Multi-disciplinary network launched to address future challenges of digital economy
Academics, industry experts and policymakers are uniting to tackle digital research challenges through a new network led by a consortium of five universities.
The Security, Privacy, Identity, Trust and Engagement NetworkPlus (SPRITE+), which is co-directed by the University of Southampton's Professor Vladi Sassone, will coordinate a multi-disciplinary approach to address current and future problem themes.
Over 100 attendees marked the launch of the network last month in an evening reception in Manchester's Whitworth Art Gallery and a two-day meeting of Expert Fellows and stakeholders that debated the spectrum of issues.
Professor Sassone, Director of Southampton's Cyber Security Academy, says: I am proud to be a co-director of SPRITE+. This national network starts with the ambition to gather together the multi-disciplinary community of trust, identity privacy and security researchers, and to do so in lasting fashion. Southampton's main role in the network will be to organise professional and industrial training and this fits very well with our ongoing commitment in the Cyber Security Academy.
SPRITE+ is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and led by the University of Manchester, Imperial College London, Lancaster University, Queen's University Belfast and the University of Southampton. The hub has more than 120 Expert Fellows from academic and non-academic contexts covering disciplines including engineering, social sciences and humanities.
Professor Emma Barrett, a Professor of Psychology, Security and Trust at the University of Manchester and Director of Sprite+, says:I am delighted at the amount of interest, enthusiasm and energy that SPRITE+ has already generated. We have had engagement from across the academic community and from research end users in business, government, police and civil society. All are eager for more collaboration on issues of security, privacy, identity and trust in our digital world, and the SPRITE+ team is looking forward to creating opportunities to make that happen.
You can find out more about the Network on the SPRITE+ website.