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G8 highlights Queen’s influence on global agenda
Professor John McCanny briefed visitors attending the G8 Summit on the investment in, and growth of, the digital industries taking place in the Belfast dockyards
Professor John McCanny, Principal Investigator of the Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT), was recently invited to brief visitors attending the G8 Summit on the investment in, and growth of, the digital industries taking place in the Belfast dockyards.
Professor McCanny told the visitors of Queen’s decision to deliberately establish ECIT as a founding Centre within the Northern Ireland Science Park, of CSIT’s subsequent role in ensuring UK industry stays at the front of the global battle against cyber crime sector and its part in encouraging and forming start-up companies. The Prime Minister’s Office prepared a short video featuring Professor McCanny for the Summit which can be viewed here.
Back on campus, some of the world’s leading experts on international politics and governance debated the issues and challenges facing the world leaders at the G8 Summit, including trade, transparency, tax and security.
The event was hosted by the School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy, in partnership with the G8 Research Group at the University of Toronto and was supported by the Department for Employment and Learning, Northern Ireland.
Speaking after the conference, Madeleine Koch, from the G8 Research Group, praised the event and the team at Queen’s: “I think this was one of the best conferences we’ve had. There were some excellent presentations and we’ve made some wonderful new friends at Queen’s. It was a very well-run smooth operation and I would like to thank everyone for all their hard work.”
Echoing those sentiments was Sir Nicholas Bayne, a former member of UK Summit Sherpa Teams, who said: “The conference at Queen’s was most successful due to the high standard of presentations, strong participation from the floor and impeccable organisation.”
Dr Andrew Baker, a leading G8 expert from the School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy organised the event alongside Professor John Kirton, Director of the G8 Research Group at the University of Toronto.
Speaking after the world-leaders had departed Northern Ireland, Dr Baker said: “As it turned out, this year’s Lough Erne summit will probably go down in history as an international sea change moment in the politics of tax. The moment when the political direction of travel to do serious substantive things about tax avoidance was politically headlined and some mechanisms for doing serious things about this were promoted and outlined in general terms. That's about as good as it gets from a G8 Summit."
