I am a PhD candidate at the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Cyber Security at the University of Bristol. I am currently researching the intersection of corporate and state interests in the management and administration of online spaces, with an emphasis on the changing landscape of international relations and an increasingly fragmented internet.
I’ve been given the opportunity to work closely with RISCS in examining the ethical component of this topic: when the core ethical principles of corporate governance clash with those of the state and the law, who wins out, and what are the implications for users and inhabitants of online spaces? Over the course of my time with RISCS, I intend to interview several experts and stakeholders based around the upcoming ‘Cyber Statecraft in an Era of Systemic Competition’ workshop, in order to direct further research on the topic. I hope to develop a landscape map of the field and identify key points of contention and convolution.
I am very eager to get to grips with this issue, which in addition to its obvious significance is also highly relevant to my own research interests. My own background is in Politics and Economics, and I am keen to see how pre-existing models of international governance and regulation are warped by a dependence on large-scale corporate actors. A mingling of political and economic theory seems a good match for this mingling of the financial world and the body politic.
– Kester Brookland, May 2024