Laurea’s expat and technocrat Paresh Rathod chairs the fourth term in the European Cybersecurity Organisation

Paresh Rathod, who is working as a senior lecturer and research-innovation expat in Laurea’s Business Information Technology studies taught in English, has been elected and appointed fourth time in the European Cyber Security Organisation (ECSO), Brussels. Mr. Rathod chairs a working group on education, training, awareness and cyber ranges. 

ECSO is the organisation responsible for implementing the EU’s cyber security research programme. It has operated since 2016. The organisation’s aim is to develop a European cybersecurity ecosystem, and its members include leading companies, organisations, public administration bodies and higher education institutions in the sector. ECSO has a total of 266 EU members, out of which 139 members are part of working group and almost 300 individual experts. Mr. Rathod will serve as a chairman of this working group.

- ECSO plays a key role in the preparation of the EU’s operating principles and legislation. For example, ECSO was involved in the preparation of the European Cyber Security Strategy published in 2017, says Rathod.

Rathod, who has worked at Laurea since 2008, considers Laurea’s participation in the activities of European network such as ECSO as extremely valuable. These development activities are also contributing towards Finland’s vision 2030.

- At the moment, Laurea is involved in highly remarkable EU-funded cyber security projects, including ECHO and the EU-HYBNET. Extensive networking at the European level is very important in order to get involved in such projects, Rathod underlines.

On the other hand, Rathod considers European cooperation important for Laurea students as well. Numerous projects have enabled integrating instruction with project work, allowing student participation and the creation of unique learning opportunities.

- At the Leppävaara campus, we have our own Neon SID-Lab learning environment where students can genuinely participate in project development. In addition to study units, numerous theses have been completed as part of the projects. It is really great for students to be able to tell about their experience in EU-funded projects when applying for a job, for example, Rathod explains.

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