Carlene was my Lecturer and eventually supervisor in my Final year of University.
I was a socially awkward student from a country thousands of miles away and bottom of the class, I also wanted a first class.
Fortunately, I got an awesome supervisor who was a friend and parental figure during my studies.
I got the encouragement I desperately needed, and she was reachable at any time. I once called at 11pm struggling with a topic and she provided the needed direction.
She encouraged me to work hard and made me understand you can acquire any objective if you work hard enough -those are not just words, because I did get that first class because of her willingness to go the extra mile for her students.
Tope Olufon
During my time at the university (UWTSD) I have written many assignments and papers based on theoretical scenarios which has made me a well-rounded engineer, but unfortunately none of the theoretical papers prepared me for entering the industry and working on live networks and communicating with clients which I always thought would predominantly come through experience which I was yet to obtain.
Fortunately, during my time as a student in Computer Networks and Cybersecurity my lecturer Dr Carlene Campbell gave out a variety of challenging open ended real world scenario assignments such as; penetration testing of a live website; the company specialise in penetration testing for clients, so the security for their own website was assumed to be highly secure, as expected the website was configured extremely well with high security features, this led me as a computer networks and cybersecurity student (MSc) to have to go outside of my comfort zone and learn some black hat programming which included; HTML5, SQL, PHP and JavaScript, although it was a very steep learning curve to be able to utilise these tools to my advantage in such a short period of time from learning the technologies and code to executing what I had learned, I managed to learn and leverage the necessary technologies to successful penetrate and access the back end database of the very secure target website.
The feeling of accomplishment when the attacks were successful (SQL injection, XSS attack, browser pawning, SSL/TLS attack etc) finally gave me a sense of confidence that I would be competent and most importantly prepared for a high level job within industry as a network and cybersecurity engineer and that I could succeed at any task that I may be given within a work place. This paper in particular made me I realise my research skills I had learnt during university were excellent and that I could learn new technologies quickly to accomplish a task, that’s why this assignment sticks with me because at that moment when I completed the task given to me, I knew it was designed to push me to become a real world engineer and prepare me for tasks where a conventional solution is not the answer, which made me utilise all the tools that I had built up and obtained during my time at university to logically assess a problem and apply a systematic solution using a mixture of research and general network infrastructure skills that I had now acquired.
Moreover, previous to this assignment, myself and fellow colleagues were given another open-ended assignment from Dr Campbell in which we had to research data security management frameworks, this topic can be very tedious but none the less very important for future network management within industry. The freedom that is given by Dr Campbell within her assignments by means of researching various topics within the module in which she highlights in her entertaining but very informative lectures, allows students to focus on very niche topics within each module in which I feel a seed is planted and the ideas and knowledge grows and is retained due to the freedom of research within a very tedious topic.
This module “Data Security’ also has given me a lot of confidence of being able to systematically evaluate security and data assets within a company and protect them utilising the data management frameworks and technologies such as; ITILv4 and ISO 27000 ,along with specialist frameworks that I have researched, along with being able to confidently write a detailed report and keep network changes and technology documentation up to date and accurate which is very important within Network engineering and architecture.
Finally, Dr Campbell is very polite and approachable person, who enjoys discussing new technologies and cybersecurity tools and the latest cybersecurity news, this warm attitude is very welcoming to students which gives them additional confidence to do well within her modules after the hard work and dedication that she clearly puts into each module for her students.
Paul Lawrence
“The experience with Dr. Campbell has been a fantastic one. Dr. Campbell is a great mentor/teacher whom I have learned from tremendously. The weekly meetings have broadened my knowledge and my vision towards my projects. She has put in far beyond 100% on every discussion we had and has genuinely helped with issues I have faced throughout my academic year. I can say without a doubt that she’s had a big influence on me and she deserves credit for what I have achieved so far.
Kadir Islow
I consider myself very lucky to have knowledgeable lecturers such as yourself. Without your helpful advice and caring attitude, the chances of successful completion of my PhD would be dim. You’re an excellent motivator and very dedicated to ensure success of your students. Because of your continuous support throughout my academic career I now have a very strong background that has increased my chances of employability.
Arya Sedigh
I received my Master and Bachelor of science degree in computer science from University of Wales Trinity Saint David (Swansea). During my study at this University, I had great and inspiring lecturers in computer networking and cybersecurity.
I particularly, credit Dr. Carlene Campbell’s quality of teaching, assignments, and research supervisory guidance. She provided me advice and guidance on the direction and management of my academic research and feedback on my results/findings and analysis. In addition, Dr. Campbell helped me to develop academic research strategy. She always encouraged her students to explore academic research in fact findings and think critically in findings experimental analysis and solutions.
Dr Campbell always showed a positive and professional attitude. Hence, I sincerely appreciate all the great guidance and opportunities provided by Dr. Carlene Campbell. It was an amazing experience having Dr. Campbell as a supervisor for network management and cybersecurity.
I had a great experience and an opportunity to more involved in cybersecurity research project and as a result, I became proficient in academic research, recording, report writing, experimental analysis and critical thinking. Now, I am planning to do PhD research study.
Million Gashaw Woldemariam
Carlene was my supervisor for my undergraduate final year project and also for my PhD. Since I’ve known her, she has been a constant source of motivation and encouragement, and without her incredible support I would not have even come close to achieving what I have so far. Her passion for research, insight, clarity, and high standards make anybody fortunate to have the opportunity to carry out research under her guidance, as does her unwavering devotion to supporting the well-being of her students. I was no doubt frustrating to supervise at times, but she never let that show and was always there for support and to set me back on track. Academically and personally, she will always remain one of my biggest sources of inspiration. Thank you Carlene.
(She also tried to throw me off the Burj Khalifa, but that’s another story.)
Archie Watt
I had the pleasure to undertake my final year project with Dr. Carlene. My friends and family who have previously attended university, always spoke about how difficult this will be. I was pretty nervous my self to be honest. From the start, I was made comfortable.
From the first meeting, i was given a clear picture on what i was expected. Throughout the 10 months, Dr Carlene was supportive and she believed in me more then I believed in my self. I was given unlimited time whenever I needed help no matter the time of the day.
I would recommend Dr Carlene to anyone undertaking a project. Until this, I have the deepest respect. She is the perfect professional and also friend.
Thank you for help and for pushing me to achieve a first class in my final year project.
Abdulrahman Hashem
I had the privilege to been educated and guided by Carlene throughout my bachelor’s degree in computer networks and cybersecurity. She makes it clear that under her supervision she expects nothing less than 100% effort from her students. Her record of award winning students year upon year was testimony to her preparation and commitment. Carlene demonstrates a superb understanding of not only the latest technologies but the students she supervises. She took myself a mediocre student and helped encourage my exploration into wireless security and how it can he exploited. Carlene’s work ethic and timekeeping help you plan ahead and she has a knack of bringing ideas into your head through detailed and stimulating debates forcing you to consider other perspectives than your own. Through the 2 years I knew Carlene she helped me develop into a hardworking and driven student who was proudly awarded certificate of excellence for 2018 with my final year project exploiting a wireless sensor Internet of Things (IoT) sensor network. I look forward to seeing Carlene in the near future at one of the many events held by British computing society events.
Ivan Thomas MBCS IT support Engineer Penspen Ltd.