I thought I was going to have to drive into work last week as I was due to visit Durham University’s Business School at Millhill Lane. It’s a good three kilometer walk from the rail station and there are a lot of hills to contend with. Checking my diary, which is always a good thing to do, I realised that we were meeting at their new building on the riverside. I think this is the one that Durham Council was due to move into, which we were talking about all those years ago. Life is funny like that.
This meant I could get the train, both into Newcastle and then down to Durham. Much easier, with much less hassle and a nice walk or two to boot.
The weather was very pleasant and summer seems to have finally arrived. We were able to sit outside and chat about how CyberNorth and Durham University could continue to work together. I had been involved in sponsoring a PhD student in cyber security/finance and it was good to meet up with her again. It must have been at least eighteen months.
We talked about the relationship between CyberNorth and universities in general. We do some good work with each of the five universities in the region yet struggle to address them as a single body. My middle name is collaboration and I feel (know) that so much more could be done if only the universities worked together more. They are such big organisations with many moving parts and by the time you think you have the right connection, that person moves on either to another department or another college entirely. Talking to each other may help.
Part of the problem is that they believe that they compete with each other both for students and for research. The latter is possibly true, though each has its own specialisms, yet I am less convinced about the former. Students go to different universities for a range of reasons, including courses, reputation, location, social aspects etc. It is complicated and the funding regime certainly doesn’t help. I’m not sure that students going to Newcastle or Sunderland, for example, would consider Durham as a choice and vice versa. A student coming to any of the region’s universities is a win for the North East and should be celebrated as such. It is also another opportunity to collaborate.
CyberNorth (I must stop saying we) is taking on an intern over the summer, to get a project going to get the university’s student bodies to talk to each other. This is something that will take a lot of effort but is long overdue. Having Helen on board as well will help enormously.
I was asked by the Head of Department what the university could do to get more involved. I’m sure there are more but here are the first three:
- Talk to us about upcoming events and initiatives. We can then spread the word and drum up support. We could also sponsor some and add value to others.
- Set up a cyber security club or society, along with the other four and get some oomph behind it
- Encourage students to be involved in CyberNorth and work with us to make the region more sticky.
That should do for now.
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 