The National CyberWatch Center is seeking 2023-24 Cybersecurity Capabilities and Careers Symposia proposals. Please watch this page for additional announcements of the 3CS regions accepting proposals. You may submit a proposal for a region that is not listed below, and your proposal will be considered an early-bird submission that is eligible for stipends and registration discounts. Each 3CS begins with an invitation-only event for session organizers. The first 3CS session Proposal Development Workshop (PDW) for a 3CS event will be followed by the public event four to six months later.
COMING SOON
- Region 3: Mid-Atlantic (March 2025)
- Region 1 & 2: Northeast (April 2025)
- Region 4: Southeast (May 2025)
- Region 7 & 8: Midwest
- Region 10: Northwest
Proposers of sessions for upcoming regional or national 3CS are encouraged to submit a brief abstract of their session idea. The lead author of an accepted session proposal will receive a $200 participation stipend and a travel stipend of up to $650 for regional 3CS events and up to $2,100 for the National 3CS based on distance from the workshop venue.
The session leader for accepted proposals will be invited to attend a 3CS Session Proposal Development Workshop. Cybersecurity Capabilities and Careers Symposia (3CS) sessions explore or document innovative ideas, evidence-based practices, and demonstration of techniques and technologies for raising the capability maturity of the cybersecurity workforce. Please refer to the Call for Session Proposals for further details on the dates, times, and locations.
Session leaders receive guidance from experienced session presenters and facilitators during a one-day 3CS Session Proposal Development Workshop. Workshop mentors receive a travel stipend up to $650 for regional events and up to $2,100 for the National 3CS based on distance from the workshop venue. All workshop mentors are recognized as a Fellow of the Cyber Ready G-Force -- the generating force raising cybersecurity capabilities and career readiness.
OBSERVERS WELCOME: Want to learn how to develop a successful conference, grant, or publication proposal? If you do not have a session idea ready to present, you can attend the workshop as an observer for only $25.
SESSION TYPES
Dialogues (Focus Groups): A Dialogue is an exchange of ideas between experts and stakeholders, facilitated by the session moderator, highlighting different points of view, experiences, and expertise on a problem or area related to cybersecurity practices, including designing, developing, evaluating, learning, teaching, or performing cybersecurity roles and functions. The goal of a Dialogue is to discover common themes and ideas for a future systematic study that will provide evidence related to the opinions expressed by a contributor to the Dialogue. These proposals should discuss specific challenges and persistent problems related to cybersecurity education and issues of raising the capability maturity in the cybersecurity workforce. The proposal for a Dialogue session must include a list of questions the moderator will pose to the attendees.
Evidence-Based Practices: Refers to methods or interventions that data shows to be effective or ineffective in achieving a specific outcome. The goal is to improve outcomes by using interventions that have been proven to be effective through rigorous research and avoid those that evidence suggests are ineffective, rather than relying on intuition or tradition. Example proposals could include:
- How the project/program impacts individual competence development or organizational effectiveness.
- Evidence that teaching or the cybersecurity practices included in a curriculum actually work.
The Evidence-Based Practice Session proposal should list which of the following types of evidence will be presented:
- Theory or Essay: Make claims and supporting statements without conducting a study
- Expert opinion or (selective) qualitative literature review: A narrative listing/evaluation of information (opinion or publication) backing a claim.
- Case study or uncontrolled observation: A narrative description of evidence to back a claim from a detailed study in one setting.
- Case comparison or meta-synthesis (systematic review): A narrative synthesis of evidence from multiple settings that backs a claim.
- Retrospective (cross-sectional) cohort study: One-time measure of others’ opinions using a survey or other observation to obtain correlations.
- Prospective (longitudinal) cohort study: Repeated measure of others’ opinions using a survey or other observation to obtain correlations.
- Quasi- or non-randomized experiment: Selectively sampled measure of predictive relationships in a natural setting using statistical controls to obtain direct and indirect effects from a model comparison.
- Randomized controlled experimental study: Randomly sampled measure of predictive relationships in a controlled experimental setting to obtain difference scores.
- Meta-analysis: A quantitative synthesis of evidence to produce corrected correlations (p) of predicted relationships.
- Demonstrations: Technical demonstrations are events or activities where a product, technology, technique, or system is demonstrated to the Symposia attendees. These demonstrations are usually used to showcase the capabilities and features of the technology or technique, and to provide a hands-on experience for the audience.
Demonstrations: Technical demonstrations are events or activities where a product, technology, technique, or system is demonstrated to the Symposia attendees. These demonstrations are usually used to showcase the capabilities and features of the technology or technique, and to provide a hands-on experience for the audience.
Talent Fair Booth: Students or transitioning workers who wish to participate in the Talent Fair may submit a rough draft or outline of the materials they would like to present to employers in a Talent Fair booth. During a 3CS Talent Fair, job candidates are provided a trifold poster board where they display artifacts that demonstrate their job readiness. One of these artifacts is the results of the Raise the BAR assessment that the student will complete at the 3CS event.
Have questions? Contact us at info@nationalcyberwatch.org.