Institute of Cyber Security for Society (iCSS)

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Student Engagement via KMCS3

There are many extra-curricular resources and opportunities for students who are studying a cyber security degree course or are simply interested in cyber security as a topic. The student engagement activities of iCSS are organised around KMCS3 (Kent & Medway Cyber Security Student Society) established in the 2023-24 year, after a pilot in the 2022-23 year. A Moodle space has also been set up for this purpose.

KMCS3 logo

KMCS3 is a student-facing society on cyber security, for all students studying at the University of Kent in its Canterbury and Medway campuses. In the future, we have a plan to extend the society to students studying at other universities based in or with a presence in Kent and/or Medway, which include the Canterbury Chris Church University (CCCU), the University of the Creative Arts (UCA), and the University of Greenwich.

KMCS3 is independent of the Kent Union, the Students’ Union of the University of Kent, in order to be a more agile organisation and to allow the future extension to cover other above-mentioned universities in Kent and Medway. It is formally associated with iCSS, as its financial sponsor and administrative supporter (e.g., for overseeing the operation, providing necessary funding and resources for various activities, booking rooms, recommending speakers and co-organising events).

More about KMCS3 can be found here.

To join KMCS3 as a member, please fill this online registration form. You need to self-enrol for the Moodle page first to be able to access the form.

Student Leaders

The 2023-24 year’s student leaders are as follows:

  • President: Edwin Clarke, UG Stage 2 student, BSc Computer Science (Cyber Security), School of Computing
  • Vice President for CTF and UG Stage P: Adrian (Aseniy) Maslennikovs, UG Stage P (industrial placement) student, BSc Computer Science (Cyber Security), School of Computing
  • Vice President for CyberWomen: Sreylin Strong, UG Stage 2, BSc Computer Science (Software Engineering), School of Computing
  • Vice President for EDI (Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity): Andrew Mensah, UG Stage 1 student, BSc Computer Science (Cyber Security), School of Computing
  • Vice President for Events and UG Stage 1: Daniel Shorter, UG Stage 1 student, BSc Computer Science (Cyber Security), School of Computing
  • Vice President for PGT and Co-Lead of CyberWomen: Zaynah Latif, MSc Cyber Security, School of Computing

We still hope to fill at least two Vice President roles, one for engaging non-Computing students and the other for managing KMCS3’s marketing and external communication activities.

CyberWomen Initiative

As part of KMCS3, a CyberWomen initiative is also launched to inspire more female university students and school girls to consider a cyber security career path and to celebrate successes of female cyber security professionals. The initiative is led by two female members of KMCS3, Vice President for CyberWomen and Vice President for PGT. We are exploring the possibility of being affiliated with the national CyberWomen Groups C.I.C. as a local branch.

iCSS Support Team

KMCS3 is closely overseen and administratively supported by the following members of iCSS’s management and operational teams:

Steering Group

KMCS3 is advised by a Steering Group (SG). Current members of the SG include the above iCSS support team members, a former student leader in the 2022-23 year during the pilot phase of KMCS3, a current Early Career Researcher (ECR) member of iCSS, and a former ECR member of iCSS (both of whom were former UG and PhD students at the School of Computing, University of Kent).

The Chair of the SG is iCSS’s Student Engagement Lead. The SG meets quarterly to discuss strategic and governance-related matters of KMCS3.

Contact KMCS3

If you are interested in being part of KMCS3’s student leadership team or supporting KMCS3’s activities in some way (e.g., giving a talk), please contact us via kmcs3-leaders@kent.ac.uk.

Moodle e-Learning Space

Supported by the University’s e-Learning Team, iCSS and KMCS3 now have a dedicated Moodle e-learning space DP101010 “Cyber Security: Training, Awareness and Engagement for All Students for interacting with all students of the University of Kent. We will mainly use this Moodle space for announcing information, opportunities, events, news and resources for students who are studying or interested in cyber security. Most KMCS3 activities will also be in this Moodle space, as a single “one-stop-shop” in cyber security extra-curricular activities and resources in cyber security and online safety for all students.

This e-learning space is not only open to KMCS3 members, but also to students who are not interested in being part of KMCS3 but just want to learn about cyber security and/or online safety themselves, and to the University of Kent staff.