Hardware security experts gathered at Prince Philip House to explore the latest research challenges and celebrate innovation in secure hardware and embedded systems security.
Hardware security experts, researchers and industry leaders gathered at Prince Philip House in London on Friday 6 November 2026 for the annual conference of the Research Institute for Secure Hardware and Embedded Systems (RISE), bringing together the UK’s hardware security community to discuss the latest research challenges, emerging technologies and opportunities to strengthen the security and resilience of critical systems.
A key highlight of the conference was the announcement of a new Secure Hardware Lab, unveiled during the keynote address by Martin Jackson, Director of Silicon Engineering at lowRISC.
The Government-funded initiative, delivered in collaboration with lowRISC and two Innovation and Knowledge Centres (IKCs), the Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT) and the Centre for Heterogeneous Integrated MicroElectroncis and Semiconductor Systems (CHIMES2), will focus on improving the security and resilience of critical technologies. The lab aims to accelerate semiconductor security research, reduce the time needed to translate the research into commercial applications, and provide a dedicated open-source platform for collaboration across the hardware security community.
The conference also showcased the next generation of hardware security research and innovation through talks on the EPSRC-funded RISE affiliated projects in addition to the RISE Impact Competition winners, who delivered short pitches highlighting their exciting research and its potential real-world applications.
This year’s Impact Competition winners were:
- Marius Muench, University of Birmingham
- Dr Shancang Li, Cardiff University
- Dr Mohammed Eissa, University of Sheffield
Their work demonstrated the breadth of innovative research taking place across the UK and the potential to address important challenges in hardware and embedded systems security.
The programme also featured invited talks from Dr Patrik Ekdahl of Ericsson and Bridgette Bigmore, Director of Cybersecurity, Semiconductor & Advanced Connectivity Technologies at Innovate UK, bringing valuable industry perspectives to discussions on the evolving hardware security landscape.
A further highlight was the series of lightning talks, which gave researchers from universities across the UK the opportunity to showcase their emerging research, share new ideas and engage with colleagues working at the forefront of the field.