Call for Application: CyWiNet6’2025 workshop Student Competition

This is the first edition of the ComSoc Communications and Information Security TC (CISTC) Student Competition Programme for graduate and undergraduate students, launched by the Legal Factors in Cyber security for 6G (LeFaCy6) TC Innovation Project and organised jointly with the Pri-SeT Research Lab within the Department of Computing and Mathematics at Manchester Metropolitan University, in conjunction with the First International Workshop on Cyber security for Wireless Networks and 6G: Focus on Legal Factors — CyWiNet6’2025

Background and Motivation:

The advent of 6G will bring together AI-driven intelligence, ubiquitous IoT connectivity, and global data exchange on a scale never seen before. However, as technology advances more rapidly than regulation, cyber security risks increasingly overlap with legal and ethical uncertainties. Current regulatory frameworks, such as the GDPR, EU AI Act, and CCPA, along with international standards like ISO/IEC 27001 and the NIST Cyber security Framework, address only part of this evolving landscape. Differences in national legislation, unclear responsibility for AI-enabled decisions, and the absence of consistent cyber security norms for cross-border 6G operations have widened the gap between technological innovation and regulatory oversight. Bridging this gap requires solutions that not only safeguard data and network integrity but also embed compliance, transparency, and ethical accountability into 6G system design from the outset.

Goal of this competition:

Encouraging students across multidisciplinary fields, including Cyber security, Legal Frameworks, Compliance, Governance, Artificial Intelligence, Telecommunications, and Engineering, to expand their knowledge in the intersection of cyber security, wireless networks, legal frameworks, and ethical considerations, whilst testing and showcasing new skills and inspiring innovation in 6G security and compliance.

The winning student (or student team) will be awarded a certificate signed by the IEEE ComSoc president and the technical committee. The team leader or individual that wins first and second prize will be invited to receive the prize at the semi-annual meeting of CISTC on 24–28 May 2026 // Glasgow, Scotland, UK. The proclamation of the winners will be at CyWiNet6’2025 workshop on December 19, 2025, at Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom. All selected teams will need to remotely present their work during the workshop on December 19, and the winners will be decided on the same day. As a recognition, a plaque signed by IEEE ComSoc president and the VP Educational Activities will be delivered.

The theme of the competition is “Cyber security for Wireless Networks and 6G: Legal and Ethical Innovation“. The main objectives of our LeFaCy6 project relate to addressing cyber security challenges in emerging 6G technologies through a legal, regulatory, and ethical lens. Given that regulations for technologies such as 5G/6G, IoT, and AI are still evolving, vulnerabilities may arise from inconsistent legal frameworks across jurisdictions. This competition seeks innovative solutions that bridge technical cyber security implementation with legal compliance.

The CyWiNet6’2025 Student Competition recognises students, or teams of students, who demonstrate the ability to develop innovative solutions addressing cyber security challenges in 6G networks whilst considering legal, regulatory, and ethical factors.

The proposed competition proposal will investigate the following topics (but not limited to):

• Legal and regulatory guidelines in 6G networks

• IoT security standards: secure boot, device authentication, and regular updates in 6G networks

• AI security frameworks for 6G

• Integrity and verifiability of AI models used in 6G

• Ethical factors in 6G

• Usable security and privacy (USP) in 6G

• Tools and methods leading to compliance for cyber security laws in 6G

• Regulations for emerging threats, such as ransomware and zero-day exploits in 6G networks.

• Legal liabilities for cyber security Breaches in 6G network

• Penetration testing and ethical hacking in 6G network management.

• Ethical for detection and potential countermeasures by attackers in 6G

• Blockchain for AI Security in 6G network.

• Privacy by design for 6G.

• Cross-disciplinary governance model in 6G.

• AI model integrity and secure execution 6G applications.

• Regulatory harmonisation approach for 6G networks.

Eligibility Requirements

1. To individually qualify for the competition, a participant must be a Student member or Graduate Student member of IEEE Communications Society.

2. Entrants may form a team with other IEEE ComSoc Student members or non-Student members, as long as the team is led by an IEEE ComSoc Student member.

3. Team members do not need to be from the same country or region.

4. In this competition, students must play the predominant roles in developing the project and problem-solving. Higher grade senior roles may be included on a team, but will be considered “mentors” or “advisors”. Any non-Student members among the authors must also be listed as “advisor”.

5. Senior individuals acting in any mentorship role must limit the level of support to general guidance and must not contribute in any other form that might be considered original authorship, or in any way that may enable claims of rights or ownership to the submitted entries.

6. The submission entry must clearly specify the contribution of mentors or others supporting the students in the team.

7. Student members or Graduate Student members of the IEEE ComSoc must be at least 18 years of age at the time of entry submission.

8. IEEE ComSoc Membership – Non-members can join IEEE ComSoc at any time. IEEE Student members must renew their membership for the 2025 membership year and add ComSoc to be eligible to participate in the student contest.

Deadline of submissions: April 30, 2026, 23:59 British Standard Time.

Submit a Project.

Your proposal can be a demonstration or a poster. Submissions should be no longer than 3,000 words (a PDF file embedding all figures) and should include the following information:

• project title

• executive summary

• general description

• technical solution and project details

• social impact on humanity or local community

• implementation status, testing, and trial (if any)

• additional documentation (if any)

• contact information (Poster requirements in terms of size and format) (Demos can be in web apps, GUIs, MVPs, and PowerPoints)

Entries will be accepted up until the submission deadline noted on the competition online form. Contestants are encouraged to register in advance of submitting their entries. Incomplete entries are void and will not be eligible to win.

Student Competition Committee Chairs, which will select the winners:

• Yakubu Tsado, Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom

• Tooska Dargahi, Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom

• Abderrahim Benslimane, Université d’Avignon, France

• Bin Xiao, Yhe Hong Kong Polytechnic University

• Rongxing Lu, Queen’s University, Canada

The presentations and the awards for the student competition will be at our next IEEE ICC 2026, taking place in the vibrant city of Glasgow, Scotland, from 24th to 28th May 2026.

If you need any help, submit your entries to Yakubu Tsado y.tsado@mmu.ac.uk, Tooska Dargahi t.dargahi@mmu.ac.uk, Abderrahim Benslimane abderrahim.benslimane@univ-avignon.fr,  Bin Xiao csbxiao@comp.polyu.edu.hk, and Rongxing Lu rongxing.lu@queensu.ca