About the event

This event will consist of two presenters each discussing their topics, as outlined below, then the audience will get the opportunity to ask questions. To engage and share your thoughts and ask your questions, we encourage the audience to use the chat and/or comment area of the social media platform you've chosen to watch the event through. You can also submit questions via email either on the day or ahead of time at STEM-News@open.ac.uk

Join in the social media conversation by including both #BSW21 and #OUSTEM.

Play is the most natural way to learn: Taking your first step into cyber security through Games

Presented by Dr Chitra Balakrishna

Recent studies indicate a severe global shortage of cybersecurity professionals. The reason for this could be attributed to the lack of secure user behaviour that is contributing to increasing cyber-attacks, fresh graduates and young professionals lack the skills that the industry demands. Cybersecurity as a discipline has an image of being ''complex', 'technical' and even 'uninteresting' has led to low uptake of cybersecurity-related degrees and lack of wider representation.

Serious games and game-based learning methods have been researched as effective teaching tools to demystify cybersecurity and lower the entry barrier for cybersecurity training. Game players regularly exhibit persistence, risk-taking, attention to detail and problem solving; all behaviours are ideally suited for effective cybersecurity training. This talk will present how games can be used to promote intrinsic motivation and active learning experiences among low-confidence learners to take their first step into cybersecurity learning journey.

To check out the cybersecurity game visit our GICAST website.

Privacy by Design for the Internet of Everything

Presented by Professor Arosha Bandara

Security is an essential requirement in a world where so much of our lives are linked to interconnected digital technologies – the internet of everything. However, beyond security, we also need to think about the privacy implications of the technologies and how we can design them to minimise the risk of people’s personal information being shared or used inappropriately. Privacy is not about keeping information secret, but more about giving people control over their personal data and a greater awareness of how it is being used. In this talk, I will introduce some of the research we are undertaking to design adaptive privacy technologies for the internet of everything.

Get to know our experts

Dr Chitra Balakrishna

Dr Chitra Balakrishna, Ph.D, SFHEA, CeH is a senior academic and author with over 20 years of experience spanning across academia and industry in the areas of Cybersecurity and Data Networking. She is currently the Program leader for cybersecurity at The Open University and is leading the cybersecurity curriculum development as part of the Institute of Coding at OU. She has been instrumental in acquiring research income of over £2 million as a co-investigator and principal investigator from funding sources such as ERDF, Innovate UK, HEA, EPSRC and British Council. 

As part of her recent projects funded by Higher Education Academy and Department for Education, she has explored novel techniques such as game-based learning, behavioural analytics, and artificial intelligence to address challenges in cyber security skills training and human-errors in cyber security. She actively engages with academic bodies, certifying authorities, policy makers such as DCMS, NCSC, IAAC and BCS in advocating human-centric cybersecurity to meet the evolving needs of the digitally connected society.

Professor Arosha Bandara

Arosha K. Bandara is a Professor of Software Engineering at the Open University whose research and teaching focuses on software engineering for adaptive systems. He has a particular interest in techniques for building adaptive security and privacy mechanisms for ubiquitous, Internet of Things systems. He is the lead educator for the OU’s successful “Introduction to Cyber Security” MOOC, and until recently was the Head of the OU’s School of Computing & Communications. He completed his PhD at Imperial College London, UK in 2005, prior to which he worked as a software engineer at Sapient Corporation, USA.

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