Research Profile

Craig Marais

Software-engineering educator & researcher · Oslo

In cyber security, people are usually the weak point. I'm interested in how they can become the strong one.

My work is on the human side of security: how non-technical people learn to be secure, and why most awareness training doesn't change much in practice. My angle is game-based learning, using game design as a way to teach rather than as a gimmick. I'd like to take this further as doctoral research.

I have a Master's in IT and seven peer-reviewed papers across security awareness, game-based learning, and computing education. I started out as a backend developer and have spent recent years teaching, which keeps the work practical rather than purely academic.

Focus

Security awareness & culture

How people understand and act on security, and how to shift behaviour beyond one-off training.

Serious games & game-based learning

Using game design as a method for teaching, not as decoration around a lesson.

Cyber security education

Teaching non-specialists to be secure, and measuring whether it actually works.

Educational Design Research

Pairing practical design with rigorous, iterative evaluation in real settings.

Selected publications

7 · h-index 4
2024

The Balance Between Surveillance and Privacy: Adjusting to a Changing Threat Landscape Berntzen, L., & Marais, C. · CENTRIC 2024, Venice, Italy

2018

Offline-First Design for Fault Tolerant Applications Linklater, G., Marais, C., Herbert, A., & Irwin, B. · SATNAC 2018, Western Cape, South Africa

2016

Towards a Technical Skills Curriculum to Supplement Traditional Computer Science TeachingDOI ↗ Marais, C., & Bradshaw, K. · ITiCSE 2016 (ACM)

2015

Problem-Solving Ability of First Year CS Students: A Case Study and Intervention Marais, C., & Bradshaw, K. · SACLA 2015, Port Elizabeth, South Africa

2014

Incorporating a Game Design Document into Game Development Project Deliverables Marais, C., Futcher, L., & Van Niekerk, J. · SACLA 2014, Johannesburg, South Africa

2013

Are you human? A framework to prevent automated web-form submissions Marais, C., & Van Niekerk, J. · ZA-WWW 2013, Cape Town, South Africa

2013

Fostering Content Relevant Information Security Awareness through Browser ExtensionsDOI ↗ Potgieter, M., Marais, C., & Gerber, M. · WISE 8 / IFIP, pp. 58–67

Elsewhere