Project summary

Loughborough University has the UK's first NCSC-accredited cyber courses tuned for a focus on cyber resilience, and numerous programmes that support operations dedicated to the resilient adoption of novel technology into critical national infrastructure (CNI), both here and abroad.

This focus is mirrored, shared and amplified by the ACDF, who are committed to building cyber capacity and resilience across Africa, with a focus on preparing both the workforce and the policy layer for genuine cyber capacity building and resilience. This is in an area of the world that features rapidly growing digital economies and the ability to leapfrog into the use of new technologies in a blank-slate environment that is both a strength and a risk factor going forward.

Topics of common interest

Topics of common interest include the desire and capability to build effective government-and third-sector-facing capacity building and training, and the exploration of resilient technology adoption with a detailed mapping of its cyber-physical-social impacts.

The first major activity of the project will be participation in the forthcoming Africa Cyber Defence Forum, where the team will engage with leaders from government, industry, academia and civil society from across the continent.

Expected outcomes

The expected outcomes include:

• The establishment of an academic exchange between ACDF academic partners in Africa and Loughborough.

• The participation of Loughborough academics in the ACDF capstone conference in November.

• The dispatch of observers for the exchange of best practice to the African Cyberlympics. (The Loughborough team mentors several teams with a historical strong showing at the Cyber Leader's Challenge, and contributes heavily to Defence Cyber Marvel, a leading international cyber exercise.)

• Identification of government funding (both UK and from across the African Union) for continued collaboration.

• A jointly authored research article, based on qualitative workshop findings, addressing TIPS challenges in African digital economies.

• A media article disseminating key insights from the collaboration, highlighting the partners and SPRITE+, submitted to an appropriate outlet such as The Conversation (UK edition) and an African-facing platform, for example The Conversation Africa or Africa Is a Country, to ensure reach across both regions.