Recently we at Security Lancaster had the pleasure and stress of hosting the EuroUSec 2025 symposium. The event provides a valuable European venue to cover the research gap between hard cybersecurity and human centred topics in sociology and psychology: Usable Security and Privacy.
It was held in the DiSH venue in central Manchester, sponsored by the Data Cyber Quarter project, and with technical leadership from Ali Farooq from Strathclyde. The arrangements went well, to our delight. Despite the conference title, delegates came from the US, Canada and Asia as well as from Europe.
The atmosphere was vibrant and welcoming. The keynote talks proved an excellent highlight . Dr Marc Dupuis gave an insightful talk connecting emotion, faith, and human behaviour to more empathetic cybersecurity design; Dr Jason Nurse explored the human and psychological impacts of breaches beyond financial loss. Both keynotes reminded us that adequate security must start with understanding people's emotions, beliefs, and lived experiences.
The paper sessions showcased an impressive range of high-quality research. Topics spanned from privacy and transparency to security behaviour and organisational readiness. Particularly noteworthy were papers examining users' relationships with AI companions, how trust and attachment shape privacy risks, and work on older adults' experiences with passkeys and authentication, highlighting critical inclusivity challenges. Other contributions analysed how trust can override caution in personal phishing contexts and how cybersecurity practices within organisations can be more employee-centric. Throughout all sessions, the presentations were well-structured, engaging, and full of creative, human-focused insights.
Beyond the technical content, what made EuroUSEC 2025 valuable was the particular sense of community. Conversations flowed easily throughout the event, during coffee breaks, poster sessions, and the social dinner. All had the chance to meet and exchange ideas with researchers from all over the world. Everyone was approachable and very interested in discussing their work, making it easy to connect and learn from one another.
We look forward to next year's event, which will see two European human-centred security events, EuroUSec and STAST, combining forces to create the Sociotechnical Cybersecurity and Privacy conference (SCP) in Luxemborg in late summer 2026.
- Charles Weir, Lancaster University, and Christina Katsini, University of Warwick