This week, I organized the seventeenth Workshop on Protection and Human Behavior at the Harvard Kennedy School. This marks the initial gathering since our co-originator, Ross Anderson, passed away suddenly.
PHB is a small, yearly, by-invitation-only event of individuals exploring different facets of the human dimension of safeguarding. The around fifty participants include psychologists, economists, computer security scholars, criminologists, sociologists, political scholars, designers, attorneys, thinkers, anthropologists, geographers, neuroscientists, business school lecturers, and a variety of others. It’s not just a multidisciplinary occasion; a majority of the attendees here are intrinsically multidisciplinary.
Our objective is always to enhance discussion and collaboration. We do this by including everyone in panels, and restricting presentations to six to eight minutes, leaving the remaining time for open dialogue. Brief presentations restrict presenters from delving into the monotonous details of their work, and the interdisciplinary audience discourages technical terms.
Since its inception, this workshop has been the most intellectually invigorating two days of my professional year. It shapes my thought process in unique and at times surprising manners—and has led to some new relationships and unforeseen partnerships. This is why some of us have been frequenting these gatherings annually for more than ten years.
The schedule for this year can be found here. This page provides details about the attendees and links to some of their works. Kami Vaniea documented both days.
Check out my posts on the initial, secondary, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth PHB gatherings. Use the provided links to discover summaries, papers, and occasionally audio/video recordings of the sessions. Ross maintained an excellent webpage of psychology and safeguarding resources—it’s still accessible for the time being.
Next year’s event will take place in Cambridge, UK, hosted by Frank Stajano.
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