As part of our Erasmus+ ReCyP:HER project, aimed at strengthening university-enterprise cooperation at Pakistani universities, representatives from four leading universities—LUMS, NUST, Air University, and IBA—participated in a one-week job-shadowing program at the CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security in Saarbrücken, Germany. This initiative focused on developing effective formats for cybersecurity awareness boot camps.
ReCyP:HER partner universities teamsparticipated in the five days CISPA summer school at the Saarbrücken premises from 21st to 25th August 2023. The summer school theme was ‘Systems Security’ with a wide variety of participants from undergraduate, graduate students and researchers in the areas of Cybersecurity and related fields. Several interactive technical talks and workshops were organized as part of the summer school along with regular poster sessions where students presented their research work in the many areas of systems security. The highlight of the program was the number of complimentary social activities integrated with the technical program, providing a great opportunity to participants to interact positively with fellow researchers to initiate prospective long term research collaborations.
The format of the summer school and the technical quality of the delivered material are considered to be of quite eminence, thus, providing a valuable experience to the visiting Universities for the effective organization of such local events in future. The overall benefits of this job-shadowing activity can be consolidated as follows:
- Enhanced Knowledge: Gaining in-depth insights into the field of systems security through interactive technical talks, workshops, and presentations; thus, providing exposure to up-to-date knowledge and skills.
- Networking Opportunities: Interaction with a diverse group of participants, including undergraduate and graduate students, as well as researchers; providing an avenue for networking and potentially forming valuable professional connections.
- Collaboration Initiatives: The complementary social activities offered a conducive environment to engage with fellow researchers, opening doors for potential long-term collaborative research projects.
