SEAD-Software Engineering and Design

Education Public Engagement Industry Engagement Capacity Building

Education

Online Courses – We have developed a range of online courses covering topics such as Cyber Security, Coding and Smart Cities. These are delivered through the Futurelearn platform and are also made available as open educational resouces through the OpenLearn platform:

Introduction to Cyber Security: an online course developed in partnership with the UK National Cyber Security. The course was selected as a finalist in the "Best Cyber Security Education Programme" in the SC Media Cyber Security Awards Europe 2017.
Learn to Code for Data Analysis: an online course focusing on the basics of programming for analyzing and visualizing open data. The course is also available on OpenLearn as an open educational resource.
Smart Cities: an online course exploring the role of technology and data in cities, and learn how learners can participate in the creation of smart cities. The course was developed as part of the MK: Smart project.

Open University Curriculum – We draw on our research to contribute to the Open University’s curriculum across both undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications:

Undergraduate Course – Our expertise in software engineering, cyber security and human computer interaction is embedded in several courses in the BSc (Hons) Computing & IT qualification.
Masters Courses – We have developed and support the teaching of Software Engineering, Network Security, and Information Security & Forensics, all delivered as part of the MSc in Computing and MSc in Advanced Networking qualifications.

Public Engagement

We use a combination of mainstream and social media to raise awareness of our research among diverse audiences. This includes:

organizing exhibitions, such as Security & Privacy for All at the National Museum of Computing;
producing and contributing to television programmes, such as “The Virtual Revolution” and “Horizon: Monitor Me”; and
participating in public lectures and panels.

Industry Engagement

Beyond involving industry partners in our research projects, we support organizations to develop their workforce through professional training programmes. For example, researchers in the group a members of the OU’s Cisco Networking Academy Support Centre; and we provide cyber security awareness training for public sector and commercial organizations.

Commercialisation

Our research has resulted in several commercialization initiatives, including

technologies to support medical practitioners;
social media evidence collection for the police - www.social-lift.com;
haptic privacy-management interfaces and
adaptive security solutions.

Global Capacity Building

We work with international partners and government agencies to develop global capacity in areas aligned to our research. This includes:

Global Cyber Security Capacity Building, such as the KINDI Open Courses on Cyber Security: developed in collaboration with Qatar University; and the Ghana Cyber Security education programme.
UK Science & Innovation Network: organizing workshops in Qatar to raise awareness of research in cyber security and human behaviour.
Policy Development: contributing to national research strategy (Qatar), assessing and advising on cyber security regulation (Botswana) and providing expertise on cyber security impacts of future technologies (ENISA)