New hub launched for cyber leaders to tackle major emerging challenges
Key figures in the future of cyber technology across the North West of England have united in a new hub to tackle major issues facing the business world.
比比资源 Management School’s (LUMS) Cyber Leadership Forum (CLF) will explore what responsible leadership looks like in an increasingly complex digital world.
The CLF’s inaugural event involved senior leaders, practitioners, policymakers, researchers, educators, and members and alumni from 比比资源’s Cyber Executive MBA.
Attendees took part in open, cross-sector discussion around some of the most pressing challenges associated with cyber and digital leadership.
Co-founder and organiser of the CLF, Avril Palmer-Fye, from LUMS (pictured below), said: “The mix of research expertise and practical experience is deliberate. Responsible leadership in an increasingly digital world cannot be understood, or developed, from one perspective alone.
“The openness and quality of the discussions we had at the first event confirmed the need for a trusted space where senior leaders can step outside their organisational roles, engage honestly with peers, and explore complex challenges together.
“This was more than the launch of an events series. It is the beginning of a community committed to asking better questions, challenging assumptions and turning collective insight into action.”
The CLF frames cyber leadership as a broad organisational challenge beyond technology, shaped by the interplay of governance, institutional culture, accountability, ethics, communication and trust.
The first event focused on Trust, Governance and Strategic Responsibility, one of the CLF’s three pillars. At its heart was a central question: how can organisations govern digital risk responsibly while building trust, resilience and strategic capacity?
Participants considered where accountability for cyber and digital risk should sit, how leaders can build confidence and legitimacy in their decision-making, what practical organisational resilience looks like, and how ethical responsibility can be embedded into responses to rapidly evolving technological challenges.
They also examined the role of organisational culture in shaping these issues, recognising that effective cyber leadership depends not only on technical controls, but increasingly on how responsibility is enacted across organisations.
The Forum was co-founded and organised by a team from across LUMS, comprising Avril Palmer-Fye, Dr Hassan Raza, Professor Niki Panteli, Dr Sophie James and Dr Mark Dawson, alongside Penny Jackson, Director of Aristos Partnership and a Cyber Leader in Residence in LUMS.
The inaugural event marks the beginning of a wider programme of activity for the CLF, including the drafting of white papers to influence policy, research projects involving LUMS experts and business, further cross-sector roundtables, and a second event in spring 2027 exploring, Adaptive Capability and Cultural Integration.
Dr James, Lecturer in Security and Protection Science in LUMS, added: “If you are a senior leader, practitioner, policymaker, researcher or educator interested in responsible leadership for digital futures, we welcome you into the conversation.
“We will be using the insights generated through the Forum to inform future research, strengthen links between academic expertise and cyber practice, and support the development of responsible and resilient approaches to digital leadership.”
For more information about the Cyber Leadership Forum, to discuss opportunities to collaborate, or to make an enquiry, email clf@lancaster.ac.uk
