Seminars, Webinars and Conferences in 2026
- Seminar – Ghent – February 5-6
Universities are a prime target for cyber criminals, from individual opportunists looking for financial gains, to highly organised groups seeking to disrupt IT systems. With their international reach in education and research universities are targeted for the amounts of data they hold in their digital infrastructures and for their large storage capabilities.
Security failures can have potentially devastating effects and costly consequences on universities, leading to massive disruptions to teaching and learning and to the entire organisation, to students and staff; it can lead to massive financial, reputational and personal damages.
For all these reasons, universities need sophisticated governance, robust policies and practices to safeguard against hostile interferences, including internal and external audits, technology (systems, services and infrastructure). They must have an organisational culture focusing on institutional resilience, to support risk awareness. The senior leadership needs to be highly committed to security issues, and staff systematically made trained.
The HUMANE seminar will explore all these issues, to share expertise on threat intelligence and good practice approaches to enhance institutional preparedness for cybersecurity. We will discuss national/international regulatory frameworks and requirements, and in Europe the impact of the EU NIS2 directive (Network and Information Security Directive 2). All EU Member States must enact the directive in national legislation, for compliance by all organisations, including universities. The aim is to increase overall cybersecurity posture, improve incident reporting and crisis management among others.
The seminar will also look at cyber security and institutional digital resilience with examples of strategies adopted in universities, focusing among others on risk prevention and mitigation, business continuity, transparency and responsibility).
- Annual Conference – Edinburgh- June 10-12
Robust institutional resilience is a critical capability for higher education institutions, to navigate in an increasingly complex and volatile environment: the ability to anticipate and change proactively ; to adapt and renew in rapidly changing contexts, addressing disruptive challenges; to dare to take difficult decisions and change practices that have become irrelevant, using existing resources in a more efficient way.
To thrive in dynamic environments, universities need strategic, proactive planning and a positive organisational culture that values awareness and agility. Resilient institutions anticipate stakeholder needs to advance their mission and strategic goals, while also adapting to external factors like modernisation, technological advancements, policy changes, and economic shifts. By seizing opportunities and adopting a growth mindset, they sustain organisational agility, enhance effectiveness, and empower people to support change initiatives.
The conference will look at institutional resilience strategies in higher education, around key themes and perspectives.
- Seminar – Warsaw – October 8-9
- Elevating the student journey: strategies for engagement and success