ASD and ANU collaborate to boost Australia’s workforce

A new honours scholarship will help train the next-generation of experts tackling major challenges across cybersecurity, data science and cloud computing, as well as a range of other key areas. The Co-Lab Honours Grant was launched this week by ANU Vice-Chancellor Professor Brian Schmidt and the Assistant Minister for Defence, The Hon Andrew Hastie MP. Based at ANU, the Co-Lab brings together leading ANU academics and some of ASD's foremost analysts and technologists to collaborate on research projects and STEM career pathways for students - with Australia's national security at its centre. The new honours grant program offers $8,000 in funding for exceptional students to focus on leading research projects with real life impact, greatly enhancing their student experience and career opportunities. Professor Schmidt said the grant and the Co-Lab collaboration with ASD was another example of the University's distinct national mission. "This is a really important initiative," Professor Schmidt said. "Our students will work with the country's leading agency on cybersecurity to help build the future workforce to meet Australia's national security requirements." The grant program welcomes students who are interested in a career with ASD, with a goal of helping to foster new talent for ASD's growing, multi-skilled and diverse workforce.