Alena Kottova, BSc, MA, PhD is an award winning researcher and educator with a broad background in history and philosophy of science and technology as well as social and ethical implications of technological development for society. She specializes in exploring and addressing the ethical paradigm shift required to address the cybersecurity issues brought up by digital society and fast changing technological innovations.

Alena teaches university courses at the University of Victoria, Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Philosophy as well as Vancouver Island University, Department of Computing Science. Through her role as an educator and ethicist, Alena has extensive experience in reviewing and influencing privacy and security opinions and views of hundreds of students who are becoming the next generation of professionals in their respective fields.

Alena has also developed a textbook focused on topics such as ethics, privacy and confidentiality, AI, Big Data, surveillance etc. that is geared toward both technical and non-technical audience and provides an in depth look at the social implication of current technological developments in changing the structure of society. She is currently working on a book dedicated to cybersecurity for children and parents.

Alena is passionate about supporting science, technology and cybersecurity education on all levels, advancing ethically and privacy sound digital habits of her students, and committed to advocating for practical ways to reduce and manage privacy risks and improve cybersecurity education.