Dundee secondary school pupils have been set the challenge of designing the award for the winner of Abertay University’s First of the Firsts competition to find the institute’s top change-maker.
The launch of the world’s first Ethical Hacking degree scooped the tightly-fought poll, picking up 22% of the 600 votes cast.
Pupils are now being given the opportunity to create the real-life prize that will be handed to the winner, with a June 5 deadline for hand-drawn or computer-generated submissions.
The winning design will be selected by a panel of Abertay 25 project team members and figures from within the ethical hacking community before being made into a plaque and displayed in the university reception.
Abertay launched its Ethical Hacking degree in 2006, and the course has gone on to become internationally-renowned.
Graduates are in high demand and several have gone on to work for GCHQ, the Government Communications Headquarters.
Students from the course also launched Securitay, Europe’s largest student-run information security conference.
Abertay archivist Ruaraidh Wishart said: “We hope that this competition will help occupy pupils as they stay at home. It will give them the chance to design something that will be turned into a real-life plaque, which is quite exciting.
“I’m absolutely delighted at the response we’ve had to the First of the Firsts vote, and I would like to thank everyone who participated in the initial poll.”
Abertay’s First of the Firsts is part of Abertay 25: Dundee’s Change-makers – Our Contribution to Technology and Industry, a two-year project funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
