Department of Computer Science and Technology, University of Cambridge

There's a free 'Craft & Code' workshop for girls aged 9-12 here next week. It's a morning of fun for them, using craft materials and BBC micro:bit computers that they can program to do things like display messages, light up, make sounds or respond to movements. It's also part of a project by researchers here who want to understand how children make and create technology. See more details here: https://forms.office.com/e/Hrvp14ETdJ

Using some envelopes, a pin board, a handful of audience members - and some very special messages - researchers here will this Saturday demonstrate a new secure communications system they've been developing. Called CoverDrop, it helps whistleblowers contact journalists safely and is now part of The Guardian's news app. This talk, for anyone from 12 upwards, will show how the messaging technology works in a fun and accessible way. It's part of a whole day of activities that we're running here on 21 March as part of . https://www.festival.cam.ac.uk/events/developing-secure-messaging-how-researchers-are-helping-whistleblowers-reach-journalists

agents are powerful yet passive, reading what we say and giving us suggestions. But the new 'computer use agents' being developed are active, independently running tasks for us on our computers. There’s just one problem: they can’t distinguish between the instructions we give them - and malicious instructions that might be embedded in what they read online. So how and why should we trust them? Come and hear researcher Hanna Foerster talk about this at our Computer Science Open Day on Sat 21 March, part of the 2026 Cambridge Festival.
https://www.festival.cam.ac.uk/events/can-we-trust-ai-use-our-computers

We've been having fun this morning, testing a new 'escape room' visitors can do at our Cambridge Festival Family Open Day next week. Can you 'Help Us Find our Missing Computer Science Professor'? Search round the room, find the clues, make the connections - and see if you can solve the riddle!
This is just one of a host of activities for visitors of all ages at our Family Open Day, 10:30 - 16:30, Saturday 21 March.
https://shorturl.at/Jeu63

It started as an ambitious research idea... and developed into a transformative approach to computer security. Over the last 15 years, CHERI (Capability Hardware Enhanced RISC Instructions) has grown from an experimental architecture into a globally influential research programme that is reshaping the way hardware and software can work together to deliver memory safety and scalable software compartmentalisation.

We're celebrating the CHERI project's 15th birthday throughout February & March with talks, a tutorial, an exhibition and a conference (co-organised with the CHERI Alliance). Interested in joining us? See: https://www.cst.cam.ac.uk/news/pioneering-computer-processor-security-rolls-out-industry-testing

"Doctors have used human sounds to diagnose disease for centuries. Yet today, diagnosing respiratory and cardiovascular disease in a patient still largely relies on expensive tests and the time of a busy consultant. By using AI, we can do better." So says our colleague Prof Cecilia Mascolo who is exploring how AI can diagnose diseases just as effectively from analysing body sounds like heartbeats, coughs and breathing as it can from analysing medical images like scans and x-rays.

A pilot study on using AI to help doctors diagnose Covid generated exciting results. And today, she's one of 136 researchers awarded a European Research Council Proof of Concept grant to develop this work further. Frontier science like this, says the ERC, 'opens new routes to innovation'. Read about it here:
https://www.cst.cam.ac.uk/news/how-using-ai-analyse-body-sounds-can-help-doctors-diagnose-heart-and-lung-disease

Women at Computer Lab

200 MILLION. That's how many question attempts have been made on Isaac Science, a free and innovative science learning platform for schools co-developed by researchers in our Department.

Want to know what the 200 millionth question was?
Find out here: https://www.cst.cam.ac.uk/news/200-millionth-question-attempt-made-learning-platform-co-developed-here

Are you
- applying to do your PhD here ?
- and interested in the grand challenges in computer architecture, design automation & semiconductors ?
📢 A generous donation from Cadence means we can take on more PhD students at CASCADE, our Computer Architecture and Semiconductor Design Centre.
Thank you, Cadence, for your gift. It will support the foundational research that will drive advancements in microarchitecture, design automation, and high-performance computing.
👉🏻 https://www.cst.cam.ac.uk/news/cadence-supports-phd-research-novel-computer-architectures-our-cascade-centre

'From research lab to newsroom: deploying secure whistleblower technology'.
🗓️ Weds 12 Nov
🕒 15:05 (GMT)
👉🏼 shorturl.at/FbMWc
At this talk, two researchers here will discuss their secure communications technology, CoverDrop, which is now helping whistleblowers who want to contact The Guardian journalists safely.

The talk will explore the technical hurdles of implementing metadata privacy on modern smartphones, and the protocol design choices needed to support plausible deniability.

ℹ️Interested? Then you can:
- join the event live online: https://www.cst.cam.ac.uk/seminars/list/237220
- catch up with the recording afterwards: https://www.cst.cam.ac.uk/seminars/wednesday
- and see more details here: https://coverdrop.org/