At The Edge Of Sociology:
Cybersecurity & Data Privacy
CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security
Saarbrücken, Germany
September 17, 2026 | 2:00 PM ET | Virtual
Student Session | 3:00 PM ET
Talk: https://bit.ly/PRISM-SepTalk
Student meeting: https://bit.ly/4uWmMuz
Cybersecurity and privacy researchers have increasingly recognized the limits of understanding security and privacy as purely technical problems. This talk offers a sociological perspective for security researchers by examining the broader social, societal, and cultural contexts that shape security-relevant behavior. Dr. Rafael Mrowczynski introduces the concept of social/societal embeddedness to describe the multilayered social relations in which IT developers, maintainers, and users are situated. Drawing on recent studies conducted at CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security, the presentation shows how this conceptual lens can be applied in empirical research, including study design, data collection, interpretation, and collaboration across disciplinary boundaries. Examples from human-centered cybersecurity and privacy studies illustrate how social contexts become visible in research findings, and how seemingly technical practices often depend on social expectations, institutional arrangements, cultural meanings, and collaborative infrastructures.
Professional Bio
Rafael Mrowczynski, Ph.D., is a sociologist and political scientist currently working in Empirical Research Support at CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security in Saarbrücken, Germany. His primary role is to advise CISPA researchers, most of them computer scientists, on methods of qualitative behavioral and social research. He is also frequently involved as a co-author in projects conducted by CISPA researchers. Before joining CISPA in 2022, Rafael Mrowczynski studied political science at Goethe University Frankfurt and pursued a Ph.D. in sociology at Leibniz University Hanover. He has held research and teaching positions at institutions in Germany and Russia, with work spanning comparative sociology, qualitative methods, legal professions, post-socialist societies, and social research methodology.