This six-month project initiative aims to empower girls (KS4/College) across North-East England by equipping them with essential ethical hacking and cybersecurity skills. Women make up only 17% of the UK's cybersecurity workforce, with just 12% holding senior roles. The project responds directly to two critical regional challenges: the shortage of skilled cybersecurity professionals and the underrepresentation of women in the technology and cybersecurity workforce. Through hands-on training and guided mentorship, the initiative seeks to foster a more inclusive, capable, and resilient future talent pipeline. In many parts of North-East, access to specialised cybersecurity education remains limited, particularly within school settings. Simultaneously, persistent gender gaps in STEM fields -- especially in technology---mean that young women often lack both role models and clear entry points into the sector. This initiative tackles these barriers by offering practical, engaging workshops that build technical skills, increase confidence, and spark interest in cybersecurity careers among girls who may not otherwise have considered them. The project will be led by Northumbria University's Cyber Clinic, in collaboration with the North East Business Resilience Centre (NEBRC). The Cyber Clinic has a strong track record in providing ethical hacking education to university students, and this initiative will expand its reach to younger learners. Ten undergraduate cyber clinic students will be selected and trained to act as mentors and workshop leaders. Each student will dedicate eight hours weekly to preparing and delivering training sessions. The programme will run three intensive eight-week courses, delivered in a hybrid format combining both in-person and online teaching. This flexible approach ensures the programme is accessible to students across urban, rural, and coastal communities. Workshop content will include phishing attack simulations, penetration testing, vulnerability detection, secure coding, open-source intelligence (OSINT), incident response, and Wi-Fi/network security. Course materials will be adapted from the Cisco Ethical Hacker curriculum, and students will have the option to pursue Cisco certification, as Northumbria is a Cisco NetAcademy. To further develop their skills, participants will engage in Capture-the-Flag (CTF) challenges---interactive, team-based competitions that simulate real-world cyber defence scenarios. CyberNorth, the region's leading cybersecurity cluster, will support school engagement through its extensive network. NEBRC will contribute expertise and outreach capacity, while industry partner Cystel will provide real-world insights and ensure content remains aligned with the latest cybersecurity practices. By the end of the initiative, more than 150 girls (KS4/College) will receive hands-on cybersecurity training and career exposure -- helping to boost regional resilience.

CyberShip is a mobile cybersecurity lab dedicated to bringing practical, hands-on cyber training to underserved communities in North East England. Hosted by Newcastle University's cybersecurity team, it travels to towns that have limited access to digital skills resources. By rolling up with mobile security testing equipment, CyberShip creates a pop-up "cyber classroom" wherever it goes, making education both accessible and exciting. Each visit involves interactive demonstrations of real-world hacking techniques, showing participants how cybercriminals might exploit weak security. Immediately afterward, the team highlights simple defense strategies that can block these attacks---such as using strong passwords, installing security patches, and spotting phishing emails. Attendees can also participate in guided lab sessions, where they test out open-source hacking tools in a safe, controlled environment. This approach helps individuals, small businesses, and community groups truly understand both the risks they face online and the concrete steps they can take to protect themselves. By focusing on towns/localities that are often overlooked by major technology initiatives, CyberShip closes the gap between urban and more remote or rural communities. Its flexible format caters to a wide range of learners; at each stop, CyberShip fosters a sense of collaboration and shared learning, forging connections and triggering interest in cyber security that can last long after the lab rolls on. Ultimately, this project is about inspiring greater awareness and boosting digital resilience for everyone, regardless of background or location. We aim to nurture a stronger local cyber talent pool and help small businesses thrive by reducing the likelihood of cyberattacks. In doing so, CyberShip contributes to a safer, more inclusive ecosystem within the North East of England outside of its major cities.

Women are severely underrepresented in the cyber sector. Only a few years ago, women made up 22% of the sector, with 2024 DSIT figures showing this has decreased to only 17%. The picture for women undertaking cyber security degrees is even worse, with only 12% of course cohorts in the UK being female. At CyberNorth, we believe the answer to improving these statistics starts young. Our project looks at the important role influencers (parents, teachers and careers advisors) play in supporting young women and girls into their chosen careers. We believe, due to our experience speaking to North East parents, careers advisors and teachers, that there is a lack of understanding around the careers available to young women and girls in the cyber sector. Therefore without this knowledge, they cannot positively influence young girls to take up training or learning in this space. Our project therefore focuses on this - equipping the influencers of young women and girls with the information to be able to help these young people consider cyber security training and careers as an option for them. Through this project we will identify and engage with 100 people in this group of influencers, provide sign posting resources to help them support their young women and girls, and create a number of events to help them further their knowledge and connections in the sector. In turn we envisage that this will increase awareness of the breadth of careers available to young women and girls, give influencers access to information to support their young people, and put them in touch with other women in the North East's cyber community who can be role models for younger people coming through and support them with questions. This innovative project would be the first of its kind in the North East. If successful, the future impact of this project will then be that more women and girls consider training in cyber and move into cyber roles. This pilot project will be a catalyst for CyberNorth to develop this relationship with influencers and create some content. It also has the potential to be expanded across the UK to help develop a response to cyber career advocacy for young women and girls.

CyberNorth ran a pilot Innovation Centre during 2024, involving 10 pre-startup and early stage businesses. Of these 4 businesses are now revenue generating, 2 applicants have gone on to cyber security roles in existing organisations and 1 student is using the experience as the idea for their thesis. Following the pilot, CyberNorth has been able to apply lessons learned to the second iteration of the Innovation Centre. The Innovation Centre will be run through a series of 6 workshops over a six week period in a single location. The workshops will cover product, customers, finance, people, company and meet the buyer. This shorter format programme than the original six month pilot, being based in one location rather than two, will create a greater sense of momentum and cohesion for the founder community. We've also removed the cost for office accommodation as this was underutilised, resulting in a much more cost effective project. Furthermore, we've added coaching for founders to help them achieve their ambitions and have also added a meet the buyer element to the programme, giving businesses the ability to meet with potential customers at the end of the programme. The revised programme will be more repeatable and sustainable.