Dr. Reyhaneh Safavi-Naeini is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Calgary, where she also serves as Assistant Head for Graduate Scholarships and Awards. She holds the NSERC/TELUS Industrial Research Chair in Information Security and is the Alberta Innovates Strategic Chair in Information Security. She co-founded the Institute for Security, Privacy and Information Assurance (SPIA) in 2009, leading it until 2019. Her academic journey includes a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Waterloo (1978) and prior roles as a Professor and Director at the University of Wollongong, Australia. She has over 400 peer-reviewed publications and led major industry collaborations in Canada and Australia. Her research focuses on cryptography, information security, and privacy, emphasizing quantum-safe cryptography, information-theoretic security, network security, cloud security, and distributed ledger technologies. She has pioneered work on secure communication protocols, privacy-preserving systems, and cryptographic primitives resilient to modern and quantum threats. Key contributions include protocols for distance-bounding, secure key agreement, and privacy-enhanced authentication. Dr. Safavi-Naeini has received several accolades, including the Japan Telecom System Technology Award (2019), IEEE Senior Member distinction (2014), and multiple best paper awards. She serves on editorial boards for journals like IET Information Security and ACM Computing Surveys, and has chaired major conferences such as Privacy, Security and Trust (PST 2017) and Financial Cryptography 2014. She collaborates extensively with industry partners like Telus to advance applied security research. Her academic leadership includes directing research institutes, shaping university strategic initiatives like Human Dynamics in a Changing World (2015–2021), and teaching courses such as Information Theory and Security. Her work bridges theoretical foundations with practical applications, addressing real-world challenges in securing digital systems and privacy-sensitive technologies.









