The National Digital Exploitation Centre (NDEC) – a collaboration between the University of South Wales and tech firm Thales – is to receive a £740,000 funding injection from the Welsh Government’s Tech Valleys programme to reach thousands of children in southeast Wales with cyber education and careers guidance.
NDEC, which delivers interactive activities on cyber crime, digital forensics and online safety for primary school children, hopes to use the investment to expand its outreach programme to 10,000 new learners in the region. Its programmes have already reached 216 schools and approximately 20,000 children.
Besides new training on issues such as artificial intelligence (AI) and sustainability, the funding will help address barriers to participation such as transport and equipment costs for schools in disadvantaged areas, and enable bilingual service delivery in both Welsh and English.
“These vital skills will help keep children safe online whilst opening the doors to rewarding careers,” said Welsh government cabinet secretary for economy, Rebecca Evans.
“Our investment will help inspire more students, foster early interest in digital careers and support the development of a future cyber workforce – and I am really pleased that this programme can now be delivered bilingually,” added Evans.
Education in action
NDEC is currently delivering a series of five-week digital forensics activities to Year 5 students from Merthyr Tydfil’s Ysgol y Graig. The children have already covered modules on cyber crime and online safety, and are now playing a role that will be familiar to incident response professionals – that of forensics investigators working in groups to gather evidence from a “cyber crime scene”.
Matthew Howells, a teacher at Ysgol y Graig, said the project had been an amazing experience. “The range of activities they cover and the immersive experience … gives the children a wide range of future career opportunities and develops an increased passion for STEM,” he added.
“A wide range skills are developed across the five project sessions and the opportunity to work with STEM role models is an added benefit for the children,” said Howells.
NDEC training lead Lisa Cornford added: “We’re incredibly proud that NDEC continues to raise aspirations across southeast Wales, helping young people believe in what they can achieve.
“This extension allows us to reach more learners, inspire confidence and introduce opportunities in the digital world they may not have previously considered,” she said.
Long-running programme
The Tech Valleys programme was set up in 2017, and forms the nexus of a £100m, decade-long investment from the Welsh government. At its heart it is designed to stimulate job creation – it initially aimed to create 1,500 new roles – and leverage both public and private sector investment in the Welsh valleys to support more advanced tech skills.
NDEC was created in 2019 as part of the wider programme as a “key economic development and growth catalyst project”. It is located at Thales’ Ebbw Vale campus, formerly the site of Europe’s largest steelworks.
Besides its educational remit, NDEC runs research and development projects with academia and cyber businesses, and offers security support to local small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as the community. It also plays host to the UK Cyber Range.
