SPRITE+ Conference call for contributions now open - DEADLINE 31 January

SPRITE+ Third Annual Sandpit

Reminder: How to sign up to our Communities of Interest

News and Publications from the SPRITE+ Community

Upcoming Events

Job Opportunities

Funding Opportunities

Call for Talks - SecHOPE 2023

National Conference on Societal Resilience

Security and Protection Science initiative and the Data Cyber Quarter - Lancaster University

Conception X Recruitment 2023


Digital Security by Design Programme - Morello Board

Cabinet Office have launched consultation on legislation to support identity verification

IMPACT Conference (Cybsafe)

Contact Details

Subscription Details

PETRAS: Can Digital Twins help us towards Net Zero?, 12.30-13.30, 6 February 2023, online. Contact Claire Coulton for joining details: c.coulton@ucl.ac.uk.

ICO: Privacy, Seriously, 14.00-18.00, 23 February 2023, online. Register here.

Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Cybersecurity (481470), University of Strathclyde. Closing date: 29 January 2023. Read more here.

Associate Professor in Artificial Intelligence & Machine Vision, Kingston University. Closing date: 12 February 2023. Read more here.

Associate Professor (Cybersecurity), British University in Dubai. Closing date: 20 February 2023. Read more here.

Senior Research Analyst, Trilateral Research. Closing date: Rolling application. Read more here.

Research Analyst, Trilateral Research. Closing date: Rolling application. Read more here.

PhD Studentship: Smart Homes, Smart Decisions: Establishing Accountability in Algorithmic Security Systems, Queen’s University Belfast. Closing date: 31 January 2023. Read more here.

PhD Studentship: Immersive Cyber Incident Response, Cardiff University. Closing date: 3 February 2023, April start date. Read more here.

PhD Studentship: CDT in Digital Health and Care, University of Bristol. Closing date: 11 February 2023. Read more here.

ESRC: Secondary Data Analysis Initiative, closing date: open call. Read more here.

EPSRC: discipline-hopping in ICT, closing date: open call, total fund: £1.5M. Read more here.

ESRC: New investigator grant, closing date: open call. Read more here.

UKRI: Artificial intelligence research to enable UK’s net zero target, closing date: 2 February 2023 16.00 UK Time. Read more here.

UKRI: Responsible and trustworthy artificial intelligence, closing date: 23 February 2023 16.00 UK Time. Read more here.

EPSRC: Sandpit: novel computing for UK defence and security, closing date: 28 February 2023 16.00 UK Time. Read more here.

EPSRC: Develop a UK digital twinning research community with a NetworkPlus, closing date: 23 March 2023 16.00 UK time. Read more here.

SecHOPE serves as a cross-disciplinary forum for experts to present research and share experiences with designing systems that protect people from online hate and harassment, in whatever form it takes shape. We solicit proposals for original talks that highlight new understandings of attacks, protective practices, and barriers that impede people from staying safe from hate and harassment. Submission topics include, but are not limited to:

Hate and harassment tactics
Attacker coordination, motivation, and behaviors
Content moderation
Technology-mediated protections
Socio-technical protections
Technological affordances for harassment
Ad hoc protective behaviors, such as self-censorship
Experiences and strategies of at-risk communities and individuals
Multidisciplinary approaches to hate and harassment research.

Find out more here.

The National Consortium for Societal Resilience [UK+] will bring together partners from policy and practice from across UK to share insights, learn together, hear about inspiring work, and identify opportunities on how to enhance societal resilience.

This in-person conference will provide a networking forum to inspire and galvanise further collaboration and action.

Registration is now open:
Early-bird rate*: £75
Normal rate (1st January 2023-1st March 2023): £125.
Full details to be released January 2023. Find out more and register here.

Lancaster University has invested £19m in a new Security and Protection Science initiative to boost its research, innovation and educational capabilities as the government launches its £5bn National Cyber Force in Samlesbury.

The flagship programme builds on Lancaster's credentials as a world leader in cyber security and wider protection science. The University is creating more than 30 new cross-disciplinary academic roles and 15 new professors in practice from across the private and public sectors, plus 10 new professional support staff, while regenerating the south end of its Bailrigg Campus to create a state-of-the-art Data Cyber Quarter.

For more details, visit the website here or for information about current vacancies click here.

Applications for Conception X Cohort 6 are now open. If you’re looking for ways to commercialise your research, Conception X is a free, 9-month programme that helps STEM PhD students connect with industry experts, become eligible for innovation grants, awards and venture capital funding, and launch deeptech startups based on their research through a combination of training, one-on-one coaching and access to networking opportunities.

Register for an upcoming Discovery Session to meet Conception X alumni and find out if the programme is for you, and apply via the Conception X website by 27 January 2023. If you still have questions, please reach out to hello@conceptionx.org.

The UK Government’s Digital Security by Design Programme through UK Research and Innovation is rethinking how we design computers to block the exploitation of around 70% of ongoing vulnerabilities. Central to this is a Technology Platform Prototype from Arm Ltd known as the Morello Board, implementing new architectural processes from University of Cambridge (CHERI)

The Digital Security by Design Programme is now accepting applications from industry and academia until 27th March to gain access free of charge to the Morello Board. We are seeking applications that enable and expand the DSbD ecosystem or for UK companies who are looking to gain a competitive advantage through advanced digital security.

More details here.

The Cabinet Office have recently launched a consultation on their draft legislation to support identity verification.

The intention behind the legislation is to enable data sharing between specified public authorities to support the delivery of identity verification services to individuals and households, with a view to improving or targeting public services to the individuals or their households. The work will link into the ‘Gov.uk One Log in’ and will make it easier for people to find and access government services, prove their identity online, protect their privacy, and reduce fraud and theft.

The consultation is open until 11.45pm on 1st March 2023 and is in the form of an online survey. It is expected that the survey will only take 15 minutes to complete. To access the consultation, click here.

The IMPACT conference is an annual CybSafe event where we spotlight academic research and create a platform for it to be shared with industry professionals. The conference is specifically centred on the human aspect of cyber security for organisations.

Join them for their first in-person event (or join the livestream) at One Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London on 2 March 2023.

Live: 11.30-20.00
Online: 14.00-20.00

Find out more here.

As we reach the end of our first four years, and look forward to the next four, save the date to come and celebrate with us!

We are holding a two-day conference in Belfast on 28-29 June 2023 at the Titanic Centre. We’ll be showcasing some of our achievements and working together to shape the next four years of SPRITE+.

The call for contributions now live - DEADLINE: 31 January 2023.

We invite Members and Expert Fellows to submit proposals for talks, posters, panels and workshops. We will waive registration fees for all accepted presenters.

If you are an academic Member or academic Expert Fellow (as of 1 January 2023) and you are unable to access institutional support, we may be able to support your attendance by covering reasonable UK travel and accommodation costs. Priority will be given to accepted presenters and active SPRITE+ Members/Fellows.

Find out all other information, including travel/accommodation support, logistics and how to apply to the contributions call here.

This month we hosted our Third Annual Sandpit, where participants from across academia and industry came together to craft project ideas for potential SPRITE+ funding around the theme of Future Digital Identity. Six project proposals were presented to the funding panel at the end of the sandpit. Details of successful projects will be announced as soon as contracts are in place.

SPRITE+ communities of interest are special interest groups available to all SPRITE+ members. If you are interested in keeping up to date with discussions, workshops and news surrounding the following topics, please visit the pages on the SPRITEHub below:

Community of Interest on TIPSS in the Metaverse

Community of Interest on Communicating Cybersecurity

You will find the EOI forms to join the community at the top of each page respectively.

We will be relaunching the Community of Interest on Digital Identity later this year.

Every month we ask SPRITE+ members to share their news with the community. All previous publications from members are available on SPRITEHub.

The Information Commissioner's Office has released the ICO Harms Taxonomy (pp 12-15), as well as their Technology Horizon Report, with chapters dedicated to immersive technology, next generation IoT, decentralised finance and consumer healthtech/wearables.

SPRITE+ Member Mark McGill and colleagues have recently published a paper titled Privacy-Enhancing Technology and Everyday Augmented Reality: Understanding Bystanders' Varying Needs for Awareness and Consent. Find the accompanying video here.

The SAIS team (cross-disciplinary collaborative researchers from across King's College London and Imperial College London) have launched a podcast series on the security of AI assistants titled 'Always listening: Can I trust my AI Assistant?'.