The theme for CSSA 2026 reflects the urgent need for organisations to adapt and thrive in an environment where artificial intelligence permeates every aspect of business and society. It’s about creating systems, cultures, and leadership approaches that can withstand disruption and leverage AI as a strategic advantage.

Furthermore, it highlights that organisations' workforce is multi-generational. It is therefore important that strategies are put in place that acknowledges and accommodates each generations' approach to work and managing information and cybersecurity.

CSSA 2026 key focus areas

During CSSA 2026, we will explore critical topics shaping the future of work and organisational resilience.

  • AI and Technology: harnessing AI-driven solutions to enhance productivity and decision-making and managing the associated security risks.
  • Cyber Resilience: anticipating, withstanding, responding to, and recovering from cyberattacks while maintaining core business functions in a world with ever evolving, more complex and unpredictable digital threats.
  • Culture and Privacy: balancing transparency, trust, and data protection in a connected world, by building “cybersafe” through awareness, training, and practical security measures for organisations and people of all ages.
  • Geopolitical and Supply Chain Risks: addressing geopolitical tensions that impact cybersecurity strategy, including cyber espionage and intellectual property theft.
  • Regulatory and Compliance Challenges: staying ahead of shifting legal and ethical standards, as well as navigating the increasing fragmentation of cybersecurity regulations across different jurisdictions.
  • People and Leadership: empowering leaders to foster adaptability to technological advances and inclusivity across generations. This includes fostering a community that spans across different ages, and sectors, such as IT, business, and the public and private sectors. 
     
Speaker opportunity

We're currently in the process of putting together another exciting line-up of exceptional speakers to present at CSSA 2026.

If you are keen to present a 20-minute session at CSSA 2026 on one or more of the focus areas above, please send the information below to the CSSA Organising Committee for review. You can email your submission to conference@cssa.ac.za. 

Information required for presentation submission

  • Focus area(s) you'll be addressing
  • Talk title
  • Abstract of 200 words

Session slots are limited. Please submit your proposals by 31 July 2026. The organising committee will then provide an outcome by mid-August 2026.

 

Speaker line-up

Jonathan

Associate Professor Jonathan Shock

Jonathan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Maths and Applied Maths at the University of Cape Town, from where he also directs the UCT AI Initiative. He is also an Adjunct Professor at INRS Montréal.

His work spans theoretical physics, reinforcement learning, and computational neuroscience, with a focus on understanding intelligence as a dynamical and physical process. He is particularly interested in reinforcement learning, multi-agent systems, and theory-driven AI for science. Most of his research explores how mathematical structure — from statistical mechanics to dynamical systems — can inform the design and analysis of learning systems.

Jonathan completed his PhD at the University of Southampton in 2005 on applications of string theory to quantum chromodynamics, followed by postdoctoral appointments in Beijing, Santiago de Compostela, and Munich before joining UCT in 2013.

He supervises across mathematics, machine learning, and interdisciplinary AI, and is deeply committed to teaching and building research capacity. Outside academia, he cooks, photographs, exercises and reads.

Sourced from https://shocklab.net/

 

Basie

Professor Basie von Solms

Prof SH (Basie) von Solms is a Research Professor in the Academy for Computer Science and Software Engineering at the University of Johannesburg and is attached to UJ’s Centre for Cyber Security.

He is an Associate Director of the Global Cybersecurity Capacity Centre of the University of Oxford in the UK. Basie had also been a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council for Cyber Security and is presently a member of the WEF's Expert Cyber Group. In 2024 he was rated by ScholarGPS as one of the top 5 cybersecurity researchers in the world.

Prof von Solms is a Past President of IFIP, the International Federation for Information Processing (www.ifip.org). He is a a Chartered Information Technology Professional (CITP) and a Member of The Academy of Science of South Africa, as well as a Fellow of the 

  • Institute for IT Professionals (IITP) of South Africa
  • British Computer Society
  • Oxford Martin School of the University of Oxford

 

Peter Allwright

Peter

Peter Allwright brings over two decades of global forensic expertise to the fight against financial crime, corporate fraud, and organised criminal networks. With a career spanning Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Crown Dependencies, Peter has led high-stakes investigations involving government corruption, cybercrime, illicit financial flows, and cross-border asset concealment.

An internationally recognised forensic investigator, Peter has testified in complex, politically sensitive, and multi-jurisdictional matters. His work has supported law enforcement, regulators, and legal teams in some of the most challenging and high-risk environments worldwide.

Peter’s career has not been without danger. He is no stranger to personal risk, having been detained, arrested, poisoned, and physically assaulted in the course of his work. His investigations have drawn the ire of corrupt officials, criminal syndicates, and state-linked actors, necessitating periods of living and operating under the protection of close security teams.
Peter leads a global team specialising in high-value forensics. He is a trusted advisor to law firms, financial institutions, insurers, and regulators worldwide.

 

 

Kerry-Lynn

Kerry-Lynn Thomson

A Professor and Director of the School of IT at the Nelson Mandela University, a National Research Foundation (NRF) C2-rated researcher and the Chair of the national IITPSA Special Interest Group in Cybersecurity (SIGCyber). Kerry-Lynn is a Professional Member of the IITPSA and a committee member for the Eastern Cape Chapter. She is also a senior instructor in the Cisco Networking Academy Program at the Nelson Mandela University Cisco Academy. Kerry-Lynn’s research focus is interdisciplinary and includes cybersecurity, cybersecurity awareness and education, corporate culture and the human aspects of information assurance. Kerry-Lynn has published and presented over 45 journal and conference papers.