As part of the ongoing activities within the LEAD-AI Erasmus+ project, targeted survey initiatives are playing a critical role in shaping our upcoming educational outputs. Recently, the LEAD-AI team had the valuable opportunity to engage directly with a specialized group of cybersecurity professionals, consisting of key partners or alumni from Halmstad University in Sweden.
This collaborative effort focused on gathering stakeholder recommendations to ensure the project’s training materials are directly aligned with real-world industry demands. The engagement began with an initial survey questionnaire, successfully completed by 20 expert participants who shared their initial insights and strategic recommendations for the development of the LEAD-AI project.
However, the initiative extended far beyond structured data collection, as the LEAD-AI team engaged in interactive exchanges with the participants. These discussions provided a platform to explore professional expectations regarding the upcoming LEAD-AI training programme, exchange unique industry perspectives, and receive immediate, practical feedback. Adding this important dimension allowed the team to deepen its understanding of specific target group needs while significantly boosting the motivation to deliver highly tailored training modules.
Key insights from the field
Several crucial trends and takeaways emerged from these interactive sessions with the cybersecurity professionals:
- The power of practical application: participants strongly emphasized the necessity of hands-on experimentation. For AI training to be effective in high-stakes environments like cybersecurity, theoretical knowledge must be backed by practical, applied exercises.
- A focus on AI ethics: ethical considerations regarding the deployment and use of AI were identified as a critical, non-negotiable component of any future training framework.
- Addressing knowledge and workload variances: the discussions highlighted a significant variation in prior AI knowledge levels among professionals. Additionally, participants raised valid concerns regarding workplace workload and the substantial time commitment required to build meaningful competence before AI tools can be safely and effectively implemented.
Crucially, the practical feedback gathered from Halmstad University is already actively driving the work of the project consortium. These insights establish a balanced learning framework while grounding our Generative AI modules in practical labs and ethical considerations from the very start. Ultimately, this collaborative input ensures that the final curriculum remains highly relevant, actionable, and resilient against the fast-evolving realities of real-world cybersecurity operations.