Meet the women in CONCORDIA
Gabi Dreo
Executive Director of RI CODE,
Chair of Communication Systems and Network Security at Bundeswehr University Munich
Coordinator of CONCORDIA
DIVERSITY BRINGS BENEFITS
“As threats become more diverse, also teams that defend against them need to be diverse. It is crucial to overcome this lack of diversity in the cybersecurity talent pool. Women can and have to contribute with their intellectual curiosity, their unconventional thinking, and engagement. If we have only around 25% of women in the cyber workforce so far, it is now time to increase this number.”
Elena Ferrari
Professor at University of Insubria
Member of the Management Board
DIVERSITY BRINGS BENEFITS
“Addressing the significant problems of the world—from climate change to pervasive health care – will involve cybersec. By working on this field you can improve our society and make everyone daily life better. We really need women contribution to make our world more secure…don’t miss the opportunity of joining such an amazing and creative field!”
Felicia CUTAS
Project Lead at EIT Digital
Member of the Management Board, Work-package leader, Task leader
DIVERSITY BRINGS BENEFITS
“Investing in developing cybersecurity related skills will always pay-off. Dare to stand and develop a career in the field.”
Argyro Chatzopoulou
Project Manager, Consultant
Task Leader
DIVERSITY BRINGS BENEFITS
“Every organization needs to prepare against cyber threats, and in order to do this, they need Cyber Defenders. Cyber Defenders are knowledgeable and experienced people (men and women) working together without prejudice towards the common goal of Cybersecurity.”
Cora Perner
Cybersecurity Aeronautics Architect
Task leader
DIVERSITY BRINGS BENEFITS
“To successfully develop a secure product, it is necessary that people for a variety of different backgrounds come together, contribute their knowledge and collaborate. The more diverse a team is, the better results it will yield! And after all, humans use their brain to think… “
Dimitra Stefanatou
Senior Legal Counsel
Task co-leader
DIVERSITY BRINGS BENEFITS
“The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights provides for gender equality and non-discrimination. For those women, however, who decide -and manage- to join a male dominated field such as cybersecurity, positioning themselves within a working environment can be a challenge on a daily basis. Speaking about “Women in Cybersecurity’’ is, thus, far beyond an abstract idea. It reflects a tangible need to increase female quota and to provide for equal opportunities -and treatment- for women, also, in the field of cybersecurity. Systematic promotion of female role models could contribute to the change of perceptions and the mitigation of imbalances.”
Anja Majstorovic
R&D Team leader
CONCORDIA Participant
DIVERSITY BRINGS BENEFITS
“Women can bring way more on the table than just a pretty face. By joining the fields of cybersecurity, we bring new levels of creativity, networking, and our intuition. Let’s contribute together and built a better cyber society! The future is now!”
Despoina Antonakaki
Postdoc at FORTH
CONCORDIA participant
DIVERSITY BRINGS BENEFITS
“Cybersecurity is about guarding our privacy, financial transactions and social life. Protecting it should be the cornerstone activity of our society. It requires intellect, passion and devotion. It requires women.”
Georgia Anousaki
Cybersecurity Officer
CONCORDIA participant
DIVERSITY BRINGS BENEFITS
“In a world with no limits, where the real merges with the virtual, cybersecurity is a priority and a concern for everyone. This is a cross-sectoral field, where a plurality of skills is required. Women, being natural multi taskers and always thinking in and out of the box, are just what this field needs.”
Eygenia Tsaprali
Cybersecurity Officer
CONCORDIA participant
DIVERSITY BRINGS BENEFITS
“Cybersecurity, a field embracing a wide range of careers and stakeholders, needs diversity in gender, age, educational background and professional expertise. A model enhanced with more female roles is, undoubtedly, a step to this direction. Diversity drives innovation, productivity and leads to a better organizational culture. Cybersecurity is a culture, after all. “
Denise Tsaouselou
Cybersecurity Officer
CONCORDIA participant
DIVERSITY BRINGS BENEFITS
“Cybersecurity is a field, where gender equality is not yet a reality. My wish is for more women to join this sector, as it offers many interesting challenges for professionals of any background.”
Lili Nemec Zlatolas
Assistant Professor
CONCORDIA participant
DIVERSITY BRINGS BENEFITS
“An interdisciplinary field such as cybersecurity requires a variety of technical and soft skills. Reducing the gender gap will facilitate further innovation and awareness in cybersecurity. “
Jihane Najar
PhD candidate at TU-BS
CONCORDIA participant
DIVERSITY BRINGS BENEFITS
“It is important to close the cybersecurity gender gap! Cybersecurity doesn’t require innate magical abilities. Women can excel in any subject especially in cybersecurity. They are great at multitasking and pay great attention to details.”
Daniela Friedl
Project Manager
CONCORDIA participant
DIVERSITY BRINGS BENEFITS
“To think and live gender & diversity always means to optimize project management, specify goals and focus on user benefits – so let’s increase the share of women in ICT and benefit from the positive effect on projects in the field of security. “
Stephanie Jakoubi
Project Manager, Strategic Innovation & Communication
CONCORDIA participant
DIVERSITY BRINGS BENEFITS
“Security is a diverse and interdisciplinary field of research. It is important to emphasize that diversity and interdisciplinarity in general make a major contribution to finding new approaches – let’s replace the image of the white-haired male researcher.”
Johanna Ullrich
Key Researcher
CONCORDIA participant
DIVERSITY BRINGS BENEFITS
“To make equality visible, we need to motivate and support young female researchers. It’s important for young women to gain new experiences and acquire new knowledge – be curious, never stop asking questions, pursue new adventures and discover new things.”
Tatjana Welzer
Head of Laboratory for Data Technologies, full professor
CONCORDIA participant
DIVERSITY BRINGS BENEFITS
“Interdisciplinarity is leading in all fields of life and research including Cybersecurity. Besides technical cybersecurity experts, managerial and soft skills are needed as well. Besides man team members, women and girls with their energy, knowledge and experiences are needed. It should be our mission to motivate and support young girls and women on their way in the Cybersecurity equality world. Unfortunately, equality is still too often just a word on the paper independent on environment, culture, country or business.”
Tanja Pavleska
Researcher at the Laboratory for Open Systems and Networks
CONCORDIA participant
DIVERSITY BRINGS BENEFITS
“The widespread digitization and the continuous embedding of cyber-components into all aspects of human life not only requires inclusiveness and equality, but it demands diversity to be embedded in every step of that inclusion – from planning to raising awareness. Women not only contribute to that diversity, but they themselves possess a set of soft and diverse skills evolved to meet an inclusive cyber-future.”
Živa Stepančič
Researcher at the Laboratory for Open Systems and Networks
CONCORDIA participant
DIVERSITY BRINGS BENEFITS
“Different point of views and diversity of approaches facilitate better understanding, development and growth. To do so safely and securely in the physical and digital environment ensures a higher quality of life.”
Martina Šestak
Researcher and teaching assistant
CONCORDIA participant
DIVERSITY BRINGS BENEFITS
“Throughout the history, a number of women has proven their capabilities by being the first in their field. Why would the cybersecurity field be any different? Women’s creative minds, perseverance and skills can certainly help fight back cybercriminals. Join our forces in building even more secure systems of the future!”
Han Wang
PhD Researcher in CyberSecurity Lab
CONCORDIA participant
DIVERSITY BRINGS BENEFITS
“No one can determine what a woman can do. Woman’s capability is unlimited and beyond imagination which can direct cybersecurity toward success.”
Anna Sperotto
Associate Professor
CONCORDIA participant
DIVERSITY BRINGS BENEFITS
“In a field as complex as Cybersecurity, a multidisciplinary approach and teamwork is the only way to obtain effective solutions. More diverse teams lead to more and better ideas. Women have a lot to contribute to the field of Cybersecurity! Join in!”
Anum Khurshid
PhD Researcher in IoT Security
CONCORDIA participant
DIVERSITY BRINGS BENEFITS
“The variance of perspective that women provide due to their capability to work through a mesh of data to identify the interconnecting threads, is exactly what we need in Cybersecurity.”