On 8th October Tuesday from 10am until 1pm, a half-day 2024 NCSC CyberFirst Girls Competition Familiarisation Day took place at the Maidstone Grammar School for Girls (MGGS). The event has two main aims: to encourage more local schools and girls to participate in the NCSC (National Cyber Security Centre)’s CyberFirst Girls Competition in 2024 (between 18th and 27th November) and in future years, and to inspire more local girls to consider cyber security and computer science for their future career.
The event was organised by the iCSS (Institute of Cyber Security for Society) of the University of Kent as a member of NCSC’s CyberFirst programme. In addition to the host school MGGS, the event was also supported by KMCC (Kent & Medway Cyber Cluster Ltd), two female cyber security professionals from industry, and five cyber security researchers from the University of Kent and Alan Turing Institute (ATI). It is part of the activities of the NCCE (National Centre for Computing Education) Computing Hub at MGGS, and of KMCSN (Kent & Medway CyberSchools Network). The event is also part of the 2024 Cyber Security Awareness Month organised by iCSS, which is taking place between 7th and 31st October 2024 at the University of Kent and in the Kent and Medway, with support from KMCC, KMCSN, KMCS3 (Kent & Medway Cyber Security Student Society), and iCCi (Institute of Cultural and Creative Industries) of the University of Kent.
The event saw 56 girls of 12-13 years old (Year 8) from 7 local schools in the Kent and Medway region to gather at MGGS to hear about the 2024 NCSC CyberFirst Girls Competition, local cyber skills development and awareness activities organised by iCSS, KMCC and KMCSN, and also career stories of three female cyber security professionals:
- Keira Pascua, Information Security Assistant, StructureFlow; former UG student and PGT student of MSc Cyber Security degree course (2021-22), School of Computing, University of Kent
- Louise Shea, Director of Cyber & Information Security, Buro Happold
- Dr Virginia Franqueira, Director of ACE-CSE & Deputy Director (Education) of iCSS & Senior Lecturer in Cyber Security at School of Computing, University of Kent
The event’s last formal session was a hands-on session on how real challenges of the 2024 CyberFirst Girls Competition will look like to help prepare the participating girls for the Competition. The hands-on session was delivered by three young cyber security researchers, with support from all the above-mentioned female cyber security experts, Professor Shujun Li of iCSS and teachers from the participating schools:
- (Lead deliverer) Adel Elzemity, PhD student, iCSS & School of Computing, University of Kent
- Nandita Pattnaik, PhD student, iCSS & School of Computing, University of Kent
- Dr Matthew Boakes, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Alan Turing Institute (ATI); former UG student at School of Computing and former PhD student at School of Engineering, University of Kent
The event is part of KMCSN’s school outreach activities and the 2024 iCSS Cyber Security Awareness Month (iCSS-CSM24). More activities of the CSM including a “Creative Cyber” Exhibition can be found on this page.
Professor Shujun Li, Director of iCSS who also leads the operation of KMCSN and the cyber skills activities of KMCC, said: “We were very glad to be able to collaborate with Maidstone Grammar School for Girls on this event. In the past several years, we supported and hosted CyberFirst-branded events, but this event was the first time iCSS organised and delivered a CyberFirst-branded event independently as a member of the NCSC CyberFirst programme. It was a great pleasure to see so many girls came to the event, and we hope the event can inspire more local girls to participate in the 2024 CyberFirst Girls Competition and consider a computer science / cyber security career pathway in the future.”
Dr Virginia Franqueira said “It was nice to see a room full of girls eager to engage with our activities. I hope we were able to show them that there are different pathways into a cyber security career, a career is not necessarily a straight line, and cyber security is relevant for everyone – as individuals and professionals in any discipline. At the University of Kent, girls can start a career into cyber security with our BSc Computer Science (Cyber Security), can specialise in cyber security after a technical degree with our MSc Cyber Security (certified by the NCSC), or can get into cyber security after a non-technical degree with our conversion course MSc Computer Science (Cyber Security). We need to revert the low representation of females as cyber security professionals!”
Veronica Leung, Project Manager of Maidstone and Kent Computing Hub from MGGS said “We were excited to see that all the girls on the familiarisation day were fully engaged in the interactive workshop, which let the students gain hands-on experience tackling challenges similar to those featured in the 2024 CyberFirst Girls Competition. The career stories shared by the three female cyber security agents were inspiring and showed the girls what their future could look like. It was our honour to co-host this familiarisation day with iCSS and we thank iCSS so much for organising the event, which shares the same goal of the National Centre for Computing Education’s ‘I Belong’ programme in encouraging girls into the world of Computing. We are looking forward to the innovation and the creativity of the winning teams!”
Louise Shea said “It was a privilege to speak and collaborate with the iCSS as part of the University of Kent, at this NCSC CyberFirst Girls event, where young minds showcased their talents in a thrilling cyber competition. Sharing my journey in the cyber security field and my role as a senior leader at Buro Happold was incredibly rewarding. This event is a fantastic initiative to encourage girls to consider cyber security in their education and as a career path.”
Keira Pascua said “It was an honour to be invited by my former university to share my experiences working in the cyber and information security field. The event was a fantastic opportunity to engage with young girls interested in pursuing careers in the industry, offering insights from my professional journey to help inspire the next generation and break down the barriers of cyber. Events like this play a crucial role in nurturing talent and equipping students with the confidence to explore the diverse opportunities available in the field, and I was thrilled to be a part of that.”
Adel Elzemity said “It was an incredible experience hosting the hands-on cyber security hands-on session during the event. Seeing the enthusiasm and curiosity from the students was truly inspiring. They engaged with the challenges, asked insightful questions, and showcased a real eagerness to learn more about cyber security. Workshops like these are so important because they help demystify cyber security and empower the next generation to think critically about the digital world around them. I’m proud to have been a part of this initiative and look forward to continuing to help young people develop their skills and confidence in this field.”
Considering the event’s great success, iCSS and KMCSN will organise more CyberFirst-branded events in 2024 and future years, including a second 2024 CyberFirst Girls Competition Familiarisation Day in November. Local schools who could not attend the 8th October event can contact the organisers via cyber-info@kent.ac.uk to express their interests in attending the second event.
The University of Kent is a UK Government recognised Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Education (ACE-CSE) with Gold award status (2023-29) and an Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Research (ACE-CSR) (2015-17, 2018-23, 2024-29), among only eight UK universities with such double recognitions. The University was also named the ‘Cyber University of the Year’ of the inaugural Real Cyber Awards 2023, due to its active profile in all areas of cyber security especially its wider impact and engagement activities. Cyber security activities of the University in all areas are coordinated by iCSS (Institute of Cyber Security for Society), a university-wide and interdisciplinary institute.
KMCSN (Kent & Medway CyberSchools Network) is a local schools network on cyber skills development co-founded in 2023 by iCSS, KMCC (Kent & Medway Cyber Cluster Ltd) and The STEM Hub managed by the Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU). It welcomes more local schools and teachers to join as organisational and individual members to co-develop cyber skills development activities for pupils in Kent and Medway.
Maidstone Grammar School for Girls (MGGS) is an outstanding school and a forward-thinking community with a tradition of excellence. It has been providing an academic education for girls (and boys in the Sixth Form) from the town of Maidstone and its surrounding area for over 130 years. In 2019, MGGS was appointed an official Computing Hub by the National Centre for Computing Education (NCCE) because of the school’s excellence in computing. The Computing Hub supports primary and secondary schools to provide a high quality computing education to all young people across Kent and East Sussex. The hub supports those who are either new to teaching computing or who are wanting to enhance their subject knowledge by running Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses, providing Physical Computing Kits and organising student events. The NCCE is proud to run the “I Belong” programme, encouraging more girls into the world of computing, and providing extra support for schools who do not yet offer GCSE computer science.
Buro Happold is an international, integrated consultancy of engineers, designers and advisers. For over 45 years, it has built an unrivalled reputation by delivering creative, value-led solutions for the benefit of people, places and planet. Through its global community of driven, world-leading engineering, advisory and design professionals, it is acting to address major challenges in an ever-evolving world.
StructureFlow is an innovative visual modelling platform that simplifies the comprehension and communication of complex information, enhancing collaboration around complex business processes.