EDUCATION MOBILISATION
AUKUS Cyber Education Collaboration
Australia’s Social Cyber Academy is shaping efforts to see the country join UK and US partners in the International Cybersecurity Education Collaborative (ICEC).
ICEC issued a report on a Delegation visit to Australia in March 2025. Delegation host, Professor Glenn Withers, Director of the Social Cyber Institute and member of the Board of the Social Cyber Academy, said that “the Canberra partners involved in the meetings with the UKUS group will advance moves to boost education in cybersecurity”.
The ICEC delegates met with senior representatives of education, business and government. The visit was co-organised by Adam Henry, a Senior Fellow with the Social Cyber Institute and a Partner in the Social Cyber Group.
According to the ICEC Report: “The discussions highlighted both areas where Australia demonstrates notable strengths, such as the cohesion seen in Canberra and the ecosystem approach to education and employment, and shared challenges, such as the fragmentation inherent in federal systems and the complexities of workforce development and professionalisation.”
ICEC is supported by the UK’s CSE Connect and the National Cybersecurity Training and Education Centre from the US. A copy of the Report is to be found here.
For further information please contact Professor Glenn Withers on glenn.withers@social cyber.co or +61(0)416249350.
Malaysia Table Top Exercise: Extreme Cyber Crisis
The Social Cyber Group teamed up with the Malaysian Institute for Strategic and International Studies and Australian cyber education firms with substantial experience in Malayisa, TNK and MSA, in September 2025 to deliver a half-day Table Top Exercise simulating an extreme cyber crisis. The 25 participants came from relevant Malaysian ministries and agencies. The exercise painted a novel scenario for similar activities in most countries by simulating a geopolitical crisis involving a cyber catastrophe (sustained cyber campaigns causing substantial economic loss and social unreast). Cyber-enabled disinformation campaigns and cyber physical attacks were accorded equal place.
Conference and Book on Cyber Education
In 2020, leaders of the Social Cyber & Tech Academy published a selection of proceedings from two conferences held at the University of New South Wales Canberra in 2017 and 2018. The 2017 event was supported by Australia's Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and specifically addressed education policy. The 2018 conference addressed policy consequences, inlcuding for educatioon, of extreme cyber emergencies. The book investigates the goals and policy aspects of cyber security education in the UK, US and Australia in the light of escalating technical, social and geopolitical challenges. The past ten years have seen a tectonic shift in the significance of cyber security education. Once the preserve of small groups of dedicated educators and industry professionals, the subject is now on the frontlines of geopolitical confrontation and business strategy. Global shortages of talent have created pressures on corporate and national policy for workforce development. The contributors include scholars and education practitioners from leading research and education centres in Europe, North America and Australia. This book provides essential reference points for education policy on the new social terrain of security in cyberspace and aims to reposition global debates on what education for security in cyberspace can and should mean.
Course Design Funded by the Australian Government
In 2025, leaders of the Social Cyber & Tech Academy led the devlopment of a syllabus for professional education in the field of technology diplomacy focussing specifically on the technology impact assessment for peace and stability. The syllabus is based on a year-long research project by a team of researchers under the Australia India Cyber and Critical Technologies Partnership. The document published in October 2025 contains relevant background. This open source publication forms the basis of the 2026 course of the Academy on Technology Diplomacy.
New Master's Degree in Cyber Strategy set up in 2016
In 2016, on the initiative of Professor Greg Austin, who subsequently became a co-founder of the Social Cyber Group, the University of New South Wales Canberra introduced a new Master's Degree in Cyber Security, Strategy and Diplomacy. Austin designed and delivered four core subjects in the degree. The degree complemented an existing suite of well-regarded Master's programs at UNSW Canberra in cyber security. Austin taught in the program for six years (2016-21), including for two years concurrently with his appointment as head of the Cyber and Future Conflict program at the International Institute for Srategic Studies (IISS).