Kent Law School joined forces with the Kent Cyber Security Educational Centre (KeCSEC) last week to host an interdisciplinary online workshop on cyber security.
Entitled ‘Children’s Social Media Sites: Can they meet the ICO Age Appropriate Design Code of Practice?’, the workshop featured contributions from Kent LLM (Master’s in Law) students and Master’s students from the School of Computing at Kent.
Three LLM students presented their research:
- Naphaphak Ya-anan: ‘Pak’s Experience with Yubo’ (Yubo is a French social networking app)
- Hawre Ali: ‘The ICO Code: The Child’s Best Interests, Gaps and Compliance’
- Pamela Consistente: ‘Marketing of Yubo and its Financial Risks’
The workshop is the first in a series of planned, co-organised events for students, exploring different aspects of cyber security, from a multidisciplinary perspective.
Medical Law Lecturer Dr Pamela White said: ‘The interdisciplinary workshop provided the perfect opportunity for postgraduate taught students from Kent Law School and School of Computing to share their legal, policy and data protection research findings on the important topic of making the online world safe for children and youths.’
The workshop also included a presentation on ‘Children and Grooming; innovative pedagogical approaches in preventative education’ by Emeritus Professor Jane Reeves from Kent’s Centre for Child Protection.
Kent students with an interest in developing their knowledge and understanding of online child protection were invited to attend and ask questions.
Dr Virginia Franqueira, Lecturer in Cyber Security at the School of Computing and Director of KeCSEC said: ‘The workshop was really interesting and insightful. Professor Reeves provided an overview of the simulation-based approach adopted by The Centre for Child Protection at the University of Kent for training and awareness of child abuse and exploitation online. Students delved into different criteria of the ICO code of practice focusing on a specific app. Due to its success, the workshop will likely be run again for a wider audience.’
KeCSEC is part of the newly established Institute of Cyber Security for Society (iCSS), a University-wide hub promoting interdisciplinary research and educational activities in cyber security. Current participating schools include the School of Computing, School of Engineering and Digital Arts, School of Psychology, School of Politics and International Relations, Kent Law School, School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social research, and Kent Business School.