Keeping children and young
people safe and healthy online will be the focus of an innovative event taking
place next month, organised by Northumbria University’s Creative Fuse team,
Northumbria Police and Campus North.
Representatives from the
North East’s creative, digital and IT sector will work together
to find solutions to the problems associated with cyber wellbeing and cybercrime.
It is hoped some of the
concepts created during the Cyber-Wellbeing Solution Hack event will be
developed into real-world technologies and used by teachers and parents in
schools and homes across the country in the future.
Around 50 people are
expected to attend the event, which has been organised as one of many upcoming
innovation support opportunities through Creative Fuse North East – a unique
partnership between the region’s five universities.
Creative Fuse is a £4m Arts
and Humanities Research Council-funded project which allows academics from Northumbria,
Newcastle, Durham, Sunderland and Teesside universities to work with industry,
cultural organisations, charities and the public sector. Together they explore
how creative, digital and IT businesses can share best practice and encourage
the adoption of new innovative working practices.
Dr Elena Gorman, Project
Development Manager for Creative Fuse at Northumbria, said: “The Cyber-Wellbeing
Solution Hack is a really exciting event which will bring together some of the
best creative minds in the region, with the aim of finding some new and
exciting solutions to some of the challenges with keeping young people safe
online.
“As well as coming up with
some great ideas the event will also be a good opportunity for creative, digital,
and IT professionals in the region to make new connections and tap into cutting
edge academic and creative research.”
The event has been organised
in association with Northumbria Police and is part of an ongoing project
between Creative Fuse North East and the police around raising public awareness
of cyber security.
Detective Chief
Superintendent Lisa Orchard, Head of Crime at Northumbria Police said: “We are
really looking forward to seeing the ideas generated by this event. Working
with Creative Fuse will allow us to access academic and IT professionals to
come up with new and innovative solutions to some of our most challenging
issues in keeping young people safe online.”
The theme of cybercrime has
also been the focus of research by students from Northumbria’s Multidisciplinary
Innovation Masters course, with a team of six recently undertaking a
three-month project exploring the subject.
They focused specifically on
teenagers, looking at current educational practices and the different habits, behaviours,
perceptions and awareness between young people, teachers, and parents around
cybercrime.
Their research uncovered a
number of key challenges that will feed into the Cyber-Wellbeing Solution Hack
and inform potential creative solutions. During a similar event recently held
by the students, ideas generated included a coding challenge, a computer game
and a regional competition, all designed to raise awareness of cyber security
amongst teenagers.
The
12-hour Cyber-Wellbeing Solution Hack takes place on Saturday 14th October at Campus North, Newcastle. Lyndsey Britton, Co-Founder of
Campus North, said: "Campus North is all about collaboration and bringing
the digital community together to work on and develop innovative solutions.
We're delighted to be supporting this hackathon, especially as it's to help
solve such an important issue."
Spaces for the event are still available; for more information and to book, visit www.northumbria.ac.uk/CyberWellbeingSolutionHack
To
find out more about Creative Fuse North East visit www.creativefusene.org.uk
For
more information about Northumbria’s Multidisciplinary Innovation MA/MSc click here.
Northumbria has been assessed as world-leading and
internationally-excellent for its research in evidence-based policing, with
outstanding breadth and depth of expertise in contemporary policing across the
University. Our work is informing policy and practice, provides wide-ranging,
cutting-edge science and applied research, and is working in partnership with
the police and other agencies regionally, nationally and internationally.
Northumbria’s research themes in the area of contemporary policing include
Cybercrime & IT, Forensic Science & Police Cooperation, Police
Organisation & Staff, Policing & Vulnerability.
Northumbria is hosting a
series of public seminars hosted by academics working across the Northumbria
Police Research & Education Network. The next seminar takes place on
Wednesday 11 October, from 5pm to 6.30pm, and is entitled International Criminal Justice Cooperation and the Implications for
Cross Border Policing. For more information and to book a place click here.
For more information about Northumbria’s Police Research & Education
Network please visit www.northumbria.ac.uk/police
Earlier this year an event was held by Creative Fuse as part of the British HCI Conference 2017. See what happened when makers, programmers, artists, designers and academics came together for 12 hours of Digital Make Believe.
