Providing customised services using users’ biometric data (including emotions, experiences, memories, and attitudes), security and privacy issues involved in the BCIs need more attention. Moreover, reviewing the possible privacy and security threats involved in BCIs with possible security measures to mitigate the privacy threats, and therefore focusing on developing security mechanisms to protect and secure the BCI can open many opportunities in research in BCI security and privacy concepts. Therefore, we have planned to set up a panel for more discussion regarding the mentioned issues.

• Does using BCI threaten user privacy in the fields in which BCI is involved, such as education, games and entertainment, marketing, and healthcare (prevention, detection, diagnosis, rehabilitation restoration), and brain-biometric?
• What are the capable defense techniques against BCI’s vulnerabilities?
• How to calculate cyber security risks in BCI? How about the risk management of BCI vulnerabilities? What is included in a cybersecurity risk assessment?
• How to combine Cryptography with EEG to have secure communication?
• Do users’ emotions, stress, and diet (stability of brain biometric), or age in a long time (permanence of Brian biometric) influence Cryptographic Key Generation Systems using EEG signals?
• What are the “Biometric Specifications for Personal Identity Verification” standards for brain biometric?
• What are the ethical considerations for BCI wearable technology?

Finding an answer to these questions opens many opportunities in research in BCI security and privacy concepts. Moreover, BCI security risk management requires more in-depth analysis of the security risk caused by BCI. In particular, this would be assisted by stronger estimates on the baseline likelihood of risk. Due to the vitality awareness of security involved in BCI, various prominent experts from Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Italy, and UK will discuss the BCI security and privacy issues and solution on our panel discussion on July 15-17, 2022.

Panel I Organizers

• Dr. Farnaz Mohammadi

E-mail: fm@sec.uni-passau.de

Short Bio: Farnaz Mohammadi studied Computer Engineering-Software and received her master’s degree in Computer Science- Intelligent Systems from the Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic). She has over ten years of experience in Security and Access Control systems development, maintenance, and deployment while she worked as a technical team member and project manager. She was a Junior Researcher at System Security Laboratory (SSL), Department of Digital Systems, University of Piraeus, Greece, from 2017 to 2020. She is currently a Ph.D Student /Research Assistant at Passau Institute of Digital Security (PIDS), at the University of Passau under the supervision of Prof. J. Posegga. Her research interests include systems and networks security, and she focuses on Brain-Computer-Interface security and privacy.

• Prof. Joachim Posegga

E-mail: jp@sec.uni-passau.de

Short Bio: Joachim Posegga holds the chair of IT security since 2008. Before coming to Passau, he was appointed Professor at the University of Hamburg in 2003 and founded the Security in Distributed Systems (SVS) Group at the University of Hamburg. Prior to academia, he was leading the Security Research Program at SAP Corporate Research, from 1995-2000 he worked on security at Deutsche Telekom Research in Darmstadt. His research addresses Web Security, Security protocols and architectures, the current application focus is the Internet of Things. He is the author of four books in the area of computer science, and numerous scientific papers in journals and conference proceedings.

• Dr. Mona Ghassemian

E-mail: mona.ghassemian@interdigital.com

Short Bio: Mona Ghassemian currently works as a senior research and innovation manager leading the next generation networking research team in the Future Wireless Europe department at InterDigital. She received her PhD in "Mobile, and Personal Communications" research sponsored by NTT DoCoMo and a M.Sc.  by Research degree in mobile and personal communication systems both from King's College London by distinction. Her Ph.D. and subsequent postdoc position were on self-organised networks.  She worked as a lecturer and senior lecturer at KCL, Uni of Greenwich and SBU, teaching courses and supervising at BSc, MSc, and PhD levels in 2006-2007, 2007-2012, and 2012-2018, respectively. She switched to industry research to work at BT research lab at Adastral park with a focus on the security of 5G and IoT technologies from 2019-2021. She currently works as senior R&I manager at InterDigital, Inc leading the next generation networking research team. She served as IEEE UK & Ireland section chair (2020-2021) and is currently the IEEE Region 8 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee chair and the MGA nomination committee member.

This panel aims to discuss the opportunities and challenges presented by the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to provide personalised support to students with learning disabilities and Autism. The recent European Commission Erasmus+ funded projects “An AI Tool to Predict Engagement and ‘Meltdown’ Events in Students with Autism (AI-TOP)” seeks to understand how AI can be used to predict when “Rumble” moments might occur for students with Autism so that evidence-based calming interventions can be introduced in a timely fashion to decrease the frequency and intensity of the meltdown events. Another project funded under the same programme titled “Embracing diversity in Asia through the adoption of Inclusive Open Practices (DIVERSASIA)” aims to make accessible Open Education Resources and Massive Open Online Courses and their personalisation using AI that will enable better provision of open distance learning for those with disabilities. The panel comprises experts from special education, and Autism research teamed together with experts in AI. We predict a lively discussion which we intend to analyse in greater depth after the workshop and provide a blueprint for the future use of AI in special education.

Indicative panel questions:

• Use of AI in Supporting Students with Autism: Challenges and Opportunities
• What do you see as the ethical issues of using AI in the education of students with Autism?
• Do you foresee any security issues?
• How could AI be successfully used in the classroom (e.g., personalised pathway, challenging behaviour)?

Panel II Organizers

• Prof. David Brown, Nottingham Trent University, UK

Short Bio: Professor Brown is Director of the Computing and Informatics Research Centre and Research Group Leader for the Interactive Systems Research Group. His areas of research interest include Accessibility - for students with learning, physical and sensory impairments (DiversAsia); Virtual Reality - in the rehabilitation of people with intellectual disabilities; Multimodal Affect Recognition Learning Systems - to develop personalised learning pathways (H2020 MaTHiSiS, Pathway and AI-TOP); Social Robotics - for use in the education of students with learning disabilities and autism (EDUROB); Accessible Visual Programming Toolkits - to promote engagement and collaborative behaviours (H2020 No One Left Behind); Serious Games - for the development of physical and cognitive skills (Real Life, RISE); and Co-design and positive mental wellbeing (EPSRC An Internet of Soft Things).

• Dr. Mufti Mahmud, Nottingham Trent University, UK

Short Bio: Dr Mufti Mahmud serves as an Associate Professor of Cognitive Computing at the Computer Science Department of Nottingham Trent University (NTU), UK. He received PhD degree from the University of Padova, Italy in 2011. A recipient of the VC outstanding research award 2021 at NTU and Marie-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship, Dr Mahmud has over 15 years of academic experience and 180+ peer-reviewed publications. His grant portfolio consists of £3.3 million for intelligent computational tool development for applications related to Neuroscience and neural disorder. His expertise includes computational intelligence, applied data analysis, and big data technologies, focusing on healthcare applications.

• Dr. M Shamim Kaiser, Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh

Short Bio: Dr M Shamim Kaiser is a Professor at the Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh. He received his PhD degree in Telecommunication Engineering from the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand, in 2010. He worked as a Postdoc at the Bigdata and Cyber Security lab of Anglia Ruskin University, the UK during 2017-2018. He also worked at the Adachi Lab of Tohoku University, Japan in 2008. His current research interests include Data Analytics, Machine Learning, Wireless Network & Signal processing, Cognitive Radio networks, Big IoT data, Healthcare, Neuroinformatics, and Cyber Security. He has authored 160+ papers in different peer-reviewed journals and conferences.

• Mr. Karel Van Isacker, PhoenixKM BVBA, Belgium

Short Bio: Mr Karel Van Isacker has master’s degrees in Applied Economic Sciences and Business Administration. He is an inclusion expert from PhoenixKM (Belgium) with 17 years of experience in the field of inclusive education practices, assistive technology implementations, etc. He is project manager for public and private funded projects and is an external inclusion expert to universities in Bulgaria, Colombia, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Turkey and Greece. He has 25 years of experience in European projects and has been working in Belgium, Greece and Bulgaria as an R&D and project coordinator/manager.

Panel II Panellists

• Prof. David Brown, Nottingham Trent University, UK
• Dr. Nadja Heym, Nottingham Trent University, UK
• Mr. Karel Van Isacker, PhoenixKM BVBA, Belgium
• Prof. M Shamim Kaiser, Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh
• Dr. Lauran Doak, Nottingham Trent University, UK
• Mr. David Stewart, Nottingham Schools Trust, UK
• Dr. Alex Sumich, Nottingham Trent University, UK
• Prof. Clare Wood, Nottingham Trent University, UK

Artificial intelligence (AI) has made significant improvements during the last decade. It has opened up doors of excellent opportunities leading to unprecedented discoveries in basic, applied and translational research. AI applied to brain research, in decoding the neural code to improve preventative treatment and predictive diagnostic models, has been directing the development of the next generation of effective assistive neurotechnologies. It also raises many questions and challenges related to the ethical use of these newly developed methodologies. Several initiatives and movements have been actioned to make AI more transparent through explainability and promoting open-source methodological development to address these ethical questions and challenges. Focusing on them, a panel consisting of experts from diverse disciplines, including sociology, law, computational intelligence, and neuroscience, will discuss different opportunities and challenges in developing open, explainable and ethical methodologies for brain science. The lively discussion will share cross-disciplinary information for in-depth analysis of the topic and possibly put forward an outline for possible future research actions.

Indicative panel topics:

• Major ethical issues related to the different phases of neuroscience experiments.
• Challenges foreseen in the openness and explainability of AI in brain research.
• Augmentation of brain function through implantable technologies and AI.
• Necessary actions towards ethical AI and neuroscience research.

Panel III Organizers

• Dr. Mufti Mahmud, Nottingham Trent University, UK

Short Bio: Dr Mufti Mahmud serves as an Associate Professor of Cognitive Computing at the Computer Science Department of Nottingham Trent University (NTU), UK. He received PhD degree from the University of Padova, Italy in 2011. A recipient of the VC outstanding research award 2021 at NTU and Marie-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship, Dr Mahmud has over 15 years of academic experience and 180+ peer-reviewed publications. His grant portfolio consists of £3.3 million for intelligent computational tool development for applications related to Neuroscience and neural disorder. His expertise includes computational intelligence, applied data analysis, and big data technologies, focusing on healthcare applications.

• Dr. Tanu Wadhera, Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology, India

Short Bio: Dr Tanu Wadhera received the Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech.) degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from the Govt GNE College, Punjab, India, in 2013 and the Master of Technology (MTech.) degree in Signal Processing from the Punjabi University Punjab, India in 2015. She completed her PhD from the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Jalandhar, India, in July 2021. She also served as a Research Associate in the Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, from Nov 2020 to July 2021. Now she is serving as an Assistant Professor at the Indian Institute of Information Technology Una, Una, Himanchal Pradesh, India.

• Prof. Stefano Vassanelli, University of Padova, Italy

Short Bio: Prof Stefano Vassanelli graduated cum Laude in Medicine at the University of Padova, and his doctoral thesis was awarded the “Casati” price from the “Accademia Nationale dei Lincei”. After completing a PhD in molecular biology and pathology, he undertook postdoctoral research first at the Oregon Graduate Institute of Science and Technology, Dpt. of Biochemistry (Portland. Oregon, USA), and then at the Max-Planck Institute for Biochemistry, Dpt. Membrane and Neurophysics (Martinsried, Germany) working on brain-chip interfaces for high-resolution recording of neuronal networks. Since 2001 he has been leading the Neurochip laboratory at the University of Padova with a primary focus on developing high-density neural interfaces and their use to investigate information-processing mechanisms in brain microcircuits.

Panel III Panellists

• TBC