Cyber Focus

The £5M CyberFocus project has been designed to galvanise the North West cyber ecosystem by forging connections that instil confidence in research-led impact partnerships to propel national prosperity

Welcome to Cyber Focus

It is a critical time for the cyber landscape of the North West, with the arrival of GCHQ in Manchester and National Cyber Force (NCF) in Lancashire creating an unprecedented opportunity to maximise the socio-economic potential of a high growth, innovative sector central to the UKs response to increasing geopolitical uncertainty.

The CyberFocus project is needed to enable the transformational socio-economic potential of the NW cyber ecosystem and ensure the outcomes of regional strategic government levelling-up investments in cyber are realised. Through collaboration between HEIs, civic and industry partners a shared vision for research-led, NW cyber impact has been agreed:

To galvanise the Northwest cyber ecosystem by forging trusted interconnections that instil confidence in research-led impact partnerships to propel national prosperity and protection.

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Our Partnership Approach

Cyber Focus is a consortium of seven regional higher education institutions (HEIs), three of which are NCSC-recognised Academic Centres of Excellence in Cyber Security Research, with each contributing a distinct portfolio of research expertise and knowledge, and trusted and engaged civic and industrial partners Together, we will collaboratively target the creation of a measurable impact culture in cyber innovation that addresses critical regional challenges, drives job creation, economic growth, and improved cyber resilience across NW England.

How to get involved

To address the challenges of delivering our regional cyber aspirations, there are a number of ways you can get involved in Cyber Focus to help us realise our ambitions:

Address Innovation Challenges and Identify Barriers

We will deliver a series of Impact Catalysts to identify key challenges and barriers in cyber innovation and produce a Challenge Book to document regional innovation needs and opportunities.

Facilitate and Enable Trusted Impact Partnerships

We will deliver Impact Accelerator and Open Funding Calls to support 100 projects and embed sustainable partnerships that address cyber challenges for long-term success.

Enhance Regional Cyber Capacity and Capability

We’ll deliver collaboration sandpits to expand expertise and foster partnerships across the UK, leading to expertise collaborations and secondments to enhance regional capabilities.

Develop Regional Innovation Skills and Knowledge

We’ll create educational packages, including an online Innovation Maturity Self-assessment tool and Impact Training courses, targeting 300 participants overall.

Foster Public Engagement and Policy Impact

We’ll implement a programme of engagement, including Cyber Roadshows, Awareness Campaigns, and co-working initiatives. This will be underpinned by public engagement and policy impact funding calls.

£2.7bn

The project has been co-created to unlock the potential regional growth of the NW cyber ecosystem, estimated at around 30,000 FTEs and c.£2.7Bn GVA by 2035.

18 partners

We have generated proactive support from 18 civic, government and industrial partners with £877k of in-kind match funding.

300 companies

The NW has the largest cluster of cyber security companies outside London/SE: 23% are large, 12% medium, 24% small, and 41% micro.

Latest News

Join Our New Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Group at the Data Science Institute!

Are you passionate about promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion in data science and AI? Do you want to help create a more inclusive and equitable environment at the Data Science Institute (DSI)? We’re launching a new ED&I group to address these vital issues—and we’d love for you to be a part of it.

Thumbnail image for AMBA & BGA Excellence Awards

Cyber Security Executive MBA shortlisted for innovation strategy award

Lancaster University Management School has been shortlisted for the Best Innovation Strategy 2025 award at the AMBA & BGA Excellence Awards 2025 for its Cyber Security Executive MBA programme (CEMBA) delivered in partnership with Templar Executives.

An industrial worker in a hard hat looking at a digital interface

Dead Man’s PLC: A new cyber threat in the industrial world?

Researchers at Orange Cyberdefence collaborate with Lancaster’s School of Computing and Communications to outline the possibility of a new way cyber criminals could target systems crucial to the functioning of industry-based systems.

Data Science and Cyber Security Master's Poster Exhibition

Over 100 students, academics, and project hosts gathered in Infolab for the annual Master's Poster Conference. Once again, there was an extremely impressive range of posters on display, which demonstrated the projects that the students had performed across many areas of data science and cyber security.

Securing Tomorrow: International event addresses the challenges of evolving threats

Global experts are convening in Lancaster at the very first international conference on natural language processing and artificial intelligence for cyber security (NLPAICS 2024).

Representatives from Mindgard - winners of the The UK’s Most Innovative Cyber SME 2024 at Infosec.

Prestigious cyber award for Lancaster University spinout Mindgard

Lancaster University spinout company Mindgard has won the award for the ‘UK’s Most Innovative Cyber SME 2024’ at Infosecurity Europe 2024.

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Upcoming Events

11th Apr

Cybernetic Culture Workshop: Consumption, Security & Society in the Digital Age

Friday 11 April 2025, 9:00am to 5:00pm

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Our Funders

Cyber Focus is supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.