Benefits of SPRITE+ membership

Benefits of SPRITE+ membership

Membership of SPRITE+ is free and open to all with an interest in the future of security, privacy, identity and trust in the digital age.

What is SPRITE+?

SPRITE+ brings together people involved in research, practice, and policy with a focus on digital contexts. We are a 'one stop shop' for engagement between academic and non-academic communities - a way for these communities to connect and a platform for building collaborations across the spectrum of issues relating to trust, identity, privacy and security (TIPS).

SPRITE+ is led by a consortium of five universities: University of Manchester (lead institution), Imperial College London, Lancaster University, Queen’s University Belfast, and University of Southampton. We are supported by 15 non-academic Project Partners from different sectors, including industry, government, law enforcement, and civil society.

We are funded until 31 August 2023 by the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council as part of its Digital Economy programme (grant reference EP/S035869/1).

What can SPRITE+ do for you?

SPRITE+ is a vehicle for collaboration – a way for academic and non-academic communities to connect and communicate. We can facilitate engagement around any topic that is related to digital security, privacy, identity, and/or trust. This might be to gain expert advice, to find partners for specific projects, or to share your expertise with others.

We can facilitate connections and knowledge sharing through:

Reaching out to our SPRITE+ Members and Expert Fellows to request input/resources/expertise, via our newsletter and mailing list, or more targeted communications.
Hosting online workshops, town halls, sandpits, and focus groups with the SPRITE+ Membership and Expert Fellows community. We make use of breakout rooms for discussion and capture the outputs in real time.
Co-organising hackathons, sprints, and similar challenge events.
Co-organising public engagement activity, such as exhibitions, talks, festivals, competitions, events for schools or workplaces.
Sharing and championing the activities of members, including via social media.
Supporting internships and attachments, for instance allowing SPRITE+ Members to work with non-academic organisations to explore a specific issue relevant to SPRITE+ (e.g., a short research assignment or knowledge transfer activity).

Membership

Membership of SPRITE+ is free, and open to anyone involved in exploring the future of TIPS, including academic researchers, industry, government, law enforcement and civil society organisations. Academic researchers make up a significant proportion of the membership (almost 700) with >90 higher education institutions represented and a broad mix of research expertise including technical, scientific, and social science disciplines.

Included in our membership are 150+ Expert Fellows from academia and professional practice. This group are recognised experts in their field and act as champions for research engagement within their discipline and sector. Learn more about our Expert Fellow and how to apply here.

Activities

SPRITE+ activities are broadly centred on four challenge themes, which were identified by Expert Fellows representing a variety of disciplines and sectors. Each Theme has technical and non-technical aspects, where an interdisciplinary approach is essential to fully addressing the Challenge.

Digital vulnerabilities
Digital technologies and change
Digital technologies, power and control
Accountability and ethics in a digital ecosystem

Networking

Knowledge dissemination

Research

Education and training

We provide a number of opportunities for our Members to connect, communicate and develop collaborative relationships. This is achieved through our:

Online collaboration portal
Discussion groups
Events e.g. annual Expert Fellows meeting, webinars, research showcases, workshops often in partnership with related organisations
Weekly online socials for Early Career Researchers (ECRs)
Funding opportunities which call for the co-creation of research proposals

What our Members say

Feedback from our events shows that >90% of respondents made connections with other attendees that they otherwise would not have made.

I made a few contacts. I expect to get in touch with them to share papers, views, and look at ways to collaborate.

Meeting others was very useful, especially those from other disciplines who I would not have typically come to know otherwise.

SPRITE+ has been great for making me think about the questions I care about in new ways. The program’s focus on connecting people working in similar areas also has great potential to help me build out my network, especially in the UK.

We aim to highlight the work of our Members and to demonstrate the value of research and knowledge translation to support best practice. Members can use SPRITE+ to share information, including details of collaboration opportunities, new research and developments in their sector. In addition, the SPRITE+ Team collates information related to funding calls, job opportunities and details of cognate networks and organisations for wider dissemination across the SPRITE+ community. This is achieved through our:

Monthly newsletter (400+ subscribers)
Blog series
Social media channels (Twitter and LinkedIn)
Researcher career profiles
ECR Rising Stars series
A library of publications by our Members and Expert Fellows
Expert Fellows meetings and research showcase events

What our Members say

Thank you for a wonderful and informative showcase! It was the best organised online event I have ever attended, and it was a real pleasure to meet and engage with so many people. I really appreciate the opportunity to have contributed.

A truly wonderful couple of days! I was absolutely amazed at how all those swirling thoughts distilled down again and again and again into some really great, relevant, important and timely themes. Very excited to be involved with this.

This activity gave good exposure to a wide number of people and interests.

I believe the newsletter is the most value-adding aspect.

SPRITE+ works with a diverse set of academic and non-academic stakeholders to identify requirements and promising new directions for research in digital TIPS. We have a ‘pump-priming’ budget to fund research that explores and tests new ideas, and that creates new collaborations between academic disciplines, and between academic and non-academic partners.

We have allocated funds to our Challenge Working Groups who explore the SPRITE+ challenge themes from multiple perspectives. They research the existing evidence base to determine what is already known and what opportunities exist to increase knowledge in each area.
We fund pilot projects and feasibility studies via our annual sandpit in which researchers and stakeholders co-create projects and pitch for funds.

What our Members say

My whole virtual sandpit experience has been very positive. I attended a ‘normal’ sandpit a few years back and I can say that I found the virtual sandpit a lot more inclusive.

An excellent experience and one that I would highly recommend. Rather than having months to plan and think about a project it forces you to think creatively and strategically, taking on board other interests and feedback.

I really enjoyed the team working aspects – it really pushed me to flexible and consider alternative disciplinary perspectives on problems I’m used to thinking about in a certain way.

SPRITE+ strives to provide a variety of learning opportunities tailored to our diverse membership. This is achieved by our:

Carefully curated set of online education and awareness resources. Some of these materials are targeted at ‘first timers’ and offer a general introduction to relevant areas, and others provide a deep dive into more advanced topics for established stakeholders.
Dedicated ECR forum to help ensure the next generation has the skills and knowledge to deliver high quality, impactful research in their future careers, e.g. annual ECR workshop, weekly discussion groups, training resources.
Information and guidance to Members bidding for grants.
In the coming months we will publish information on our mentoring and internship opportunities.

What our Members say

The workshop has given me more confidence in looking for and writing small grant applications.

I really enjoyed it – one of the best virtual workshops I’ve attended.

I found the Q&A with the panel most valuable.