?
- What excites Emma about digital trust and security?
[tweetshareinline tweet=”We have to develop that next generation of people who can speak social science and understand the technology and bring the two together. – Prof Emma Barrett OBE, SPRITE+”]
About Professor Emma Barrett OBE
Emma is Professor of Psychology, Security, and Trust and the University of Manchester’s strategic lead for Digital Trust and Security. Her role involves developing a multi-disciplinary community of researchers to apply their expertise to all aspects of digital security. She is also Director of SPRITE+, the NetworkPlus for Security, Privacy, Identity and Trust Engagement. The UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council funds SPRITE+ to build collaborative relationships between academics, industry, government and the police.
Before joining UoM in March 2018, Emma was Research to Practice Fellow at the Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats (CREST) at Lancaster University. There, she spearheaded efforts to ensure CREST’s research focused on end user requirements and fostered strong links between academics and stakeholders.
From 2003-2015, Emma led a UK Government research unit that developed and applied behavioural, psychological, and social science research to a range of security and defence issues. She was awarded the OBE in 2010.
Emma is a Chartered Psychologist. She completed her doctorate in Psychology at the University of Birmingham. She holds an MSc in Investigative Psychology, a Conversion Diploma in Psychology, and a BSc in Anthropology.
She is the co-author of Extreme: Why some people thrive at the limits (Oxford University Press, 2014), and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.