Team

SANJA BAUK

Sanja Bauk is a Professor and the ERA Chair Holder of Maritime Cybersecurity (MariCybERA) at the Estonian Maritime Academy, Tallinn University of Technology. For five years she was an Associate Professor at Durban University of Technology in South Africa, where she was an active researcher and lectured a group of subjects in Maritime Electronic Navigation, Logistics, and Research Methodology. She started her academic career back in 1998 at Maritime Faculty Kotor in Montenegro, where she, besides carrying out research work, lectured Operations Research and several modules in Maritime Information Systems for more than twenty years. Her interests are diverse and multy-layered. Currently, her research focus is on maritime digital transformation and cybersecurity.

RAIN OTTIS

Rain Ottis is a Tenured Associate Professor in Tallinn University of Technology. He is part of the MariCybERA team since January 2023. He is also leading TalTech’s Centre for Digital Forensics and Cyber Security, and serves as the Program Manager for the international Cyber Security Master’s Program. He has previously served as a researcher in the NATO CCDCOE and a signal officer in the Estonian Defence Forces. His research interests include cyber conflict, national cyber security and cybersecurity exercises.

KRISTEL TOOM

Kristel Toom,is an accomplished research manager and the Director for Research and Development at the Estonian Maritime Academy. With over 20 years of experience in research management and administration, Kristel has successfully coordinated various research projects, led technology transfers, and managed research administration. She is an active member of the European Association of Research Managers and Administration (EARMA) since 2009, promoting best practices in research management. Kristel’s expertise and dedication have made her a respected figure in the academic community, and her contributions have greatly impacted the field of research management and administration.

HAYRETDIN BAHSI 

Hayretdin Bahsi is a research professor at Tallinn University of Technology. He has more than two decades of professional and academic experience in cybersecurity. He received his PhD from Sabancı University (Turkey) in 2010. He was involved in many R&D and consultancy projects about cybersecurity as a researcher, consultant, trainer, project manager, program coordinator and founding director at the National Cyber Security Research Institute of Turkey. His research interests include the application of machine learning to cyber security problems, security of cyber-physical systems and digital forensics. More specifically, he contributes to the MariCybERA project by developing machine learning models for the security monitoring of maritime systems and giving consultancy about running secure development life cycles for large-scale maritime systems

RIC LUGO

Ric Lugo is a psychologist with experience as an applied practitioner, university lecturer and researcher. His current research and PhD focus on the behavioural aspects of cyber defense operations, both at the individual and team levels. Dr. Lugo has expertise in experimentation in human factors and cognitive engineering, researching the interaction of microcognition concepts like self-efficacy, metacognition, naturalistic environments, and macrocognition. He also investigates performance predictors such as time-pressure, risk, ambiguity, communication, and decision-making in cyber threat situations in individuals and teams. Dr. Lugo collaborates with national research and educational institutions as well as professional and amateur sports clubs, working with athletes in winter and individual/team sports.

STEFAN SÜTTERLIN

Stefan Sütterlin  is adjunct professor at TalTech’s Centre of Digital Forensics and Cyber Security. With his background in experimental physiological foundations of behavioural regulation he worked in the areas of biological, clinical and cognitive psychology. He now researches on human factors in particular the intersections of psychology with the fields of Information Security and education in civilian and military settings. He participates in the execucitve advisory board of the European Security and Defence College (ESDC),serves on the boards of international conferences and was external expert for various national science agencies. 

LEONIDAS TSIOPOULOS

Leonidas Tsiopoulos is a senior research scientist at TalTech with expertise in application of formal methods to critical systems development. The range of applications spans from many-core HW/SW embedded platforms to mixed-critical systems with hard real-time properties. Special focus has been put on the integration of complementary formal methods to better address the synergetic development of various system design views and eliminate verification scalability issues. Cybersecurity for the maritime sector has emerged as one of the most critical domains worldwide requiring an integrated approach of system development methods to provide verified safe- and secure-by-design solutions. Leonidas will contribute to this research direction.    

RISTO VAARANDI

Risto Vaarandi received his PhD degree from Tallinn University of Technology in 2005, and his MSc degree from University of Tartu in 1997. He is currently working as a senior researcher in Tallinn University of Technology. From 1998 until 2018, he was affiliated with SEB financial group and NATO CCDCOE. His research interests include machine learning for cyber security, event correlation, data mining for event logs, and network security.

GÁBOR VISKY

Gabor Visky is an Early-Stage Researcher at TalTech, with expertise in Industrial Control Systems. He holds a master’s degree in IT and a bachelor’s degree in telecommunication. His prior assignments include 15 years of designing hardware and software for embedded control systems and researching their vulnerabilities. From 2018 until 2022, he was affiliated with NATO CCDCOE. As a PhD student at Tallinn Technical University, Gábor explores the cyber security of modern ships’ operational technologies.

ALVAR KUREL

Alvar Kurrel, is a highly experienced project manager and expert in project management with over two decades of experience. He joined TalTech in 2005 as a technology transfer coordinator and has since been involved in numerous European and Estonian projects. He has expertise in finance management, strategy development, teamwork, and building. In addition, he has been a management consultant in the field of financial and business strategy and has a broad portfolio of projects that includes European Structural Funds, national projects, and FP7&H2020 projects.

JULIA GROSSCHMID

Julia Grosschmid is a partnership coordinator and certified ethical hacker with expertise in cybersecurity risk management, threat intelligence, and vulnerability assessment. She is passionate about research and innovation, as well as communication, believing that effective communication is essential to promoting cybersecurity awareness and education. She is committed to using her skills to make a positive impact in the industry, and her ultimate goal is to help make the digital world a safer and more secure place for everyone.