The trend towards interoperability, sustainability and reuse of components automatically leads us to standards

"Research or a thesis without a single reference to standards? That's not a good start," according to Vincent Rijmen, professor of mathematics and cybersecurity at KU Leuven. "In our Department of Electrical Engineering, theoretical research should always have a link to practice. And in practice? That's where you have to deal with standards."

In some faculties, working with standards is still in its infancy, but in Vincent's department, standards are part of everyday operations. "The trend toward interoperability, sustainability and component reuse automatically makes us turn to standards," Vincent explains. "Busy with information technology? Then you need standards to make programs work together. Don't work with standards or handle them carelessly? Then you get an insecure solution. In the press in recent years, we heard several stories about what the consequences could be." Every week, for example, hackers demand a ransom from Belgian companies after gaining access to their data. Preventing it? A simple two-step verification already makes a world of difference.

Safer and cheaper  

Although standards are part of everyday reality, Vincent realizes that students are not always sufficiently aware of them. "Compare it to how people are in traffic. You see other drivers making mistakes, but for your own mistakes you remain blind," Vincent laughs. "That's also how students look at standards. They realize that usage is necessary, yet we often have to remind them. They don't always have the reflex to check which standard to follow when faced with a problem." It remains a challenge to instill in students the message of the importance of standards. In the short term, it sometimes seems easier to avoid the standard, but in the long run, using standards is always safer and cheaper."

Career highlight

Vincent is not only a user of standards, he also spearheaded the creation of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). "That gave me worldwide exposure and is without a doubt the highlight of my standards development career," Vincent looks back proudly. "I always advise my students to get involved in helping to develop new standards, or updating existing standards. Why? It's a way to create impact with the work you do. PhD students are often under the impression that their main job is to publish in professional journals, but this is only true up to a certain level. By contributing to standards, you have more impact in the real world. You learn about real-world problems and people make use of the standard you have worked on. Participating in standards development is the best way to get to know standards well and work with them."

Standards in your course? 3 golden tips from our expert!

• Make the standard itself your actual course content. That way they really learn standards right away.
• Show students what the consequence is when standards are not followed. Classic example: the charger for your smartphone.
• Have (doctoral) students search NBN's EDU portal if they are looking for a standard to improve themselves.

Want to know more?

Discover the EDU Portal for free.
Download the EDU Portal flyer.
Interested in a guest lecture on standards? Contact Yens Van Overloop at yens.van.overloop@nbn.be.