On the 15th April, Security Lancaster brought members together for our annual Away Day: a focused, action‑oriented day designed to strengthen collaboration across disciplines and help members connect research ideas to practical opportunities for impact. Security Lancaster exists to catalyse interdisciplinary security research and engagement, and the Away Day provided a structured space to take stock of progress, surface new collaboration, and agree concrete next steps for the year ahead.

Scene Setting

The day opened with scene setting from Profs. Dan Prince and Basil Germond (Co‑Directors), reflecting on Security Lancaster’s aims and the value we add by enabling collaboration across disciplinary and departmental boundaries to respond to the rapidly evolving security environment defined by “strategic acceleration” regarding geopolitics, technology and climate. This framing established a clear set of expectations for the day: generous engagement and a practical focus on actions and commitments.

A morning focused on momentum: showcasing our themes and how to get involved

The highlight of the morning was a set of short presentations from our Research Theme Leads, who shared what each theme has delivered over the past year and, crucially, outlined clear pathways for involvement. This showcased what Security Lancaster does and made it easier for members to connect with themes through projects, workshops, collaborative writing, and grant development:

• Polycrisis
• Boundaries of Being
• Trust and Truth
• The New World (Dis) Order
• Critical Supply Chain Resilliance

The "Theme Market"

To accelerate connections, the Away Day opened with a “Theme Market”, organised around eight tables designed to make it easy for colleagues to find the right conversation quickly, whether joining an existing theme, exploring the Unsecurities Lab, or developing new, emergent ideas. This format created an informal, welcoming environment for colleagues to discover shared interests early in the day and quickly identify where they could contribute.

This environment prompted participants to move beyond general conversation toward specific collaboration opportunities. By late morning, the value of this approach was clear: it helped us consolidate and clarify Security Lancaster’s strengths across the whole community, while also enabling a constructive conversation about gaps and under‑represented areas that members would like to develop further.

The 1-Minute Professor Market

A second highlight of the morning was the 1‑Minute Professor Market, featuring eight professors who delivered concise presentations on (i) how they understand today’s security challenges, (ii) what they are working on, and (iii) what they are looking for, whether collaborators, methodological input, partners, or help developing new directions.

The outcome was a fast‑moving, highly practical exercise: colleagues left with a sharper understanding of expertise across Security Lancaster and clearer routes to collaboration and support consistent with Security Lancaster’s aim to build interdisciplinary connections that translate into impactful research.

From reflection to action: developing emergent areas in the afternoon

The afternoon shifted from mapping strengths to actively building next steps, via a 90‑minute working session across four tracks:

joining and strengthening existing themes

• building a new emergent area
• sprinting a mini‑grant / bid concept note
• senior engagement slots to accelerate idea development and cross‑connection

These sessions were designed to produce tangible outcomes: commitments, ownership, and near‑term actions, so that promising ideas can move quickly from discussion to delivery.

A clear outcome: momentum toward a new theme in cyber security

A key conclusion emerging from the day’s discussions was the need to develop a new research theme focused on cyber security and systems security. This reflected both the gaps identified through the morning’s mapping of current strengths and a strong appetite across part of the community to expand Security Lancaster’s work in this area.

The Away Day therefore served its central purpose: bringing the community together to consolidate what we do well, identify where we should grow, and begin shaping the structures that will help us do so.

Get involved

Security Lancaster thrives when members translate shared interests into shared work. If you would like to join an existing theme, contribute to an emergent area, or explore collaboration through workshops or grant development, please visit our Research Themes page and connect with the relevant leads: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/security-lancaster/research/themes/

Key Outputs from the Away Day

• Identified collaboration opportunities within and across each theme, including routes to participate via projects, workshops, and bid development.
• Accelerated cross‑department connections through the Theme Market, structured networking, and the 1‑Minute Professor format, making expertise and “asks” visible and actionable.
• Set clear next steps toward an emergent cyber and system security theme, building on the day’s gap‑mapping and community priorities.

Professor Basil Germond (Co‑Director) said: “The Away Day helped us make our strengths visible across the community and created a practical route from ideas to action, including clear momentum toward an emergent cyber and systems security research theme.”