HC2P Summer School 2025 - participant blog

SPRITE+ provided grants to 3 PhD students based at UK universities, covering registration, travel and accommodation to attend the Human-Centric Cybersecurity Partnership’s 2025 Summer Program.

Taking place from 9th – 20th June 2025 at the Université de Montréal and the University of Ottawa, Canada, the program combined directed learning, practical experiences and hands on research, focusing on human aspects of cybersecurity from the following three perspectives:

• Society and Human Centric Cybersecurity

• Regulation and Human Centric Cybersecurity

• Behaviour and Human Centric Cybersecurity 

Read on to hear from PhD student Monira Nazmi Jahan about her experience of attending the HC2P 2025 Summer School.

Monira Nazmi Jahan

Cyber Resilience and Public–Private Partnerships: Lessons from HC2P Summer School 2025

In my world of researching online sexual violence and harm, I never imagined discussing "homomorphic encryption". Yet this summer's transformative experience at the Human-Centric Cyber Security Partnership (HC2P) Summer School 2025 introduced me to an entirely different realm of digital research. With SPRITE+ support and hosted by Université de Montréal and the University of Ottawa, I had the privilege to join as one of only three UK participants in this prestigious programme.

Over two intensive weeks in Montréal and Ottawa, I engaged with leading experts from academia, government, and industry who helped reshape my cybersecurity thinking. Our schedule featured hands-on workshops, site visits, and mentoring sessions with professionals from the RCMP, IBM Cyber Range, Statistics Canada, and the National Bank of Canada. My own project focusses on resilience and public–private cooperation, exploring strategies to build trust, share intelligence, and respond faster to cyber threats. Some key findings are that; legal complexity, trust deficits, and resource constraints, particularly for SMEs, create persistent barriers, while recent legislative uncertainty has complicated collaboration among public and private stakeholders. Effective collaboration demands robust legal frameworks, secure technological platforms, and sustained incentives that make sharing benefits outweigh risks, transforming information sharing into a strategic advantage for national cybersecurity.

Beyond academic rigour, the experience was culturally enriching. Networking dinners and conversations with brilliant minds from across Canada and beyond created an environment where ideas could spark, and collaborations could form naturally. These informal moments proved as valuable as structured sessions.

I left Canada with an expanded understanding of cybersecurity through a human-centred lens, a stronger global network, and new directions for research. The HC2P Summer School was not merely an academic exercise; it was a catalyst for ideas, partnerships, and lasting impact. As I wrap up this deep dive into cybersecurity collaboration, there's one thing I can guarantee with absolute certainty: the ice cream at ‘Iconoglance’ shop will be the best you've ever tasted; no encryption required to unlock that flavor."