Rate My Professor Jennifer Williams

Dr. Jennifer J. Williams is a Lecturer in Cyber Security Analysis at Macquarie University in the School of International Studies, Faculty of Arts. Specializing in behavioural cybersecurity, she applies insights from cognitive science to enhance public cyber resilience, decision-making processes, and responses to cyber threats. Williams holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Bachelor of Psychological Studies with Honours from Western Sydney University, and she is completing her PhD in Cyber Security and Human Behaviour at Macquarie University. Her doctoral research employs experimental quantitative methods to investigate how cognitive techniques, such as mental simulations and episodic future thinking, can empower individuals by increasing self-efficacy and motivating effective cybersecurity practices. Since 2020, she has been teaching and lecturing in cognitive science, behavioural cybersecurity, and technical cybersecurity, including unit convening for courses like PICT8012 Critical Thought and Research Design, PICT8040 Cyber Crime and Cyber Policing, and PICT8030 Cyber Warfare. A career highlight includes leading 21 postgraduate students on a study tour to the United States, visiting FBI Headquarters, the Pentagon, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, the Australian Embassy, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, the World Trade Centre 9/11 Memorial Museum, and the United Nations Headquarters.

Williams leads research projects on public support for extreme government responses to cyberwarfare, the influence of self-efficacy on cybersecurity behaviour, and tracking disinformation alongside foreign influence operations in Indonesia and Melanesia. Her forthcoming publications encompass 'Episodic future thinking drives cybersecure intentions independently of self-efficacy' (2026, Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition), 'Foreign influence operations in Indonesia: an exploratory study' (2026, Pacific Review), 'Themes and prevalence of Chinese influence in the Melanesian social media environment' (2026, Australian Journal of International Affairs), 'Vectors of influence and disinformation in Melanesia' (2026, chapter in Grey zones unveiled: comparing Russia's and China's hybrid strategies in Europe and the Indo-Pacific), and 'A revision of Protection Motivation Theory based on Episodic Future Thinking in cybersecure behaviour using meta-analytic structural equation modelling' (2025). In recognition of her contributions to cybersecurity and human behaviour research, she won the Best Cyber Technician or Specialist Under 35 award and was a finalist for Best Female Technical Specialist Under 35 at the 2024 Defence and National Security Workforce Awards. Williams has delivered invited talks including 'Using Psychology to Understand and Change Cybersecurity Behaviour' (2023) and 'Motivating cybersecure behaviours using episodic future thinking' (2023), and she frequently provides expert media commentary on cybersecurity issues such as the Optus and Medibank data breaches via platforms like The Conversation. She also completed an internship with the New South Wales Police Force State Intelligence Command through the Defence Innovation Network, honing her data science skills.