With thanks to IAAC’s NW Regional sponsors Bank of America, and Raytheon,and in association with the Institute of Information Security Professionals (IISP)

Universities, schools and employers are invited to explore ways in which collaboration between education and work can improve cyber skills for the workplace.

Currently, collaboration is sometimes hampered by safeguarding and resources, things that impact any work-based experience. Other specific concerns about ‘cyber’ are raised regarding, for example, digital security in the workplace. Moreover, schools and employers find it difficult to think of worthwhile projects for young people to tackle that can be beneficial to their skills needs, broader education and the workplace. This is particularly the case for companies not in the security sector.

These workshops will examine how some of these perceived and real hurdles can be overcome. The aim is to explore this to a point where a simple ‘cyber experience manual’ can be produced to help guide educators, students and employers.

Critical in this will be to explore typical structured projects that might be undertaken and the modes of learning and supervision that they involve. Some larger consultancy companies advocate a 70-20-10 model for new recruits which relates to percentages of supervised work, mentoring and formal courses respectively. The workshops will attempt to build on this model, for example to include notions of ‘menternship’, or off-site learning models, linked to businesses, in simulated work environments such as the pilot underway in Plymouth.

We are delighted that the IISP is supporting us in this series of workshops. They bring not only great experience in cyber skills and competencies but are the authors of the skills framework used to develop many courses in the UK, at colleges and universities.