Dr Natalie Coull is the Head of Department of Cybersecurity and Computing in the Faculty of Design, Informatics and Business and has research interests in secure coding, digital watermarks and computer memory-based security concerns. She also teaches foundational programming and computer security to undergraduate students. Natalie is actively engaged in outreach, including promoting female participation in cyber security and leading a programme to provide Abertay student mentors for local school pupils as part of their National Progression Award in Cybersecurity.

My research focuses on cataloguing security threats and vulnerabilities to better understand their root cause and identify appropriate techniques to improve communication of security problems. In particular my research investigates how anti-patterns can be used to transfer knowledge from the cybersecurity community to the software development community to ensure that secure software is developed from the outset. Broader research interests also encompass developing appropriate testing methodologies for SMEs and IoT, and the wider context of cybercrime and prevention measures.

Selected Funding
Year(s) Title of Award Source Value
2016 First Responder Guide Interface (plus matched cash from company) £40,000 (PI)
2016 Droman Crime Solutions Innovation Voucher (plus matched cash from company) £10,000 (PI)
2014 RIO (Remote Internet Observation) SIPR £5,000 (PI)
2014 Monitoring of Internet Sex Offenders KTG (Knowledge Transfer Grant) £5000 (PI)

• Invited speaker, IESIS ProfEng “Analysis of a Cyber Attack”
• Invited speaker Holyrood Cyber Security Conference “The Role of Education in Cyber Security”
• Assessor for the 2017 round of the EPSRC and GCHQ’s Academic Centres of Excellence in Cybersecurity Research
• Member of the GCHQ Master’s Certification Panel for session 2016 and session 2017
• Reviewer in external Athena Swan Assessment Panel in April 2016
• Member of SQA’s Qualification Development Team to oversee the creation of a new qualification (National Progression Award) for school children in the area of cybersecurity
• Committee member of the local branch of the BCS (Tayside and Fife)  and Branch Chair from 2014 – 2016
• Associate Member of the BCS
• Fellow of Higher Education Academy
• Outstanding Woman in Cyber Award 2016, Scottish Cyber Awards

Natalie is a STEM ambassador and organises outreach activities with local schools. These range from computer security talks and demonstrations to senior secondary school pupils to password security and Lego MindStorm programming workshops with younger pupils.