By Rossouw von Solms
I have recently received two accolades.
First, being acknowledged by ScholarGPS as the #1 ranked scholar in 2024 in two speciality areas, namely, Information Security and Security Management.
Second, receiving the IFIP Fellow Award, IFIP’s highly prestigious technical distinction, in 2024.
I feel so privileged and blessed as I am nearing the end of my academic career. These two accolades really put the cherry on top of my research career of almost 40 years, making me feel that I am ‘going out on a high’.
Looking back over the 40 years, I owe a lot of thanks to IFIP, and specifically TC11. In 1991, I was ‘introduced’ to IFIP, by my brother Basie, at the annual IFIP/Sec conference In Brighton, UK. As a young academic, I was very impressed by the IFIP/Sec conference. I met many well-known, prominent researchers, whose academic work I studied and followed. What really made a lasting impact was that these highly recognised researchers were all very approachable and never shied away from speaking to and guiding young researchers. This certainly inspired me.
In 1992, I got involved in IFIP WG11.1 and remained active in TC11 structures until today. Across the years at IFIP events, I met numerous researchers from various countries, with different outlooks on research and varying, but related research foci. Having spent time with these researchers (many times over a beer or two), my own research focus, philosophy and methodology started to take shape, forming the backbone for the rest of my research career. This career is ending now on a high note, after my #1 ranking by ScholarGPS, as mentioned above.
Looking back, I need to thank IFIP, and specifically TC11, for the opportunities, structures and support systems that allowed me to grow into a globally recognised researcher with numerous research colleagues, many of them close friends today, all over the world. Opportunities were created for me to travel the world to continue learning and also to give back to new generations of researchers. IFIP was instrumental in all of this.
Receiving the IFIP Fellow Award from the IFIP General Assembly fills me with gratitude. Thank you IFIP for creating the opportunities for me to excel and then, after 30+ years, acknowledging me for excelling.