Ruba Abu-Salma

Ruba Abu-Salma is a Lecturer in Computer Science at King’s College London, affiliated with the Cybersecurity Group and Human Centred Computing Group within the Department of Informatics. Her research focuses on interdisciplinary cybersecurity, privacy, human-computer interaction (HCI), and public policy, with an emphasis on vulnerable populations. She holds a PhD from University College London (UCL) and previously held postdoctoral roles at UC Berkeley and Inria Sophia Antipolis.

• Education:
  • PhD in Computer Science, UCL (2019)
  • Postdoctoral Researcher at ICSI (UC Berkeley) and Inria (2019–2021)
• Research Interests: Designing equitable privacy-enhancing technologies; smart home privacy; digital security for marginalized groups; privacy law and policy.
• Affiliations: King’s Cybersecurity Centre, EPSRC-NCSC Academic Centre of Excellence, Centre for Technology and the Body.

Her work bridges computational and social science methods, addressing privacy and security challenges faced by vulnerable populations such as migrant domestic workers and older adults. Recent studies include smart home privacy dynamics, mHealth app vulnerabilities, and longitudinal migration security practices.

Key achievements include publications at venues like ACM CHI, USENIX Security, and IEEE S&P, alongside media coverage in The New York Times and CNET. She leads projects funded by Google and the UK’s Technology Strategy Board, focusing on gaze-enhanced authentication and female health app privacy.

• Grants & Projects:
  • “Usable Privacy in Female Health Apps” (Google, 2023–2025)
  • EyeLock: Gaze-Enhanced Authentication (TSB, 2024–2025)

Dr. Abu-Salma advises PhD students on topics intersecting cybersecurity, privacy, and marginalized communities. She actively participates in academic service roles, including organizing workshops on privacy and serving on program committees for top-tier conferences.