£7.45m granted to universities to train cybersecurity experts

Royal Holloway and Oxford University selected to boost number of PhD graduates with cyber skills

An army of cyber guardians are to be trained at two university research centres, with the help of £7.45m of government and research council funding.

Royal Holloway and the University of Oxford were awarded the grants with the aim to plug a cyber-security skills gap, by boosting the number of PhD graduates with relevant skills.

The £3.8m going to Royal Holloway and the £3.65m heading for Oxford has been awarded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).

About £2.5m comes from the EPSRC's RCUK Global Uncertainties programme, with £5m coming from BIS coffers.

Both universities will establish a centre for doctoral training (CDT) in cyber security. Oxford's CDT will focus on involving other disciplines alongside computer science such as human and social sciences, business, law and international relations.

It will encourage graduates to study themes such as the security of big data, effective systems verification and assurance, real-time monitoring, and security issues related to the integration of digital and physical environments.

"The CDT team will not draw from just the technical perspective, but also disciplines such as social science, business, and strategic studies," said Dr. Andrew Martin of Oxford University's department of computer science, who will lead the Oxford CDT.

"Mixing these with practitioner experiences from business and government, the students will gain a unique insight into the context of their work, and undertake research that makes a real, long-lasting contribution," he added.

Oxford University will allow the CDT to offer 12 full scholarships per year for three years; successful students will be awarded a DPhil.

Royal Holloway said that the grant will fund 10 PhD scholarships in three annual intakes, with students attending one year of courses in advance of a three-year research programme. It has the backing of about 30 private-sector organisations including IBM, McAfee, Thales UK, Vodafone and Logica.

"Businesses are facing more cyber-attacks than ever before, putting their confidential information and intellectual property at risk. We must do everything we can to tackle this threat and make them less vulnerable," said David Willetts, minister for universities and science.

"These new centres will produce a new generation of cyber security specialists, able to use their skills and research expertise to improve cyber security and drive growth," he added.

Last July, the EPSRC called for bids from universities as part of a joint approach to the National Cyber Security programme between BIS, EPSRC, GCHQ and the Office of Cyber Security and Information Assurance (OCSIA).

The latest centres follow the launch of several other government-backed cyber security facilities.

These include a cyber security advice centre that aims to improve international co-ordination, increase access to expertise and promote good governance online, and a global cyber research centre at the Oxford Martin School at the University of Oxford.