My First SOUPS!

26 August, 2026

My First SOUPS in Person

This week, I attended my first ever SOUPS in person.

Technically, it wasn’t my first SOUPS. I attended virtually back in 2021 — I think! It was during COVID, in the first year of my PhD, and if I’m being completely honest, I don’t remember much of it. Like many online events from that period, it has blurred a little in my memory.

So, five years into academic research, getting the chance to attend SOUPS in person felt quite special.

One of the strangest — and coolest — parts was simply seeing everyone in the same room. I met so many researchers whose work I have cited, people I have followed for years, and people I had previously only met through a screen. There is something slightly surreal about recognising names from papers, reference lists, talks, and Zoom calls and suddenly finding yourself chatting with those same people over coffee.

It was also a lovely reminder that behind all the papers we read and cite, there is a real community of people doing the work. I sometimes forget how much of research can happen from behind a laptop: reading papers, writing, analysing data, attending online meetings. Being at SOUPS in person made the research community feel much more tangible.

And the work itself was fascinating. There were so many interesting papers, conversations, and ideas throughout the conference. It was exciting to see the range of research people are doing and the different ways they are thinking about security, privacy, people, and technology.

I came away feeling excited by the work people are doing, grateful for the conversations I had, and very glad that this time I got to experience SOUPS beyond a screen.