International Space University launches first-ever course in Scotland

The University of Strathclyde is to host two-day “pioneer” programme on cyber security in space.

The Executive Space Course will be the first to be offered in Scotland by the International Space University.

It will be hosted at the university’s business school on 12-13 May and will focus on understanding threats, vulnerabilities, detection, and response to cybercrime.

Satellite building, entrepreneurship and emerging space technology will also be covered in the course, which will offer participants postgraduate level micro credentials.

Course organiser Dr Sharon Lemac-Vincere said: “The UK and Scottish strategy is to grow the space sector, which has huge potential. But space is also an attractive proposition for cyber criminals and so cyber resilience has to be an essential part of any space business.”

It is hoped the course will help bridge the skills gap in the space and cyber sector, which faces an estimate of 3.5m unfilled vacancies by 2025.

Dr Lemac-Vincere added: “Academia plays a key part in supporting the space sector through innovative research and education, but I believe that executives in the sector need specific cyber resilience training.

“If leaders understand cyber security, then they are more likely to see it as a critical part of the picture and engage with it.

“Cyber security innovation needs to match the ambition and innovation in the space sector, and stay ahead of the cybercriminals. It’s about becoming one of the most secure space nations in the world, and being disruptive and ambitious.”

The course will be followed by a conference in Strathclyde’s Technology & Innovation Centre from 13-16 May on ‘Space: Securing our Entrepreneurial Future.’  The key focus is the need to prioritise secure-by-design cyber security and resilience planning, in a rapidly growing space industry.