Spotlight On: Dr Hu Yuan

What is your role and what does it involve?
I am currently a Research Fellow on the PETRAS project Analytical Lenses for IoT Threats (ALIoTT) at University of Warwick. The IoT has emerged from a number of different domains, bringing together a number of different technologies. There are different views of IoT, and thus the security and risks of IoT, held by different actors, in different verticals; hence we describe various analytical lenses of IoT. My role in this project is to investigates IoT Threats in different domains.

How long have you been with PETRAS and what was your previous role?
I have been with PETRAS since January 2017, my previous research is wireless communication networks (5G, 3GPP LTE and IoT). I focused on the network structures, performance optimisation and physical level security.

Tell us about a project you are working on now which is top of your to-do list?
The concept of ‘Analytical Lenses’ of IoT is a cluster of security modelling methods, design and analysis tools, communication techniques and supporting policies. This project will focus on both social and technical lenses – addressing key technical problems in adopting IoT while considering how they interact with standards and policy to create safe, secure, practical and future-proof outcomes. The top of my to-do list is on the stakeholders’ varied levels of needs to draw their unique security concerns and adopt specific ways to support their system and functional requirements.

What about the IoT attracted you to working in this area?
We are going into a digitally-driven world, it is bringing revolutions of society, culture, and environment. IoT is the backbone of the digitally-driven world.

What is your favourite album, film and novel?
En, the film is The Shawshank Redemption, and Fortress Besieged is my favourite novel. Fortunately, it does not ask my mother’s middle name.

Who would be your dream dinner guests?
My dream dinner is with the different ages of me.

What advice would you give your younger self?
Nothing, I am afraid that changes to the past would lead to disturbances of the time-space.

What would it surprise people to know about you?
You will know after you know me. I would be surprised too.