CyberFirst Empower Girls: Igniting cyber futures

Northern Ireland’s Cyber Sector Sets Out To Inspire Girls

Following the success of the inaugural CyberFirst Empower Girls event last year, the countdown is on for the second and much larger event, which is set to take place at ICC Belfast on Tuesday 29 April 2025.

The CyberFirst Empower Girls event, supported by Aflac Northern Ireland, will see 500 Year 8 girls from across Northern Ireland engage with a wide range of local companies and organisations involved in the fast-growing cyber security and wider technology sector. The event is part of the CyberFirst Schools and Colleges initiative , led by the Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland on behalf of the UK National Cyber Security Centre. The schools’ initiative is designed to inspire young people to explore their passion for tech and introduce them to career opportunities within the fast-paced world of cyber security.

This is against a backdrop where women make up half of Northern Ireland’s workforce, their representation in STEM occupations remains stubbornly low. A recent Equality Commission NI report shows that only 15% of women study core STEM subjects compared to 36% of men, with just 16% pursuing careers in computer science and 11% in engineering. At the same time, women currently make up only 23% of the tech industry in NI, pointing to huge untapped potential.

The Empower Girls event aims to address this imbalance by raising awareness of the variety of roles on offer across the cyber security and wider technology sector with those at the beginning of their post primary education journey. Following the success of last year’s event the organisers have doubled the capacity to 500 girls aged 11-12 from schools across Northern Ireland. It will also be supported by many more companies across the sector who will help pupils discover the world of technology and cyber security through interactive experiences and demos.

The event is open to all organisations employing IT and cyber security professionals in Northern Ireland and they are being encouraged to participate to help secure Northern Ireland’s future cyber skills pipeline. The importance of the event was reinforced with a survey from last year’s event which showed that 80% of girls were more likely to consider pursuing a career in technology and cyber security after the Empower Girls event than before.

Sara Lyons, CyberFirst NI Project Manager, said:

We are very excited to be bringing the CyberFirst Empower Girls event back and are focused on making it both bigger and better than last year to meet increased demand. 

"With industry giants, such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, Kainos and Instil already signed up to support the event along with the Bring IT On programme, this is an excellent opportunity to showcase innovation across the sector and inspire our next generation of students to pursue a career in the sector. We would encourage any company with an interest in cyber skills to sign up and support the event before it is too late.”

Tom Trainor, Vice President and Head of Cyber Security at Aflac Northern Ireland, key sponsors of the event, said:

“At Aflac Northern Ireland, we can see the huge opportunities for the Northern Ireland economy around cyber skills and know that the talent pipeline is key to our business success and that of the wider sector." 

Building on the success and impact of last year’s event, the 2025 CyberFirst Empower Girls event presents an engaging way to showcase the huge variety of career opportunities across the world of cyber security. 

"We are excited to join with the wider cyber security community across Northern Ireland to present these many opportunities to our next generation.”

Lauren Brown, Head of ICT, Larne Grammar School who will be attending the event said:

We are really looking forward to attending the event and as the event name suggests, we hope it will empower more of our girls to better understand the huge opportunities within the cyber security field. 

"To learn about these opportunities first hand and for the various careers to be brought to life through interactive displays and demos will open their minds to the many possibilities and no doubt will help set some of our pupils on a path towards the tech sector in the future.”