Lack of suitable New Zealand candidates was one reason the InternetNZ-Victoria University Cyber Law fellowship took more than two years to fill from the time it was initially advertised, says InternetNZ executive director Keith Davidson.
“We were pretty hopeful but we found it impossible to find a New Zealander with the right set of qualifications and skills, so we embarked on an international search,” Davidson says.
That search resulted in the appointment earlier this month of Hungarian-born Judit Bayer as the inaugural Cyber Law senior research fellow.
Bayer’s appointment comes just over two years after the fellowship was first advertised at the beginning of 2004.
At the time, then-InternetNZ executive director Peter Macaulay told Computerworld some good candidates put themselves forward “but we want to take another look to see who else is out there”.
The position was re-advertised in April 2004, but no appointment was made, a situation that continued into 2005.
At the start of that year, Victoria University spokesman Antony Paltridge told Computerworld “for a variety of reasons, it was decided not to appoint anyone [in 2004] but there are some interesting candidates this year”.
Macaulay said at the time “if you look at the specifications, they’re quite solid and you really want the right person — we were disappointed [the position didn’t fill in 2004] but would rather be disappointed and eventually get the right person.”
The right person wasn’t found for another year, until Bayer’s appointment this year.
Bayer has a PhD in internet regulation from Eotvos Lorand University in Hungary and has lectured at Zsigmond Kiraly University College in Budapest.
As part of her fellowship at Victoria, she will lecture on the law and regulation of cyberspace and carry out research on topics including the liability of ISPs.