RESISTANT Symposium 2026

November 23–26, 2026 · Røros Hotel, Røros

The RESISTANT Symposium 2026 brings together PhD candidates, researchers, and practitioners from universities, research institutes, industry, and the public sector across Norway for four days of expert lectures, interactive sessions, and networking. The symposium is part of RESISTANT, a national initiative for research and education in information security, cryptography, and networked systems.

Each day is devoted to one theme: privacy, networks, cryptography, and system security. The program combines keynotes and talks by speakers from academia and from Norwegian authorities. The aim is to combine strong theoretical foundations with practical perspectives, and to give PhD candidates ample time to meet each other and the speakers.

Register here (free)

Speakers (confirmed)

René Mayrhofer is Professor of Networks and Security and head of the Institute of Networks and Security at Johannes Kepler University Linz (JKU Linz). His research covers digital identity, usable security, privacy-enhancing technologies, and Android platform security. He leads Digidow, the Christian Doppler Laboratory for Private Digital Authentication in the Physical World. He will talk about privacy in digital identity systems.

Jørgen Binningsbø is Chief Architect for national common solutions at the Norwegian Digitalisation Agency (Digdir). He has long experience with electronic identification at Digdir and is central to the work on introducing the digital identity wallet in Norway. He will talk about how Digdir is developing the Norwegian digital identity wallet based on the European Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet framework.

Marija Furdek Prekratic is Associate Professor in the Communication, Antennas and Optical Networks group at Chalmers University of Technology. Her research addresses the security and resilience of optical networks, including detection of physical-layer attacks on fibre infrastructure, machine learning for anomaly detection and monitoring, and the security of submarine cables.

Arne Tobias Malkenes Ødegaard is a researcher at the Norwegian National Security Authority (NSM). He holds a PhD in cryptography from the University of Bergen (2022) and has contributed to the NSM Cryptographic Recommendations 2025 and NSM's position paper on quantum key distribution (in Norwegian). He will talk about the migration to quantum-safe cryptography.

Eirik Larsen Følstad works at the Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection (DSB), where he is responsible for networks and services in the work on the new Norwegian emergency communication network. He will talk about the next-generation, broadband-based network that will replace today's Nødnett. DSB is planning the new network in cooperation with the Norwegian Communications Authority (Nkom), and all users of the current network are expected to have moved over by the end of 2031. Read more about the road to a new emergency communication network.

Gergely Biczók is Associate Professor at the CrySyS Lab, Department of Networked Systems and Services, Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME). His research covers security, privacy, and the economics of networked systems, using game theory to study incentives.

Program (to be updated)

Registration and accommodation

Registration is free and is done through the registration form below.

All participants book their own stay at Røros Hotel by emailing booking@roroshotell.no and providing the code RESISTANT. The NTNU agreement gives the following rates per night, including breakfast and access to the swimming pool and sauna:

Rooms are reserved for symposium participants until November 2, three weeks before the event. After that, booking depends on availability.

Register here (free)

Transportation

The program starts on Monday at 09:00, so most participants will want to arrive on Sunday, November 22. The symposium ends on Thursday at 15:00. The tables below show the main connections on those two days. Timetables can change, so always check and book through Entur (trains and buses) or DAT (flights).

From and to Oslo

From and to Trondheim

From other cities, fly to Trondheim Airport Værnes or Oslo Airport Gardermoen and continue as above. Trains from Værnes connect to the Røros Line in Trondheim. By car, Røros is about 2.5 hours from Trondheim and about 5 hours from Oslo.

Røros Airport is about 2 km from the town centre. There is no public transport from the airport, but taxis are available.

PhD course IMT6003

PhD candidates can combine the symposium with the course IMT6003 Information Security and Communication Technology Summer School (3 credits), which runs in the autumn semester of 2026 with the symposium as its block seminar. In addition to attending the symposium, the course requires some further activities; we will contact the candidates who sign up to coordinate these. The course is graded passed / not passed. For questions about the course, contact the course coordinator, Hanno Langweg.

Support

The RESISTANT Symposium 2026 is supported by the Research Council of Norway and SFI NORCICS.

Contact

For questions about the symposium, contact Tjerand Silde at tjerand.silde@ntnu.no.

Organizers: Poul Einar Heegaard, Stanislav Lange, Hanno Langweg, and Tjerand Silde.