Digital Policy Laboratory
STEaPP's Digital Policy Lab works collaboratively across disciplines and with the policy community to develop responses to the challenges and opportunities of emerging technologies
New and emerging digital technologies are reshaping the ways that we interact, work, and govern. They have profound implications for the promotion of justice and equity, for economic growth, for the provision of public goods, and for international affairs and security. Due to the pace of change as well as the scale and scope of these transformations, the formulation of policies that effectively address these issues is particularly difficult. In order to support sound policy solutions in this context, the Digital Policy Lab works closely with the national and international policy community to understand their goals and challenges and to develop research projects that provide solutions.

We have a number of projects underway in STEaPP that have been co-designed with policy makers. These are typically oriented around specific research questions that have been developed collaboratively - with real attention to the specific needs of those who work to design and implement innovative policy approaches to the deeply challenging problems as well as the unprecedented opportunities brought about by technological change.
Projects
Evaluating Cyber Security Evidence for Policy Advice
An EPSRC funded project developed in collaboration with a range of partners including the Sociotechnical Security Group at the National Cyber Security Centre and the Cyber Policy team at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
ECSEPA Cybersecurity Governance Mapping Project
The Mapping Exercise is an extension of the EPSRC funded project, 'Evaluating Cyber Security Evidence for Policy Advice' (ECSEPA). It is a five-month project funded through the Research Institute in the Science of Cyber Security (RISCS).
Gender and IoT
Gender and IoT is an interdisciplinary project exploring the implications of IoT on gender-based domestic violence and abuse and is funded by a Social Science Plus+ award from UCL's Collaborative Social Science Domain.
The PETRAS Internet of Things Research Hub
A £23 million project to explore critical issues in privacy, ethics, trust, reliability, acceptability, and security.
MPA in Digital Technologies and Public Policy
The MPA in Digital Technologies and Public Policy prepares future leaders and decision makers working in policy to meet the challenges and opportunities presented by today's fast-evolving digital technologies.
STEaPP contributors
In the media
Dr Madeline Carr
The Internet of Things
International cooperation is vital for Internet of Things security
Madeline, explores the international policy dimension of Internet of Things (IoT) security on the DCMS blog.
Dr Leonie Tanczer
Crypto Party Digital skills in academia: let’s CryptoParty!
The question of how to secure research data in times of large-scale online surveillance remains unaddressed. CryptoParties might offer a preliminary solution
Subverting the Snoopers? Tools promise to avoid UK Surveillance Law
The RT UK interview Leonie Tanczer in January 2017 on the Snoopers Charter

STEaPP Chat
Episode 4: Cyber 9/12
In this episode of STEaPP Chat: Dr Irina Brass and Dr Alex Chung chat to our CryptoKitties from UCL STEaPP: Isabella Manghi, Simon Turner, Zoey Tung and Clementine Blanchier, about their participation in Cyber 9/12 and how they apply their learning from the MPA Programme at the semi-final of the competition.
Featured Researcher

Dr Feja Lesniewska is a post-doctoral research associate working on the EPSRC funded PETRAS project