Dr Ismini Vasileiou

Dr Ismini Vasileiou is an Associate Professor at De Montfort University and Founder & Director of the East Midlands Cyber Security Cluster (EMCSC).

Her research and leadership span organisational cyber security, cyber governance, resilience, social engineering, and the human factors that shape digital risk. She has a particular focus on cyber skills and workforce development, championing diversity and inclusion as critical enablers of organisational and societal cyber resilience.

Dr Vasileiou has secured significant funding and led major regional and national initiatives, including the DSIT-funded Cyber Local  programmes and the APPG-backed white paper Cyber Workforce of the Future. Her work informs national cyber strategy, shapes skills and workforce policy, and supports organisations—particularly SMEs and supply chains—to strengthen cyber resilience in an evolving threat landscape.

She works at the intersection of academia, industry, and government, driving collaboration through interdisciplinary research, external engagement, and policy influence. Dr Vasileiou is a member of the UK Government’s Women in Tech Taskforce and has received national recognition for her contributions to diversity in cyber. Through her leadership, she is helping to define the future direction of the UK’s cyber workforce and organisational resilience agenda.

• Digital Future Institute 

Thought Leadership/Policy

• Vasileiou, I. (2025), From Curriculum to Career: Why Universities must lead the education-skills revolution, Higher Education Policy
• Vasileiou, I. and Dowland, P. (2025), What’s the difference between passwords and passkeys? It’s not just the protection they provide, The Conversation
• Vasileiou, I. (2025), The post-16 pivot: why higher education needs to lean into the skills revolution, Higher Education Policy Institute
• Vasileiou, I. (2025), Report Cards, Reshuffles, and Resilience: What Ofsted’s new model could mean for higher education, Higher Education Policy Institute
• Vasileiou, I. (2025), Pay Now, Protect Always: Securing digital payments, Innovation News Network
• Vasileiou, I. (2025), Cyber Workforce of the Future: A Call for Action on Skills, Taxonomy and National Alignment. White Paper published in collaboration with the Cyber Innovation All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), July 2025 - Imminent.
• Vasileiou, I. (2025), Bridging the Skills Divide: Higher Education’s Role in Delivering the UK’s Plan for Change, Higher Education Policy Institute 
• Vasileiou,I. (2024), “How secure are banking apps? Here are some key steps all banks and users should be following”, The Conversation
• Vasileiou, I. (2024), “Protecting SMEs from Cyber Attacks”
• Vasileiou, I. and Dowland, P. (2023), “How risky is to give card details over the phone, and how do I reduce the chance of fraud?”, The Conversation
• Vasileiou, I. and Dowland, P. (2022), “The iPhone turns 15: a look at the past (and future) of one of the 21^st century’s most influential devices”, The Conversation
• Vasileiou, I. and Dowland, P. (2021), “Being bombarded with delivery and post office text scams? Here’s why and what can be done”, The Conversation
• Dowland, P. and Vasileiou, I. (2020), “Cyber Threats at Home: How to keep kids safe while they are learning online”, The Conversation
• Vasileiou, I. (2017) Data Normalisation: A Systematic Approach to Data Structuring and Organisation, Computing Review Magazine 

Books

• I.Vasileiou and S.Furnell. 2019. Cybersecurity Education for Awareness and Compliance. IGI Global, Hershey, PA. 306pp.

Chapters in Books

• Vasileiou, I. (2021). “The Cyber Skills Gap”, in Cybersecurity Issues in Emerging Technologies”,  (in press)
• S.M.Furnell, and I.Vasileiou. 2019."A Holistic View of Cybersecurity Education Requirements", in Cybersecurity Education for Awareness and Compliance, I.Vasileiou and S.Furnell (Eds.), IGI Global, Hershey, PA, pp1-18.
• I.Vasileiou and S.Furnell. 2019. “Personalising Security Education ‐ Factors influencing individual awareness and compliance”, Information Systems Security and Privacy, Fourth International Conference, ICISSP 2018, Madeira, Portugal, January 22-24, 2018, Revised Selected Papers, P.Mori, S.Furnell and O.Camp (Eds.), Communications in Computer and Information Science, Springer. 

Refereed papers in journals

• Vasileiou, I., Knahl, M. , Sankaran, G., Siestrup,G. (2020) A Measurement Model of Value of Data for Decision Making in the Digital Era, Journal of Integrated Supply Management (accepted)
•  Furnell, S. and Vasileiou, I. (2017), “Security Education and Awareness: Just let them burn?“, in Network Security
• Vasileiou, I. (2008), “Blended Learning: The transformation of Higher  Education curriculum”, Open Education: The journal forOpen and Distance Education and Education Technology

Refereed conference contributions

• Papathanasaki, M., Dimitriou, G., Maglaras, L, Vasileiou, I., Janicke, H. (2020) “From Cyber terrorism to Cyber Peacekeeping: re we there yet?”, 24^th Panhellenic Conference on Informatics, 20-22 November 2020
• Vasileiou, I. (2020) “Cyber Security Education and Training Delivering industry relevant education and skills via Degree Apprenticeships, HAISA 2020
• Vasileiou, I. (2020) “Athena SWAN: One for All, or All for One?”, Advance HE EDI Conference, Edinburgh, March 2020 
• Vasileiou, I. (2020) “Social Inclusion in STEM: Schemes, Myths and Suggestions”, Advance HE STEM Conference, Manchester, January 2020 
• Vasileiou, I. and Haskell-Dowland, P. (2019) “Addressing STEM Geek Culture Through Peer Learning”, Proceedings 11^thInternational Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies, Palma Spain, July 2019
• C. Barnyard and I. Vasileiou (2019) “Student-centred analytics: Putting analytics into the hands of students”, Collaborative European Research Conference (CERC), Darmstadt, Germany, 29 March
• G. Sankaran, M. Knahl, G. Siestrup and I. Vasileiou (2019) “Value of Smart Data for Supply Chain decisions in a rich uncertain world”, Collaborative European Research Conference (CERC), Darmstadt, Germany, 29 March
• S.Furnell, N.Outram and I.Vasileiou (2018) “Digital Technologies in Education: When to say goodbye”, World Congress of Education, Dublin, Ireland, 15-18 July
• Vasileiou, I. (2018), “An evaluation of Accelerated Learning Degrees”,  HEA STEM Conference Newcastle, UK, 31 January – 1 February 2018
• I.Vasileiou and S.Furnell. 2018. “Enhancing Security Education Recognising Threshold Concepts and other influencing factors”, in Proceedings of ICISSP 2018 - 4th International Conference on Information Systems Security and Privacy, Funchal, Madeira, Portugal, 22-24 January 2018, pp398-403.
• S.Furnell, I.Vasileiou, N.Outram (2017) “iPads in Education: Positive Pedagogies versus Problematic Practicalities”, London International Conference on Education (LICE-2017), Cambridge, UK, 11-14 December 2017 (accepted)
• Vasileiou, I. (2011), “What is to be a Teacher in Higher Education: The relationship between Teaching and Research”, 6thInternational Conference on Open and Distance Learning, Loutraki, Greece 6-9 November 2011.
• Vasileiou, I. (2009), Integrating PDP (Personal Development Planning) and the e-portfolios in Accelerated Learning coursesemphasising on employability, Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Open and Distance Learning, Athens, Greece, 27-29 November 2009.
• Vasileiou, I. (2007), Can ICT support learning and teaching in Computing courses? How do we choose and use? Proceedingsof the 4th International Conference on Open and Distance Learning, Athens, Greece, 23 -25 November 2007

• Cyber Skills Development – Strategies for upskilling and reskilling the workforce to address the cybersecurity skills gap.
• Human Factors in Cybersecurity – Exploring cognitive, behavioural, and psychological aspects of cyber awareness and security practices.
• Cyber Resilience and Risk Management – Developing frameworks to enhance organisational preparedness against cyber threats.
• Social Engineering and Cyber Psychology – Investigating the manipulation tactics used in cyber attacks and their psychological impact.
• Work-Based Learning in Cybersecurity – Embedding industry-relevant cybersecurity training within academic programmes.
• Cybersecurity Education and Pedagogy – Innovative teaching methodologies and curriculum design for cybersecurity courses.
• Industry-Academia Collaboration – Bridging gaps between research, policy, and industry needs to create impactful cybersecurity initiatives.
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Cybersecurity – Promoting accessibility and inclusion in the cyber sector, particularly for underrepresented groups.
• Secure by Design Principles – Embedding security considerations in software and system development processes.
• AI and Cybersecurity – Examining the role of artificial intelligence in cyber threat detection and mitigation.

1. BSc(Hons) Computing Informatics, University of Plymouth UK
2. PGCE post 16, University of Plymouth UK
3. EdD - Doctor of Education, University of Sheffield UK  “Flexible Learning for Computing Degrees in Higher Education”

Awards and Nominations

1. 2024       Winner: Cyber Security Diversity Academic Champion, Ethnic Minority in Cyber (EMIC) Network
2. 2016       Go4SET School Bronze Award
3. 2014      Runner up for the WISE Advisor Award  
4. 2014      Students as Partners Cup Winners
5. 2012      Recipient of ‘Most Dedicated Project Supervisor” SSTAR Award, University of Plymouth
6. 2012      Runner up for the WISE Advisor Award

• 2025                      UKSec Steering Commitee member
• 2024 – Present      Academic Expert Fellow Sprite+
• 2023                      Consultant for the NCFE/DfE Level 3 Reform 
• 2022 – 2024          Consultant for the QAA Apprenticeships Toolkit in HE Advisory Group
• 2022 – 2023          NCFE/IfATE Technical Education Advisory Board
• 2022 – 2024          Committee Member  UCISA Security Group 
• 2020 – 2023          Advisor/Consultant on Digital and Cyber T Levels, Institute of Apprenticeships 
• 2021                      Consultant/Advisor for the SFIAv8 Review/Update
• 2020 – 2022          Core Team Researcher  WHEN (Women’s Network in Higher Education) 
• 2020 – 2022          Trustee Brookvale Groby Learning Campus, Leicester, UK
• 2020 – Present      Reviewer ESRC New Investigator Award 
• 2018                      BCS Skills Editor for Competency and Capability L&D Specialism SFIAv7 
• 2017                      Reviewer BCS Education Portfolio 
• 2017-2019             Chair of BCS South West Branch
• 2017-2021             Reviewer  NTFS and Global Teaching Excellence Award 
• 2016-2019             Chair School Governor for Learning Standards
• 2017-2019              Vice-Chair School Governor
• 2016-2017             Subject Matter Expert BCS Level 1/2 Apprenticeships 
• 2016 - 2024           Member, IFIP TCP WG 11.8 Information Security Education 
• 2016-2022             Membership Secretary and EDI Officer, BCS Learning and Development SG
• 2015-2019              EDI Committee Member, BCSWomen
• 2015-2018              Chair of STEM SIG International Academic Peer Learning Leadership group
• 2015-2017            Secretary, BCS South West Branch
• 2013-2015             Barefoot Computing Workshop Curriculum Leader for Teachers

• PFHEA - Principal Fellow of Higher Education Academy
• FCIIS - Fellow of the Charted Institute for Cyber Security Professionals
• FBCS - Fellow of the Chartered Institute of IT (BCS)

• Apple Teacher
• Online Teaching : Creating Courses for Adult Learners, The Open University
• Social Engineering Awareness Course GCHQ/RedGoat
• Supplemental Instruction Supervisor PASS/SI
• mySAP ERP Instructor E-Business Software Integration

• Vasileiou, I. (2025), Cyber Workforce of the Future: A Call for Action on Skills, Taxonomy and National Alignment. White Paper published in collaboration with the Cyber Innovation All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), July 2025 - Imminent.

Current PhD supervision

As Director of Studies

• 2022       Mr Ahmed Al-Gailani, “Privacy on Banking systems using the Cloud”
• 2021           Ms Chandrima Rodrigo, “Personality and Character Traits that Influence an Internet User’s behaviour towards Cyber Crime”
• 2020           Mr Chirag Dattani, Impact of Internationalisation of UK HE on Learning Technologies
• 2018           Mr Craig Banyard, Learning Analytics: A Student perspective
• 2018           Ms Trudy Ward, Agile Methodologies for Medical Devices

As Supervisor

• 2018           Mr Zinnar Ghasm “A framework for tailored cyber security training.                “
• 2017           Mr Ganesh Manikandan “An ontology-based framework for measuring business value of smart data by considering impact of uncertainty on supply chain processes.”

Completed PhD supervision

• 2018           Dr Martin Dorigo “Visualising Structures of documents for visually impaired people.”
• 2016           Dr Eiman Almami “Managing the Semantics of Learning Environments to Accommodate Students with Differences inLearning.”

1. 2025 Cyber Local, Innovate UK £150,000
2. 2024 Cyber Local, Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT,UK) £76,000
3. 2024 Office for Students Wave 1 Degree Apprenticeships £315,000
4. 2023 DSIT/DFE Research into Qualifications Mapping in Digital and Cyber £10,000
5. 2022 Office for Students Capital Funding £5.8 million
6. 2022 LLEP/DCMS Digital Skills Partnership £95,000
7. 2021 Office for Students Short Courses Pilot Digital Skills £130,000
8. 2018 KTP Lead Academic: To develop a tool that manages medical device standard compliance for agile-style software development, £160,000
9. 2018 KTP Lead Academic: To develop a dynamic software analysis tool using large data to predict the impact of new chemicals and compounds upon the environment and to enable certification testing to be optimized, £160,000
10. 2017 Peer Assisted Learning for Mature students in STEM, Plymouth University, £2,500
11. 2011 Peer Assisted Learning Scheme (PALS), Plymouth University £25,000

HEIF £6,000

Editorial Board

1.     Consultant Editor: International Journal for e-Learning Society

Journal Reviewer

1. Journal of Cybersecurity Education, research and Practice 
2. Elsevier Heliyon
3. Elsevier Computers and Security
4. Emerald Information and Computer Security
5. Neural Computing and Applications Journal
6. Horizon Computer Science and Information Technology
7. Journal of Computer Science in Higher Education (JCHE)
8. Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education

Conference Committees and Reviewing

1. Conference Co-Chair CSTE 2021: The 3^rd International Conference on Computer Science And Technologies in Education, Beijing, China,  MAY 28-30, 2021
2. Programme Committee, ICIS2021: Association for Information Systems, June 2021
3. Programme Committee, WISE 14: The 14^th World Conference on Information Security Education, Online, June 2021
4. Programme Committee, CybET20021: Cybersecurity Issues in Emerging Technologies Edited Book
5. Programme Committee, LICE 2020: London international Conference on Education, London, UK, 23-25 November 2020
6. Reviewer, Societal Impact of IS Track in the International Conference on Information Systems, 2020
7.  Programme Committee, HAISA: 14th International Symposium on Human Aspects of Information Security and Assurance, Greece 8-10 July 2020
8. Technical Programme Committee, The 12^th International Conference in Education Technology and Computers (ICETC 2020), London, UK, October 23-26, 2020
9. Technical Programmed Committee, The Ninth International Conference on Database and Expert Systems Applications DEXA 2020, Linz, Germany, Slovakia, September 14-17, 2020
10. Technical Programmed Committee, The Ninth International Conference on Database and Expert Systems Applications DEXA 2019, Linz, Germany, Austria, August 26-29, 2019 
11. Programme Committee, The 12^th World Conference in Information Security Education WISE 2019, Lisbon, Portugal, June 25-27, 2019
12. Technical Programmed Committee, The Ninth International Conference on Database and Expert Systems Applications DEXA 2018, Regensburg, Germany, September 3-6, 2018 
13. Associate Editor, ECIS: European Conference on Information Systems, Portsmouth, UK, 23-28 June 2018
14. Reviewer, HAISA: 11th International Symposium on Human Aspects of Information Security and Assurance, Adelaide, Australia, 28-30 November 2017
15. Programme Committee, 28^th International Conference on Database Expert Systems Applications (DEXA), Lyon France, 28-31 August 2017
16. Technical Programmed Committee, The 8th International Conference on Information Technology in Education (CITE 2017) February 26 to 28, 2017 in Guilin, China
17. Programme Committee, 10th World Conference on Information Security Education (WISE 10), Rome Italy, 28-31 May 2017
18. Technical Programme Committee, The Ninth International Conference on Advances in Databases, Knowledge, and Data Applications DBKDA 2017, Barcelona, Spain, May 21 - 25, 2017

0000-0001-6174-3586

• "Return of the Resilience: Securing the Galaxy of Data”, Space Park Leicester, December 2025
• “Designing and Delivering Modular Learning”, Next Steps for the Lifelong Learning Entitlement, Westminster Higher Education Forum Policy, September 2025
• “Cyber Talent of the Future”, Panellist, Lancashire Cyber Festival, July 2025
• “Fostering a resilient and sustainable library”, Panellist at SCONUL Conference, Birmingham, November 2024
• “Strengthening Digital Resilience Building Collaborative Cyber Networks for the East Midlands Future”, Leiceaster Business Festival, November 2024
• “Bridging the Skills Gap”, Panel, International Cyber Expo, September 2024
• Transforming Educational Experiences in Digital Apprenticeships (TEEDA), Keynote Speaker, July 2024
• “Supply Chains: Balancing efficiency and resilience”, SASIG, Oxford Brookes May 2024
• “Empowering SMEs: Secure by Design for a Resilient Future.”, National Cyber Security Show, May 2024 
• “Unlocking Cyber Excellence: Nurturing Cyber Skills, Heightening Awareness, and Embracing Human Factors in the Meta Discipline of Cybersecurity”, University of Bath, March 2024
• “CyberConnect: Where IT Meets everyone”, Leicestershire Innovation Festival, February 2024
• “Threshold Concepts: Social and Economic Impact”, at “Cybersecurity in small businesses: impact, incentives and supply chains" event by Oxford Brookes University, RISCS and SASIG, November 2023
• 10.“Cyber as a Meta-Discipline: Education, Awareness, Training”, University of Ioannina, Greece, September 2023
• “Short Courses: Evaluating the pilot study”, Universities UK, December 2022
• “Embedding Digital Skills across disciplines”, University of Ioannina, Greece, November 2022
• “Cyber Cluster”, Digital Upscaler East Midlands, October 2022
• “Digital Talent”, Digital Upscaler East Midlands, October 2022
• "Building your career: From tools to certifications”, University of Ioannina, Greece, November 2021
• “Online environments for assessment – what’s next? Flexible and adaptable approaches to current methods of assessment” EdTech Digital and Learning, November 2021
• “Student Experience: The impact of Digital Transformation and the sense of Place in Education”, UCISA, October 2021
• “Exploring Pathways in Tech” Panellist, WISE Campaign 
• “Social Engineering”, GCHQ Top Secret: Late, Manchester Science Museum August 2021
• “The true meaning of Digital Transformation: Learning Environment vs Tech”, UCISA, May 2021
• “Cybersecurity Training and Awareness for the HE Sector”, UCISA, May 2021
• “Digital Transformation in Higher Education: Revolution or Evolution?”, Innovating Higher Education: The Digital Education Virtual Conference, May 18 2021
• “Focused pedagogy: How should Higher Education look like in the post covid era?”, Keynote Speaker, Ireland International Conference on Education, Ireland, 27-29 April 2021
• “BAME Professors” Panel Discussion, Decolonising DMU, De Montfort University, February 2021
• “Digital Transformation in Higher Education”, University of Ioannina, January 2021
• “Managing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion” University of Nottingham, November 2020
• “The Gender gap in Research”, Early Career Research Group at University of Birmingham, November 2020
• “Digital Transformation in Higher Education: National and International Education from the Living Room”, OEB: Shaping the Future of Learning, Germany, December 2020
• “A Global crisis transforming Teaching from didactic to Online overnight”, LICE 2020, London 23-25 November 2020
• “Women in Leadership”, Digital Women, Institute of Coding, August 2020
• Round Table Facilitator at “If Not Now, When” Conference, WHEN, July 2020
• “Challenging EDI Governance”, De Montfort University, March 2020."Social Engineering and the importance for IT Professionals”, University of Wolverhampton, October 2019
• 34.“diversITy – Promoting e-skills training for a diverse tech workforce”, Expert Panellist, London October 2018
• 35.“Social Engineering”, Workshop, Secure South West, Plymouth February 2018
• 36.“Peer Learning in STEM”, Workshop, RAISE Conference, Manchester September 2017
• 37.“Diversity in Tech: Recruitment, Resilience, Retention”, Invited Panellist Bristol July 2017
• 38.“Peer Learning in STEM”, Workshop, European Forum of Peer Learning, Lund June 2017
• 39.“Unconscious Bias: Confronting the Stereotypes”, TEDx Plymouth, March 2017 
• 40.Unconscious Bias Training for ICE South West, December 2016
• 41.“The Geek culture, social interaction and flipped classroom”, VC’s Teaching and Learning Conference, Plymouth, June 2016
• 42.“People Like Me: Confronting Stereotypes”, VC’s Teaching and Learning Conference, Plymouth, June 2016
• 43.‘Pink or Blue: Confronting the Stereotypes’ Invited talk for Go4SET Awards event, Plymouth UK, May 2016
• 44.‘Empowering STEM’ Invited talk for Go4SET Launch event, Plymouth UK, February 2016
• 45.“The Geek Culture and Peer Learning”, VC’s Teaching and Learning Conference, Plymouth, June 2015
• 46.Invited Keynote Speaker, STEM Awards, Plymouth UK, 21 May 2015.
• 47.“Women in STEM: Career Progression”, Women in STEM event part of the British Science Week at PlymouthUniversity, 20 March 2015
• 48.“Women in IT”, invited talk, Bedfordshire BCS Student Chapter, Luton UK, February 2015.
• 49.Invited Keynote Speaker, Women in STEM, Plymouth UTC UK, December 2014.

• East Midlands Cyber Summit, Fdebruary 2026
• Industrial Cadets STEM Week, Cyber Day, 25^th November 2020
• Women in STEM: Inspiring the next generations, 23^rd March 2017, Plymouth, UK
• Women in STEM: Celebrating Women in Science and Engineering, 10^th March 2016, Plymouth University
• ‘Celebrating International Women’s Day’, Plymouth, UK, 8^th March 2016.
• BCSWomen, App-A-Thon Guinness World Record Attempt Coding Event, Plymouth, UK, 13^th June 2015
• BCS South West Branch, “Women in IT”, 19^th March 2015
• Workshop on “Requirements Analysis” for Plymouth UTC students, Plymouth, UK, 23^rd January 2015