The University of Bristol has been made an Academic Centre for Excellence in Cyber Security Research. It is one of eight universities to be recruited by intelligence agency GCHQ to help improve government and industry cyber security.
Universities and Science Minister David Willetts said: “Britain has one of the largest online economies in the world and a growing cyber security sector. Supporting universities to carry out more research and training skilled graduates to work in the cyber-security industry will help build further confidence in doing business online. There was strong competition among universities to be selected as a Centre of Excellence in cyber security research and I congratulate those who have been successful.”
Professor Nigel Smart, who is leading the project in Bristol, said: “The Centre of Excellence spans areas as diverse as our photonics work related to Quantum Key Distribution, and the mathematics and computer science work performed by our Cryptography Research Group. This is one of the world’s largest groups focusing on cryptography and provides some of the leading teaching programmes at the University of Bristol, including the successful MSc in Internet Technologies with Security."
The Academic Centres of Excellence will open for business on July 1, initially for five years. The university says this will position the UK cyber research community as the pre-eminent environment in which to conduct leading-edge research and in turn attract the best academics and research students in the UK and from overseas.
University vice chancellor Professor Eric Thomas said: “We are delighted that our world-class research in cyber security has been recognised in this way. And it is undoubtedly true that by bringing together the very best research through these centres, the resultant whole will be greater than the sum of its parts.”
