Abertay's Economic partnership

Universal partners: this partnership supports Scotland’s economic growth.

The Abertay cyberQuarter is an £18 million centre within Abertay University dedicated to advancing cybersecurity research, development, and innovation for the cybersecurity sector. As a collaborative hub, the cyberQuarter’s primary goals are to strengthen technical problem-solving, foster industry-academic partnerships, and create pathways into cybersecurity careers.

Current partners include Police Scotland, Systal Technology Solutions Ltd, Cyber and Fraud Centre Scotland, NHS National Services Scotland, Scottish Government, Cyber Scotland, Techscaler, Scottish Social Services Council, Lugo IT, The Care Inspectorate, Smart Net Zero, ScotlandIS, and NCR Atleos.

Recognised as a UK National Cyber Security Centre Gold Level Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Education, Abertay University exemplifies high-quality, industry-relevant cybersecurity education.

The Centre also houses specialised laboratories for cutting-edge research and practical training including the Malware Analysis Laboratory, which is Scotland’s first dedicated national facility for the secure analysis of malicious software. Abertay is home to the  Human Aspects Laboratory which investigates the human role in the digital world of cybersecurity, as user behaviour is a key component to the success of phishing emails, online scams and the ever-increasing challenge of telling real images apart from deepfakes.

Abertay’s expertise in digital forensics proved invaluable to Police Scotland as part of a recent murder investigation, where the University’s new techniques for identifying and extracting logged information within Apple’s iOS Health Application formed part of the evidence in a novel first within Scotland.

The centre is committed to inclusive growth, offering targeted training for underrepresented groups, military leaders, wider civic engagement and digital skills development programmes in schools. A recent partnership between the cyberQuarter, Civic Digits and the Scottish Government, to bring The Big Data Show to Dundee, engaged with every P7 pupil in the city and resulted in 600 children earning an SCQF Level 3 in Cyber Resilience & Digital Citizenship.