On 11 May 2021, the Centre for Digital Trust and Society was officially launched. The launch event was attended by a mixture of academics and members of the public, came together to celebrate the new focal point for research across The University that explores aspects of trust and security in our digital world.
The Centre for Digital Trust and Society focuses on barriers to, and enablers of, trust in digital technologies. The Centre’s scope includes cybersecurity but goes beyond this, seeing digital security as part of a set of broader issues of trust and trustworthiness, distrust and trust exploitation, and trust-building and resilience.
The Centre has established The University of Manchester’s position in the UK academic digital security community, where it is now recognised nationally and internationally through leadership of key initiatives (e.g., Cyber Foundry, Sprite+) and its distinctive contribution, being the only digital trust and security research centre in the UK led from social science.
Colette Fagan, Vice-President for Research, University of Manchester, opened the launch event and welcomed the attendees. During the introduction, she gave an overview of the centre and of ways to get involved:
- History
- Research Clusters (Digital Technologies and Crime, Trusted Digital Systems, Workplace and Organisational Security, Democracy and Trust, Privacy and Trust and Advanced Mathematics)
- External collaboration opportunities (SPRITE+, CyberFoundry, DISH)
- Teaching and learning opportunities
Next, Emma Barrett, Director, Centre for Digital Trust and Society, chaired the panel discussion: “The future challenges and opportunities for digital trust and society”
Members of the panel included:
- Emma Barrett, Professor of Psychology, Security & Trust and Chair
- Phil Swan, Greater Manchester Combined Authority Chief Information Officer & Digital Lead
- Alex von Someren, Amadeus Capital
- Julie Dawson, Yoti (Digital Identity for Good)
- Daniel Dresner (Computer Science), Academic Lead for Cyber Security
Each of the panel members gave their perspective on digital trust and digital security. Afterwards, they answered enthusiastic questions from the live audience, as well as some from the chair- Professor Emma Barrett.
Lastly, Professor Emma Barrett summarized the ways to get involved with the centre, as well as drawing attendees attention towards a two-week programme of events hosted by the Centre’s six research clusters for The University of Manchester staff. These events showcased the activities of the different clusters, and provided opportunities for staff in the related fields to find out more about becoming members of the clusters and discuss collaborative opportunities.
Following the panel discussion, Professor Emma Barrett opened a series of six online breakout rooms hosted by each cluster lead to enable the audience to have informal conversations about becoming affiliated. She thanked all the panellists and attendees and closed the event.
Find out more about the centre here.
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