The project consortium has been designed so as to bring together interdisciplinary knowledge and expertise on big data analysis. The project does not intend to deliver a training on big data software, but rather to help professionals understand the working principles and processes of big data, so as to develop adaptive models of action, employing not (necessarily) big data, but the right (amount of) data, information and knowledge, so as to develop the ability to extract useful knowledge.
In this sense, it aims:
(1) To develop an innovative course package consisting of 4 teaching modules on data analysis
(2) To enhance key-competences and skills of the target groups in terms of data organization and analysis
The consortium partners are:
The “Mihai Viteazul” National Intelligence Academy is the Romanian Intelligence Service’s higher education military institution, responsible with the education and life-long professional training of Romania’s national security practitioners. In addition to its B.A. programs, professional and research M.A. programs, as well its PhD program, MVNIA organizes regular workshops and short training courses aimed at upgrading the skills of security and intelligence practitioners, both from the Romanian Intelligence Service and from the wider community. Within the project, MVNIA is responsible for the overall coordination, for recruiting trainees from current and future security and intelligence practitioners and for providing expertise for the training course.
The University of Malta – Department of Information Policy and Governance (UoM-DIPG) has a wide ranging expertise on privacy law and information policy development. Members of the department have been, since the early 1990s, involved in training police officers and intelligence practitioners on the crucial aspects of data protection and on the legal and ethical implications of the development of technology. Members of the Department possess an extremely developed knowledge base in the field of relevant legislation and jurisprudence and have participated in drafting numerous pieces of legislation in the UK, Malta and the European Parliament. The Head of the Department, prof. Joseph Cannataci was appointed in 2015 and re-appointed in 2018 as the UN Special Rapporteur for privacy, entrusted with elaborating a report on how this right is legislated and enforced across the world. UoM, through DIPG coordinates the Lex Converge research consortium. It is a wide consortium aiming at developing inter-disciplinary work on legal aspects of emerging technologies. Within the project, UoM-DIPG provides expertise on the legal and ethical challenges of big data processing, with the aim of stimulating debates between course participants.
The Norwegian Technical University (NTU) – Department of Information Security and Communication Technology has a wide-range expertise on big data analytics, digital forensics and applied computer science research for police and intelligence investigations. Among others, the department’s members have expertise in areas such as: algorithms for the analysis of encrypted evidence and cryptographic credentials, design of advanced computing technologies for evidence analysis and decision making, methods and tools for digital penetrator attribution and profiling, visualization of serious criminal relationships and associations, and geographical mapping of digital and physical evidence. The Department’s Head, prof. Katrin Franke has a wide expertise in big data analysis, social network analysis, machine learning, and malware detection. In addition to the ESSENTIAL project, prof. Katherine Franke has been involved in a number of applied research projects such as “Ars Forensica”, “Dark Web”, and “Forensic Methodology”. She is the author of numerous peer-reviewed research articles and books on the topics mentioned above. Within the project, the NTU brings the relevant technical expertise and will demonstrate to students how the theory and application of big data function. Dr Franke has also contributed to establish the NOKUT-accredited PhD programs in Information Security (2008), and in Computer Science (2012), to date supervising 5 PhD researchers and over 55 MSc and BSc theses.
The National University of Political Studies and Public Administration– Center for Civic Participation and Democracy (CCPD) is a research unit within the university, dedicated to evaluating citizen participation to the democratic process, to identifying causes and determinants of civic behavior and to promoting democratic values. It is a future-oriented, foresight based center, aiming to bolster prediction and develop mechanisms for improving civic participation. The crucial component the CCPD’s team will bring to the project is the knowledge it possesses on social science methodology as applied to communication studies research. The Center’s honorary director, prof. Remus Pricopie and executive director, Dan Sultănescu have published widely in the field of communication science and have focused especially on applied social sciences methodologies to communication studies research. Within the project, the CCPD accesses current and future social science practitioners and will provide expertise on applied social science methodologies, especially for communication research.
