HEITSA’s Post

 🔍 Last week we had the pleasure to participate in the CONNECT University session on "How can the EU Boost Advanced Digital Skills", an event that brought together more than 700 people, including industry experts and important stakeholders in the Advanced Digital Skills landscape. Brendan Rowan, LeADS coordinator, moderated the panel discussion "How can the EU Boost Advanced Digital Skills?" A session that brought attention to a pressing issue—the scarcity of individuals possessing fundamental digital skills within the EU. 👉The panel discussion delved into defining and addressing the ICT specialists' gap, exploring diverse perspectives on their significance and the challenges encountered. Panellists not only evaluated the effectiveness of current strategies in bridging the gap but also shared valuable insights on potential major initiatives. 🚨This revelation has raised concerns about the feasibility of reaching the initially projected target of 20 million EU ICT specialists by 2030, with the looming risk of falling behind in the digital landscape. The event provided a platform for discussing practical solutions to address these challenges and more. See the full discussion here 🔗 https://lnkd.in/dJNfj5vc Stay tuned to learn how Europe is bridging the digital skills gap 🌐 #advancedskills  #digitalskills #stemeducation  #CONNECTUniversity

Curious about the opportunities in IMRS Singles Phase 2 of #CoalitionforDigitalAfrica? Join the upcoming webinar on April 4th to learn how to deploy and operationalize the system. Register now: https://bit.ly/3tVKzkm #IMRS #Internet

The StandICT.eu consortium has recently published a document outlining the #guidelines for applicants who are interested in applying to our Open Calls. The document is broken down into two separate sections: 🔹 ‘Guidance for the Application Phase’ discusses the process and timing of Open Calls, criteria for receiving financial support, Open Call topic priorities, types of contributions, criteria for evaluation, and how to apply 🔹 ‘Guidance for the Funded Fellows’ focuses on financial aspects, tax information related to funding, monitoring of the funded fellows, dissemination of funded fellowships, and the StandICT.eu 2026 Mentorship Programme The objective of the funding is to enable the specialists to contribute to and help create a fully integrated European Standardisation Ecosystem, thereby strengthening Europe’s position in global #standardisation initiatives. If you are interested in applying for our 5th Open Call, or any of our future calls, download the document and become familiar with the entire process: 👉 https://shorturl.at/pWKVE

In an unprecedented collaboration to address the UK’s digital skills crisis, we hosted the ChelTechne symposium at the Cheltenham Science Festival, in partnership with Cheltenham Festivals and supported by National Grid Electricity Distribution. Thought leaders and industry experts from education, industry, and the third sector—including influential organisations like AQA, KPMG and BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT—united to forge a unified vision for the future of digital education. This landmark collaboration culminated in the "Mind the Gap" report, which outlines a comprehensive set of recommendations that will shape digital skills development in our nation. The report will be presented to the Government, supported by a cross-sector promotion and advocacy campaign. We're proud to be part of this collective effort to empower the UK workforce, drive innovation, and ensure no one is left behind in the digital age. Read the full report here: https://lnkd.in/eq87hERp #DigitalSkills #Education #Collaboration #LearnToChange #MindTheGap

Enjoying the IrelandQCI Event. Take aways so far… 1) Symettric key encryption will not be broken by Quantum Computing. 2) Public Key Cryptography ( e.g. Diffie-Hellman) will be broken by Quantum Computing. Estimates range from 2027 to 2029. This will break SSL/TLS/HTTPS and could break many crypto currencies unless they move to Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC) 3) Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) offers a solution for key distribution but requires special infrastructure. 4) “Harvest Now, Decrypt Later” campaigns are in place already. Therefore for classified or sensitive data we need QKD/PQC now!

Can you provide leadership and coordination to advance learning, capability and capacity for digital Research Technical Professionals (RTPs)? UKRI invests in many digital research infrastructures. They support the research community by providing access to high-quality curated data, software, computing for research, and associated services that help researchers deliver innovative research. For fourteen years I worked in different organisations to support researchers with accessing data (particularly sensitive data) - starting at the Office for National Statistics, moving on to UK Data Service, Cancer Research UK (CRUK),and The Health Foundation. On the way I learnt about data curation, compute, governance and security accreditation, statistical disclosure methods etc. That's why I'm thrilled that UKRI has offered a new funding opportunity to support people in these roles. We're offering grants between £1m and £2m (£9.5m is available in total) to support the launch of a Digital RTP Skills NetworkPlus. Cross-disciplinary, cross-sector, and cross-domain, this initiative will: - lead and coordinate collaborations to address the challenges RTPs experience when advancing their skills and careers - increase capacity for learning I know that this funding opportunity will help to crack the challenges for staff working to support delivery of data service infrastructures: - visible career pathways (there wasn't one for me: I fell into my roles out of interest/luck - there was no plan!) - structures and offers, including entry routes (why are so many RTP job adverts seemingly so interested in research publications instead of infrastructure? Sure, understanding research is critical for these roles but would I have done a better job supporting researchers if I had a page of economics papers published under my name?) - nature of employment contracts (fixed-term? permanent?) - skills capacity to support innovative research (often I learned R in my own time) - mechanisms and structures to support movement of people between research disciplines, and sectors (I've enjoyed moving between social sciences and health, and switching between the civil service, academia and the charity sector has enriched my career: do others have these opportunities?) - recognition of the value of staff delivering and supporting the delivery and use of digital research infrastructures (for me this partly depended on my organisation and/or my line manager!). If you can help to deliver new opportunities to put our digital research infrastructures on a sounder footing through developing talent, please apply for funding - it's a chance to make a difference to research in the UK and the people who help to deliver it. For more info please see: https://lnkd.in/gBXqqQmm

Social scientists 📢 There’s less than a week left to apply for UK Research and Innovation funding for a UK future internet NetworkPlus which brings together researchers, policymakers and wider stakeholders to make the UK an active leader in the development of the internet. As part of UKRI’s Creating Opportunities, Improving Outcomes strategic theme, this funding opportunity is for one Network Plus which should: ➡ develop a visible, collaborative, inclusive, diverse and interdisciplinary UK Future of the Internet research community ➡ develop a cutting-edge understanding of the challenges and opportunities posed for the UK by evolving internet technologies and their sociotechnical implications ➡ inform UKRI’s research strategy in the area of future internet with the aim of supporting policymakers ➡ engage with a small number of places in the UK as case studies in place-based considerations for the future internet and to draw out learnings that may be transferable to other places ⏰ The deadline for applications is 10 September 2024. Find out more and apply ➡ https://lnkd.in/eUJ5aTxB

Many virtual exchange programs help participants gain the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values that contribute to global competence. We know that this multidimensional construct can be, at best, complicated, and at worst, a barrier to entry in programs that tout its benefits. We sought out to help our audiences understand what global competence really means and looks like in practice. Visit our website to explore projects from members across the field of virtual exchange designed to make this essential framework for our global, interconnected world understandable and inspiring: https://lnkd.in/erSX_-5j

Dear Students, International Challenge. Technology = Networks. **** We are glad to announce that TEK-UP students have qualified to the regional stage of the Huawei ICT competition. Technology topic of the Competition : Networks The next stage will be against country teams of the MENA region. Please help congratulating our Champions : Yassine KHEDHIRI * Aroussi RIAHI * Dorra Jlassi * Ayechi Hiba According to the international rules of the competition, the national team can be from three different universities. The ranking is done according to the scores the students reach during the official competition challenge. More than 40 Tunisian universities participated to the challenge of the competition. More than 1000 Tunisian Technology Students were involved in the competition and competing since the first round in November 2023... Nevertheless, the three first scores, the three first ranks, the three first positions were all won by TEK-UP students. Those will be team#1. Tunisia will be present with two teams. In the second team, TEK-UP is also present with one more student. Finally, two teams qualified to the regional stage, say 6 students... and 4 of them are from TEK-UP. Indeed, TEK-UP'ers can do. Bravo champions. Keep shining. Our students *** Our Pride.

Participants will receive monthly payments for a year, providing financial stability as they embark on their new career paths. This support allows you to focus on your training without the burden of financial stress. In collaboration with the National Information Technology Development Agency