DIG22: SurvivabilITy and SustainabilITy

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Date

11 October 2022

12 October 2022

Book Before

12 October 2022

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The Hilton Newcastle Gateshead

About the Event

DIG22: SustainabilITy and SurvivabiITy


This year’s Digital Infrastructure Group (DIG) conference, ‘SustainabilITy and SurvivabiITty’, will be in held in Newcastle Gateshead from 11th - 12th October. It will be the first DIG face to face event in two years and we are looking forward to seeing you all there!

SurvivabilITy will discuss how in the current climate of cyber-attacks directly targeting education. We plan for the worst and hope for the best. We will explore how we should be looking at our entire IT infrastructure to make sure we have the smallest attack surfaces, most secure firewalls/border and best practice to stop traversal if there is a breach. Planning for the worst we need to make sure that if the unthinkable does happen we are in the best position to get the organisation get back up and running as quickly and safely as possible.

The conference looks to share direct experience of the consequences of cyber-attacks to help us understand what we can do to avoid the same. Institutions can no longer justify the thinking it will never happen to them; this conference will explore this belief and discuss how to mitigate and survive.

SustainabilITy used to be a buzzword a lot of people in the IT community nodded to and added as a section in tenders to just make sure it was covered. It hasn’t always been a yardstick for the purchase and maintenance of kit but now should it be?

Today more than ever with climate change, the ever-changing political situation and energy prices we need to look hard at our IT estate and make sure we are making the right decisions for both our institutions and the planet.

This conference will look at all aspects of infrastructure, Data Centres, Cloud, Systems, HPC Networks and all points in between to see how we can best leverage sustainability in our IT estate, such as

  • Is a Data Centre on campus more green than cloud, do the numbers really stack up?
  • How can we make sure out kit has longevity and avoid forklift upgrades?
  • Are we all migrating workloads at quiet times to reduce power consumption?
  • Is choosing greener kit maybe not going to give me the equipment I need?
  • BYOD is it greener for people to use their own devices and reduce the amount of kit we have to buy?

The conference looks to share these ideas, question our current thinking on green initiatives and sustainability and see how we can all work together to save money, save energy and do our bit on climate change. We have speaking slots available at this conference - both main room sessions and breakout room sessions.

If you would be willing to share your experience with the UCISA community at this event, we would be grateful if you could complete the speaker proposal form.  

Speakers

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Ambrose Neville

Head of Information Security

University of Surrey

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Dan C

NCSC

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Sarah Lawson

Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and Deputy CIO

University College London

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Lauren Morris

Devolved IT Liaison Manager

University of Kent

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Paul Moran

Principal Technical Account Manager, Sustainability Ambassador

AWS

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Paul started his career on a small croft in the highlands, after leaving home for university Paul started working in ICT. For over 30 years now Paul has worked across multiple industries and business segments including financial service, central government, and digital natives. Paul has spent much of the past 5 years focused on Sustainable outcomes for his customers, he is one of the co-creators of AWS’s Well Architected Sustainability Pillar, the Sustainability GameDay, and is an active core member of the Sustainability technical field community in AWS.

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Dr Rebecca Robinson

Business Support and Project Manager for the Cyber Foundry programme

Lancaster University

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Andrew Meikle

Head of Corporate Information Systems

Lancaster University

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Dave Thornley

Head of Digital Architecture

Sheffield Hallam University

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Alex Goffe

Associate Director Technology

University of Manchester

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Alex Goffe is Associate Director Technology at the University of Manchester.

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Matthew Jones

Infrastructure Manager

University of Huddersfield

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Matt has worked as a web developer going back to the original web 1.0 dotcom boom at the turn of the century. Moving from there into systems administration, he now works in infrastructure management for the University of Huddersfield with an interest in Infras.tructure as Code and DevOps.

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Henrik Brogger

Director of Digital Operations and Service Delivery

University of Reading

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Henrik has gathered his experience of leading people through change and digital technologies from many sectors including Publishing, Tour Operating, Housing and, lately, Higher Education. Having worked in a variety of leadership roles encompassing operational management and strategic delivery, he is an experienced communicator at many levels. Henrik has spent the last decade in two leading universities creating successful Service Delivery and Operations departments with a focus on strategic goals and business outcomes, underlined by a culture of empowerment and achievement. He is the vice-chair of the UCISA Sustainability Group, member of the UCISA Support Services Group, an eager contributor to UCISA projects, and enjoys voluntary work, latest for tuition charity The Access Project. Continuous learning is a core principle to Henrik, he completed a Master’s degree with distinction in Management not long ago, and he perpetually embraces opportunities to learn through a variety of platforms. He is a keen architecture buff (having recently built a house to his own design) and loves a good cup of tea!

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James Crooks

Chief Information Officer

Durham University

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Mike Roan

Senior Director of Systems Engineering

Pure Storage

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Mike has 20+ years of experience in the data storage industry and is very proud to continue to represent Pure Storage, as he has for the past nine years. Before joining Pure, he worked with various data storage and data protection products in a variety of technical roles. Mike's strengths and particular areas of interest include aligning the technical conversation with business outcomes and extracting value from data, as well as ESG. He also holds a First Class MBA at Warwick University.

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Mitch Mellard

Threat Intelligence Analyst

Talion

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Mitchell Mellard is a Threat Intelligence Analyst at Talion and formerly BAE Systems, responsible for researching new and emerging trends in the information security threat landscape, with experience across a wide variety of sectors, and has previously featured in several publications including Forbes, Infosecurity Magazine, and Radio 4.

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Jim Florence

Support and Operations Team Lead

Robert Gordon University

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Chris Haigh

Assistant Director and Head of PMO, Interim

University of Wolverhampton

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Chris is a senior programme/project manager at the University of Wolverhampton. Prior to this, Chris worked as a project management consultant – where he helped clients to set up and improve upon their portfolio, programme and project governance and structures. At work, he is particularly passionate about people and change management, but outside of that he is a huge football fan. Although he hasn’t mentioned much about his beloved Manchester United for the last few months….

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Chris Parker MBE

Director of Government

Fortinet

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Chris Parker MBE is Director, Major Accounts at FORTINET UK leading on Central Government & Defence. He joined in 2020 having sold his consultancy company, Cyberplus Ltd (est.2014) who served Government & Public Sector, Insurance Markets and Corporations..

Chris was previously Chief Operating Officer of Terraseis, an international, oil & gas exploration company, leading $100M of success in Middle East & Africa. Chris previously worked in construction, notably as Project Director for the $1.3B Infrastructure at the Burj Khalifa mega-project in Dubai for Hyder plc, serving as Operations Director in London and Regional Director Middle East. Prior to that Chris served in the British Army, completing 9 combat and operational tours. Chris was awarded the MBE by Her Majesty The Queen in 2003 for his wartime role as Chief of Staff of 7th Armoured Brigade, The Desert Rats. At 35, he became the youngest Lieutenant Colonel of his generation.

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Adam Louca

Networking and Security Architect

Softcat

Adrian Cooper

Adrian Cooper

Business Solutions Architect and Field CTO for UK Public Sector

NetApp

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Adrian Cooper is Business Solutions Architect and Field CTO for UK Public Sector for NetApp. In this role, he is responsible for developing technical relationships with customers and partners across the public sector to support them in their digital journeys and to get the most out of their data. Adrian has worked in the IT industry for more than 30 years, with the last 8 years spent at NetApp in Senior management roles in Solutions Engineering. Prior to that, he held Director-level roles at Memorex Telex, EDS Global Field Services, a&o and Simplexo.

Event Schedule

Tuesday

Chair: Lise Foster, Director, Technology, University of the Arts London

09:00

Registration and exhibition opens

09:45

Newcomers orientation session

If this is your first UCISA conference or first is a while; please join us for a session describing how to make the most of the Conference.
10:00

Introduction and welcome

Jim Florence, UCISA DIG Chair and Support and Operations Team Lead, Robert Gordon University.
10:10

Cyber Security in Practice - Learning with Lego

Dr Rebecca Robinson, Lancaster University
11:10

An Evergreen & sustainable approach to delivering storage services

Mike Roan, Solution Engineer Director UK & I, Pure Storage
11:55

Refreshments

in the Exhibition
12:25

Next generation, sustainable cybersecurity for survivability in high-risk sectors

Chris Parker MBE, Director of Government, Fortinet
12:55

Digital Sustainability - exploring how you can make a difference

Henrik Brogger, Director of Digital Operations and Service Delivery, University of Reading
13:25

Lunch

in the Exhibition
14:25

Panel discussion "Surviving the journey to the public cloud"

 

Chaired by Kate Iddles, Digital Architect Data Centre/Cloud, University of Wolverhampton

Panel include:

15:10

How to reduce your Data Footprint to improve cyber reliance, lower storage costs and increase sustainability

Adrian Cooper, Public Sector CTO, NetApp
15:40

Refreshments

in the Exhibition
16:10

Operational Resilience is a journey not a destination

Adam Louca, Networking and Security Architect, Softcat
17:20

Close for the day

17:20

Networking drinks reception

in the exhibition. 
19:00

Drinks reception

20:00

Conference dinner

Wednesday

Chair: Lise Foster, Director, Technology, University of the Arts London

09:25

Introduction to day two

09:30

Preparing your institution for a cyber attack

Lauren Morris, Devolved IT Liaison Manager, University of Kent
10:00

Evolving Cyber Security Trends in Higher Education and why having the right Threat Intelligence is so critical

University of Exeter and Mitch Mellard, Threat Intelligence Analyst, Talion
10:30

Looking back at recent incidents and how to prepare for the worst…

Dan C, NCSC
11:00

Refreshments

in the Exhibition
11:30

Accelerating Sustainability Goals with Cloud

 Paul Moran, Principal Technical Account Manager, Amazon Web Services
12:00

Travel time

12:05

Parallel sessions

12:35

Lunch

in the Exhibition
13:35

Cyber Security Panel session

Chaired by Graham Hill, Information Security Manager, University of West London

Panel includes:
  • James Crooks, Director of LIS, University of Central Lancashire 
  • Sarah Lawson, Chief Information Security Officer, University College London
  • Lauren Morris, Devolved IT Liaison Manager, University of Kent
  • Dan C, NCSC
  • Jason N. Bain, Chief Information Security Officer , Newcastle University
14:20

Defacement’s Not Dead – the tale of Bandar Togel

Ambrose Neville, Head of Information Security, University of Surrey
14:50

DIG22 closing remarks

15:00

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