Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) has been named as one of the UK’s first Academic Centres of Excellence in Cyber Security Education (ACE-CSE).
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) awarded the university silver recognition from its ACE-CSE programme after Queen’s demonstrated that it is "delivering first-rate cyber security education on campus and promoting cyber skills in its community".
Northern Ireland has an ambitious target of growing the number of cybersecurity professionals in the region to 5,000 by 2030.
David Crozier, ACE-CSE Deputy Director, said: "This ACE-CSE recognition for Queen’s will help us further build that talent pipeline for this strategically important industry for the region and nation."
The ACE-CSE programme developed by NCSC and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport aims to develop an influential and growing community of cybersecurity educators, to shape and support cybersecurity education and to engage with industry, government, educators and students.
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Since its foundation in 2009, the Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT) at Queen’s has developed a strong national and international reputation for cybersecurity research and collaboration.
It was recognised as one of the first Academic Centres of Excellence in Cyber Security Research by Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in 2011 and the university's Master’s degree in applied cybersecurity also certified by the NCSC.
Chris Ensor, NCSC Deputy Director for Cyber Growth said: “I am delighted we can now recognise the first tranche of universities as Academic Centres of Excellence in Cyber Security Education, complementing our existing programmes which recognise high quality cyber security research and degree courses.
“It is a testament to the continual efforts of academics, support staff and senior management that cyber security remains high on their agenda.
“We very much look forward to working with them over the coming years and strongly encourage other universities to work towards achieving similar recognition in the future.”
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Professor Ian Greer, President and Vice-Chancellor of Queen’s congratulated the ACE-CSE team led by Dr Sandra Scott-Hayward, who said: “We are delighted to have the ACE-CSE recognition of the strength of cyber security education and promotion of cyber security right across Queen’s.
"This is being delivered by a diverse team of academics and professional services staff supporting multiple disciplines.
"We have exciting plans to further develop awareness and knowledge of cyber security within and beyond Queen’s, which we believe is fundamental to addressing the societal challenge of cyber security," she continued.
Source: QUB press release
