Contemplating human-centred security & privacy research: Suggesting future directions

This position paper is a reflective look at the state of Human-Centred Security & Privacy (HCSP) research and the paradigms that have informed and driven the research. It is important to reflect and examine, because, as Harrison et al. [1] argue, with respect to HCI, “the lack of clarity about the epistemological distinctions between paradigms is a limiting factor in the development of the field” (p. 1). We discuss the current state of play and then suggest possible explanations and suggestions for the way forward for our research field. This paper aims to prompt a discussion of the directions HCSP should take, and ways we could deploy to encourage maturation of the field.