Celien De Stercke

Celien De Stercke is a Criminologist at the Institute for International Research on Criminal Policy (IRCP). In 2022, she graduated summa cum laude from Ghent University with an M.Sc. in Criminological Sciences.

Her interest in the world of cyber started in high school during her technical industrial science studies. Although she started but did not pursue Computer Sciences at the university because of the strict focus on technical aspects, she was able to reconnect to the cyber dimension during her criminology studies.

Her interdisciplinary background made her the perfect fit for a collaboration between the IRCP and imec-DistriNet (2022), a Research Group Computer Sciences at the KU Leuven, where she also constitutes a former member.

She pursues a PhD on the intersection of her technical and social background, being the phenomenon of cyber warfare. As of November 2022 (BOF), Celien researches the applicability of governance of security theories to cyberspace, in particular cyber mercenaries, in order to develop governance architecture model scenarios to counter cyber threats.