The UCISA Security Community is a network of professionals responsible for, or interested in, information security, cyber security and related areas across higher education institutions. Bringing together members with a wide range of expertise and experience, the community provides a trusted forum for sharing knowledge, discussing challenges and learning from peers. Whether members are developing security strategies, managing risks, responding to threats or promoting security awareness, the community supports collaboration and professional development across the sector. The community recognises the increasingly important role that security plays in enabling institutions to protect their people, systems, services and information while supporting teaching, research and business operations. The Security Community promotes dialogue, collaboration and the sharing of expertise on security issues affecting higher education. Through events, discussions, webinars and peer engagement, members exchange insights, experiences and best practices on a wide range of topics, including cyber security, information governance, risk management, compliance, incident response and emerging threats. The community provides a space for members to learn from one another, explore new approaches and discuss common challenges facing the sector. Members benefit from access to a strong network of peers who understand the evolving security landscape and the unique requirements of higher education institutions. By fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing, the community helps institutions strengthen their security capabilities, improve resilience and support informed decision-making. Whether you're an experienced security professional or have security responsibilities as part of a wider role, the community offers valuable opportunities to connect with colleagues, share expertise and contribute to sector-wide conversations on security and resilience. UCISA's Security Community promotes dialogue, networking, knowledge sharing and collaboration on security issues and other relevant topics of common interest to institutional members of UCISA. To take part, institutional members may complete the Community Sign Up Form. Who we are
What we do
Get involved
Member Email lists
Group discussion lists are to be used by members to discuss subjects of common interest. People entitled to join the list are members of Full and Affiliate member institutions (ie not Corporate members). The lists should not be used to advertise or promote Corporate member or non-members events/services/products. These should be posted via the UCISA-announce list.
For discussions, questions and answers you can
Useful Information
The National Cyber Security Centre have brought together key resources and guidance for people across the education sector, from senior leader through to technical leaders, and academics and researchers. These resources are available via their website
Committee Members
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Security Chair
- Dave Thornley
- Head of Digital Architecture
- Sheffield Hallam University
- d.h.thornley@shu.ac.uk
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Deputy Chair
- Bruce Rodger
- Assistant Director, IT (Cyber & Infrastructure)
- University of Strathclyde
- bruce.rodger@strath.ac.uk
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- Jenna Covell
- Director IT Governance, Risk and Compliance
- University of Manchester
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- Umair Ismail
- Head of Cyber Security
- Middlesex University
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- Emma Barwell
- Head of User Experience and Engagement
- University of Wolverhampton
- E.Barwell@wlv.ac.uk
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- Pri Alagoda
- Chief Information Security Officer
- Nottingham Trent University
- pri.alagoda@ntu.ac.uk
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- Diya Jacob
- IT Service Desk Analyst
- University of Leeds
- D.Jacob@leeds.ac.uk
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- Ambrose Neville
- Head of Information Security
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- David Hartburn
- Cyber Security Operations Manager
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- Gabriela Ahmadi-Assalemi
- Deputy CISO
- University of Cambridge
- ga429@cam.ac.uk
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- John Couzins
- Head of IT Security
- University of Lancaster
- j.couzins1@lancaster.ac.uk
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- David Round
- Network Engineer
- Bangor University
- round@bangor.ac.uk
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- Jon O'Grady
- Associate Director of Information Security
- De Montfort University
- jogrady@dmu.ac.uk
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- Stephen Dobson
- Enterprise Architect & Change Manager
- York St John University
- s.dobson@yorksj.ac.uk
