PEASEC at TU Darmstadt has have been recognised twice in the Weizenbaum Study Prize 2024: Both Dr. Thea Riebe and Dr. Thomas Reinhold have been awarded 1st prize for their dissertations, both supervised by Prof. Dr. Dr. Christian Reuter, completed in 2022 and 2023, respectively. The award ceremony will take place on Saturday, 26 October 2024, from 15:45 in Bremerhaven as part of the FIfF conference (2024.fiffkon.de).
In her dissertation ‘Technology Assessment of Dual-Use ICTs – How to Assess Diffusion, Governance and Design’, Dr. rer. nat. Thea Riebe examines dual-use information and communication technologies and develops methods to assess their diffusion, governance and design. To this end, she combines current work from the fields of technology assessment, critical security studies and human-computer interaction in order to better recognise dual-use risks and to govern their impacts as well as reflect on them during research and development of security-critical artefacts. Case studies include autonomous weapon systems, AI, and open-source intelligence. Prof. Dr. Alfred Nordmann acted as the second referee. The full dissertation can be viewed here and here.
The cyberspace and its global infrastructures are becoming an area of intelligence and military operations, as evidenced by the creation of military cyber divisions and the integration of cyberspace into the security and defence strategies of states. Many traditional instruments of transparency, de-escalation and arms control do not work due to the technical characteristics of cyberspace. The dissertation ‘Towards a Peaceful Development of Cyberspace – Challenges and Technical Measures for the De-escalation of State-led Cyberconflicts and Arms Control of Cyberweapons’ by Dr. rer. nat. Thomas Reinhold examines how de-escalation of state-led conflicts and arms control of cyber weapons can be achieved by adopting existing technical measures from other areas of computing. It presents a classification system for cyber weapons, approaches to reduce vulnerability stockpiles and methods to prove non-involvement in cyber conflicts. In addition, it provides insights into the responsibility and design possibilities of computer science in promoting the peaceful use of cyberspace. Prof. Dr. Volker Roth acted as the second referee. The dissertation can be viewed here and here.
With the Weizenbaum Study Prize, the FIfF aims to honour outstanding achievements by young scientists in this field. Students and academics in the qualification phase are to be encouraged to take a well-founded and differentiated approach to questions in the field of computer science and society. The prize was awarded for the first time in 2010. Since then, FIfF has honoured works on anonymity on the Internet, online searches, the use of mobile IT systems in the classroom, video surveillance, information power on the Internet, criminal prognostics and many other topics.
Qualifying theses (Bachelor’s, Master’s, diploma theses or dissertations) completed in the two years prior to the nomination deadline could be submitted. Although the call for nominations focusses on final theses in computer science, submissions from thematically related fields are also expressly invited. The FIfF endows the Weizenbaum Study Prize in memory of the scientist and computer science pioneer Professor Dr Joseph Weizenbaum in recognition of his services to a critical view of computer science. Joseph Weizenbaum played a key role in the founding of the FIfF, was a member of the board for many years and made an exemplary contribution to the work and goals of the FIfF through his scientific achievements.
By awarding the prize, FIfF also wants to emphasise the importance of computer science for social development and urges a critical, public debate on the findings and artefacts of computer science.
The Forum InformatikerInnen für Frieden und gesellschaftliche Verantwortung (FIfF e.V.) is an association of committed and critical experts from the science and practice of information technology.
