Dr Noran Fouad
Dr Noran Fouad
Senior Lecturer in Digital Politics
My profile
Biography
Dr Noran Fouad is a Senior Lecturer in Digital Politics at the School of History, Politics, and Philosophy at Manchester Metropolitan University. She is currently the Programme Leader for the MA in International Relations and Global Communications. Prior to MMU, she worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford (2020-2022), where she conducted public policy research on cybersecurity governance, with particular focus on low- and middle-income countries. As part of her role, she co-designed and co-taught multiple executive education programmes to policymakers and postgraduate courses on governing digital transformation and cybersecurity.
Noran completed her PhD in International Relations at the University of Sussex in 2021, funded by the university’s Chancellor’s International Research Scholarship. Her PhD thesis examined the socio-political construction of cybersecurity through an in-depth analysis of the peculiarities and agency of digital information, by drawing upon literatures in the philosophy of information and software studies, and through a detailed analysis of cybersecurity discourses in the USA. She transformed this project into a book entitled ‘Theorising Cyber (In)Security: Information, Materiality, and Entropic Security’, published by Routledge.
Noran holds a BSc and a MSc degree in Political Science from Cairo University, where she also worked as a Teaching Assistant and Assistant Lecturer of Political Science (2011-2016); teaching multiple undergraduate courses including: Theory of International Relations, Introduction to Political Science, Foreign Policy Analysis, and Western Political Systems. During that period, she conducted research on Middle East politics, cybersecurity, internet governance, digital activism, and several other topics related to digital technologies. She was also an Academic Assistant and Executive Editor of two academic journals published by the university.
Interests and expertise
Noran’s research lies at the intersection of technology, security, and governance, with a particular focus on cybersecurity. She is interested in studying the security of the everyday and the ostensibly ‘mundane’ in cybersecurity; the co-production of cybersecurity policies and practices between human and non-human agency; and developing interdisciplinary theoretical and conceptual frameworks to cybersecurity that engage with questions and debates in other sub-fields of International Relations and Security Studies. Her research thus far has been informed by critical security studies, new materialism and posthumanism, the philosophy of information, software studies, securitisation, and risk theories. Currently, she is working on exploring issues at the intersection of cybersecurity, biosecurity, and global health.
Teaching
Postgraduate:
- Current Issues in Digital Media and Politics
- Masterclass (Cyberbiosecurity)
- Becoming a Digital Researcher
Undergraduate:
- Critical Security Studies
- Contemporary Political Issues (Security In, Of, and From Cyberspace)
Supervision
I welcome PhD applications in any of my research interests, including cybersecurity, digital politics, science and technology studies, and security studies.
Research outputs
Books
Fouad, N.S. (Forthcoming, 2025). Theorising Cyber (In)SecurityInformation, Materiality, and Entropic Security. Routledge.
Articles
Fouad, N.S. (2024). Cyberbiosecurity in the New Normal: Cyberbio Risks, Pre-emptive Security, and the Global Governance of Bioinformation. European Journal of International Security, First View. https://doi.org/10.1017/eis.2024.19
Cristiano, Fabio, et al. (2024). Cybersecurity and the Politics of Knowledge Production: Towards a Reflexive Practice. Journal of Cyber Policy, 1-34. (entry: Reflexive teaching and cybersecurity knowledge production: what do critical pedagogies mean for cybersecurity?). https://doi.org/10.1080/23738871.2023.2287687
Fouad, N.S. (2022). The Non-anthropocentric Informational Agents: Codes, Software, and the Logic of Emergence in Cybersecurity. Review of International Studies, 48(4), pp.766-785. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0260210521000681 (Rated 4* in MMU pre-REF exercise)
Fouad, N.S. (2022). The Security Economics of EdTech: Vendors’ Responsibility and the Cybersecurity Challenge in the Education Sector. Digital Policy, Regulation and Governance, 24(3), pp. 259-273. https://doi.org/10.1108/DPRG-07-2021-0090
Martin, C. and Fouad, N.S. (2022). Five Tests for Risk-Based Approaches to National Cybersecurity in Resource-Constrained Environments. Digital Pathways at Oxford Paper Series; no. 19. Oxford, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.35489/BSG-DP-WP_2022/05
Fouad, N.S. (2021). Securing Higher Education Against Cyber Threats: From an Institutional Risk to a National Policy Challenge. Journal of Cyber Policy, 6(2), pp.137-154. https://doi.org/10.1080/23738871.2021.1973526 (Rated 3* in MMU pre-REF exercise)
Fouad, N.S. (2019). The Peculiarities of Securitising Cyberspace: A Multi-Actor Analysis of the Construction of Cyber Threats in the US (2003-2016), in Tiago Cruz and Paulo Simoes (eds.), Proceedings of the 18th European Conference on Cyber Warfare and Security, pp. 633-640. Academic Conferences and Publishing International Limited.
Fouad, N.S. (2018). Security as a Context, Generative Force, and Policy Concern for the Co-Production of Cyberspace: Historical Overview Since WWII Until the End of the Cold War, in Audun Josang (ed.), Proceedings of the 17th European Conference on Cyber Warfare and Security, pp.507-514. Academic Conferences and Publishing International Limited.
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Journal articles
Fouad, N.S. (2024) 'Cyberbiosecurity in the new normal: cyberbio risks, pre-emptive security, and the global governance of bioinformation.' European Journal of International Security, pp. 1-21.
Cristiano, F., Kurowska, X., Stevens, T., Hurel, L.M., Fouad, N.S., Cavelty, M.D., Broeders, D., Liebetrau, T., Shires, J. (2023) 'Cybersecurity and the politics of knowledge production: towards a reflexive practice.' Journal of Cyber Policy, 8(3) pp. 331-364.
Fouad, N.S. (2022) 'The non-anthropocentric informational agents: Codes, software, and the logic of emergence in cybersecurity.' Review of International Studies, 48(4) pp. 766-785.
Fouad, N.S. (2022) 'The security economics of EdTech: vendors’ responsibility and the cybersecurity challenge in the education sector.' Digital Policy, Regulation and Governance, 24(3) pp. 259-273.
Fouad, N.S. (2021) 'Securing higher education against cyberthreats: from an institutional risk to a national policy challenge.' Journal of Cyber Policy, 6(2) pp. 137-154.
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Conference papers
Fouad, N.S. (2019) 'The peculiarities of securitising cyberspace: a multi-actor analysis of the construction of cyber threats in the us (2003-2016).' 2019-July. pp. 633-640.
Fouad, N.S. (2018) 'Security as a context, generative force, and policy concern for the co-production of cyberspace: Historical overview since WWII until the end of the cold war.' 2018-June. pp. 507-514.
Career history
August 2024 - Present
Senior Lecturer in Digital Politics
School of History, Politics, and Philosophy, MMU
September 2022-July 2024
Lecturer in Digital Politics
School of History, Politics, and Philosophy, MMU
August 2020-2022
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford
2020
Doctoral Tutor
Department of International Relations, University of Sussex
2014-2016
Assistant Lecturer of Political Science
Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University
2011-2014
Teaching Assistant of Political Science
Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University