Advancing Cybersecurity Through Knowledge Conversion: Industry-Academia Interchange in a Doctoral Program

The origins of the cybersecurity field were highly practice-oriented, often from an individual Community of Practice (CoP), such as the military. In many cases, emergent cybersecurity academic programs relied on these practitioners as adjunct faculty to transfer and impart knowledge to students. However, this approach proved insufficient to develop an overall academic discipline of cybersecurity with effective educational programs to meet the growing and changing need for cybersecurity professionals. To address this gap, the authors designed and developed a Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) program focusing on applied research with knowledge conversion from multiple individual CoPs and a strong workforce academia interchange. The program leverages Nonaka's knowledge conversion model and Wenger's communities of practice (CoP) theory to catalyze innovation and cultivate an integrated community of cybersecurity practices. Doctoral students conduct in-depth research in a specific cybersecurity area of their choice, developing cybersecurity products, frameworks, tools, and solutions for their CoP and often for a wider audience. Faculty gain knowledge of advancements in the current practices of cybersecurity through integrating individual CoPs that they can then use in developing their cybersecurity academic programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The chosen research method for this work-in-progress paper is a qualitative thematic analysis through open-ended questionnaires. The research sample will consist of doctoral students currently in the program or recently graduated and faculty teaching the courses in the D.Sc. program. The study aims to explore the knowledge interchange and learning experiences within the CoP regarding research scholarship, dissertation development, and cybersecurity innovation. The insights and lessons learned from this program can serve as a model for other academic institutions seeking to enhance the practicality and innovation within their cybersecurity programs while contributing to developing a much-needed, more robust, and secure cyber ecosystem.