Re-Fresher Workshops

The world continues to turn and swirl and “cyber” continues to be a hot topic. 
 
In this session, Managing Director of Net-Defence, Debra Cairns, will cover 3 key areas in cyber security: an introduction to cyber security and cyber risk, passwords, and immediate recommended actions. 
Looking to avoid fear in the industry and offer best practices, Debra will tackle a frequently asked question by both businesses and individuals, ‘What is cyber?’, and dive into the different types of attacks and levels of risk.  
 
Following this introduction to cyber security, Debra offers recommended actions in five key areas:  
 
Backup & recovery  
Cyber attacks  
Smartphone and tablet protection  
Passwords  
Phishing attacks  
 
These actions apply to individuals as well as organisations big and small to reduce risk and ensure infrastructure security.  
 
To round up the session, Debra will be focusing on passwords, an element of cyber security that impacts everyone, and highlighting best practices as well as what to avoid when selecting passwords for business and personal use.

Speaker: Debra Cairns – Managing Director, Net-Defence

Before joining Net-Defence, Debra worked for multinational consumer goods corporation, Proctor & Gamble (P&G), gaining over 19 years of finance and IT experience that Debra has brought to her current role. From 2018 onwards, Debra has worked for Net-Defence, and in 2020 stepped into the role as Managing Director, building a team of skilled professionals, focusing on what is right for the business and the client and keeping resilience front of mind. Looking to avoid selling fear, Debra is passionate about simplifying cyber security to educate businesses on best practices and emerging threats, ensuring support is affordable, attainable, and available for all.

This workshop is all about helping you to understand today's job market and how to stand out. We'll cover what's hot in the job scene, what challenges you might face, and how you can make the most of opportunities out there. We'll talk about things like finding your niche, making connections that count, and crafting a personal brand around that.

Speaker: Emily Moffat (History 2018) – Head of Talent, Basecamp Talent and Fearless Adventures 

After graduating from Newcastle University 2018, Emily went to work internally at a technology recruitment agency, hiring across the US and UK. She was approached by Dominic McGregor, Founder of Social Chain, after building a 20,000 strong following on LinkedIn to be part of the founding team at venture capital fund Fearless Adventures. Soon after starting there, and hiring for their investment portfolio, she launched Basecamp Talent along with her founders to support other startups to scaleups with their hiring.

Taking the vantage point of an election year, this workshop will look at Britain's place in the world, applying both historic and more recent context. It will consider challenges both external - Europe, Ukraine, Israel/Palestine, China - and internal: a government elected on a mandate to withdraw Britain from the EU, but defined thereafter by instability, and an opposition party which has shifted dramatically in foreign policy terms in the space of a parliament, 2024 is, moreover, also an election year for Britain's closest ally, the outcome of which may be the return of President Trump.

Speaker: Speaker: Martin Farr - Senior Lecturer in Contemporary British History, Newcastle University 

With degrees in politics and history, Martin Farr teaches and researches contemporary history: the history of the present. He's broadcast and published widely, including books and articles on the First and Second world wars; British politics, parties, and elections; the media, US-UK relations, foreign and defence policy, popular culture, Margaret Thatcher, and tourism. He's been particularly engaged with the Russia-Ukraine, and the Israel-Gaza, wars, in 2024 as the global year of elections - and in British responses to them, both popular and official.

There is a lot of excitement and hype surrounding Generative AI, including Large Language Models such as ChatGPT. Discover how Generative Artificial Intelligence can democratise knowledge access by enabling new text, graphics and movies to be created through a natural language interface. We will illustrate this with practical, business applications drawn from our experience in the National Innovation Centre for Data’s projects with companies and the public sector. This will include the real-world impacts but also the very real hurdles to implementing business solutions using this rapidly evolving technology

Speakers: Professor Paul Watson and Dr. Mac Misiura

Paul Watson FREng FBCS CEng is Director of the UK's National Innovation Centre for Data and Professor of Computer Science at Newcastle University. He began his career at Manchester University before moving to industry. In 1995 he joined Newcastle University where his research and teaching has focussed on scalable data engineering. Professor Watson is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the British Computer Society. He received the 2014 Microsoft Jim Gray eScience Award. 
 
Dr. Maciej Misiura is a Data Scientist at the National Innovation Centre for Data, with a background in statistics and machine learning. Specialising in Generative Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing (NLP), he brings a pragmatic approach to solving complex business challenges for a diverse clientele, ranging from start-ups to FTSE 100 corporations. His most recent client projects focused on leveraging state-of-the-art large language models to automate and accelerate the process of extracting insights from documents. His practical experience in the field of GenAI and NLP makes him an invaluable asset in driving innovation and success.

With new channels constantly thrown into the social mix and trends for content and audiences shifting weekly are you really sure you’re on the right channels to create the biggest impact for your brand in 2024?  

With so many social media channels and so little time, it’s important to put your time (and money) into the channels that will bring the best results and where you can prove the successes.   

During this workshop, O.agency Managing Director, Kirsty Ostell, and Emma Roberts, Data and Insight Lead, will discuss how to get your social right in 2024. You will learn:

•  How the traditional channels are changing and what the new and emerging social platforms can offer your business  
• How to create an authentic brand on social which is genuine to your business   
• Where your audience is and how to reach them     
• How artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping how businesses engage with their audiences
• The importance of understanding social influencers in your industry and how to tap into them

Speakers: Kirtsy Ostell – Managing Director, and Emma Roberts, Data and Insight Lead, O Agency

Kirsty leads strategic marketing at O, bringing over 16 years of experience both in house and in agency to clients across the corporate and consumer sectors. Kirsty is an expert in helping businesses to future-proof their strategic marketing plans and loves working with a range of clients to help them to achieve their goals and make a serious, measurable impact with their marketing.

 
Emma is one of O's corporate account managers and is experienced in agency-side integrated marketing for international organisations within the tech, property and professional services spaces. With a background in copywriting for press, advertising and online channels, Emma makes sure that all communications are aligned with your brand and strategic direction. As a CIM member, Emma actively implements the latest marketing innovations within her client’s activities, positioning them at the forefront of their industries. 

Workshop focusing on techniques to promote self-care including kindness, self-compassion, and gratitude. Join this experiential interactive session combining theory and practical exercises to: 
 
- Understand what mindfulness is  
- Understand the importance of self-care 
- Understand the emotional regulation system and its impact on health and wellbeing 
- Learn mindfulness meditation techniques to soothe and reduce the effects of stress

Speaker: Mark Sidney – Mindful Therapies

Mark Sidney is a distinguished Leadership and Performance Coach, and trainer, holding a BA (Hons) in Psychology and Sociology from the University of Leeds. With an unwavering passion for understanding human behaviour, Mark has woven mindfulness into his life and career since the early 1980s, developing a steadfast meditation practice from 2012. Mark is an accredited mindfulness teacher, authorized to teach the Mindfulness Based Living Course and Workplace MT, demonstrating his commitment to spreading mindfulness principles. His qualifications also include an Advanced Diploma in Leadership and Performance Coaching from Northumbria University, Yoga Teacher Certification, and a qualification to teach in the lifelong learning sector.