The USC Election Cybersecurity Initiative, run by CCLP Senior Fellow Adam Clayton Powell III and Project Manager Jung-hwa “Judy” Kang, expanded its international footprint with a full-day workshop in Melbourne, Australia. On Wednesday, Dec. 4, the USC Election Cybersecurity Initiative partnered with RMIT University to host a convening of journalists, policymakers, researchers and experts on the topic of fair elections in the age of AI.
Powell and Kang presented their insights into the U.S.’s efforts at cybersecuring democracy. Another USC professor, Jeffrey Cole, director of USC’s Center for the Digital Future, gave a talk on the decline of users’ faith in the credibility of the online world. For more information, please see here: https://www.admscentre.org.au/adms-hosts-usc-election-cybersecurity-initiative-to-consider-fair-elections-in-the-age-of-ai/.
The USC Election Cybersecurity Initiative, which hosted workshops in all 50 U.S. states, has brought an international focus to cybersecurity dialogue since 2022. Most recently, on October 23, 2024, Powell and Kang presented their talk on cybersecuring democracy in Nicosia, Cyprus. They organized the conference “Cybersecuring Democracy in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” in partnership with the USC Institute for Technology Enabled Higher-Education, CYENS Centre of Excellence, KIOS Research and Innovation Centre of Excellence and the University of Cyprus, under the auspices of Cyprus’s Deputy Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy and the U.S. Embassy in the Republic of Cyprus.
Jung-hwa “Judy” Kang spoke on the panel “Cybersecuring Democracy: The U.S. Experience.” Photo by Natalie Campbell (ADM+S Centre) 
CCLP’s panel, “Cybersecuring Democracy: The U.S. Experience.” Photo by Natalie Campbell (ADM+S Centre) 
CCLP Senior Fellow Adam Clayton Powell III with Vice-Chancellor and President of RMIT University Alec Cameron, who provided opening remarks. Photo by Natalie Campbell (ADM+S Centre) 
CCLP Senior Fellow Adam Clayton Powell III handed Julian Thomas, Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, a USC mug as a memento. Photo by Judy Kang 
(Left to right) USC Director of the Center for the Digital Future Jeffrey Cole, Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society Julian Thomas, CCLP Project Manager Jung-hwa “Judy” Kang and CCLP Senior Fellow Adam Clayton Powell III. Photo by Natalie Campbell (ADM+S Centre)
Earlier this year, Powell and Kang also co-sponsored a conference on AI, elections and the future of democracy with universities in Africa. For more details about the USC Election Cybersecurity Initiative’s international outreach, please see here: https://publicdiplomacy.org/news_manager.php?page=33660.
Next, Powell and Kang are scheduled to present their cybersecurity workshop in Germany and New Zealand.