Association of University Chief Security Officers (AUCSO) News

The Association of University Chief Security Officers (AUCSO), the global body for security professionals in Higher and Further Education, has launched its Benchmarking Report 2025, the first comprehensive study of security operations across higher education institutions in the UK and internationally.  The report was compiled in partnership with ISARR, a bespoke risk, resilience and security management provider with a long-standing relationship with AUCSO. In an increasingly complex risk...

The Association of University Chief Security Officers (AUCSO), the global body for security professionals in Higher and Further Education, has announced a new partnership with Stamp Out Spiking, the UK’s major charity dedicated to ending drink spiking. Recent figures from Anglia Ruskin University (2024) highlight the scale of the problem, with: 90% of people don’t contact the police after being spiked and around half of those said it’s because they ‘don’t see th...

The Association of University Chief Security Officers (AUCSO), the pioneer global organisation for security professionals in Higher and Further Education, is pleased to announce the launch of a new suite of free online training courses exclusively for its members. This initiative is part of a newly signed three-year partnership with Ciphr eLearning, a cloud based HR software company that integrates HR, payroll, learning and recruitment, that is transforming how organisations deliver training an...

The Association of University Chief Security Officers (AUCSO) - the pioneering global organisation for security professionals in Higher and Further Education - has celebrated the outstanding achievements of its members with the announcement of the winners of its prestigious 2025 Annual Awards. This year marked a record-breaking number of submissions across all award categories, highlighting the exceptional work being carried out on university campuses both in the UK and around the world. The wi...

The Association of University Chief Security Officers, the pioneer organisation for security professionals working in Higher and Further Education around the world, has announced a compelling and exciting line up of speakers for this year’s 41st Annual Conference, alongside the theme of ‘Safe Spaces’. The 41st AUCSO Annual Conference will be held at the University of Warwick next Monday 7 April to Wednesday 9 April 2025. The Conference is open to all AUCSO members and will be...

The Association of University Chief Security Officers (AUCSO), the pioneering organisation for security professionals working in higher and further education around the world, is delighted to announce that it will be awarding Les Allan, former Chair of AUCSO, a Fellowship. Les was AUCSO’s Chair between 2021 and 2023, and Vice Chair between 2019 and 2021. Recently retired from his role as Director of Safeguarding Services at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Les now works as a consultant&...

The Association of University Chief Security Officers (AUCSO), the organisation for security professionals working in Higher and Further Education around the world, has announced its new Chair and Vice Chair who take up their positions in April 2025. Current Vice Chair Geoff Brown, Head of Community Safety and Campus Security at the University of Leeds, will become the Chair of AUCSO replacing Chair, Ollie Curran, who is stepping down after serving in this role for two years. Geoff Brown Afte...

The Association of University Chief Security Officers (AUCSO), the renowned organisation for security professionals working in Higher and Further Education around the world, is to host its first European Region Winter Conference at Leiden University in the Netherlands.  The Conference, which takes place from Wednesday, 27 November 2024 until Friday, 29 November 2024, is free to all AUCSO members. European Winter Conference Benny Vandenberghe, Chair of the European Region for AUCSO will o...

The Association of University Chief Security Officers (AUCSO), the major organisation for security professionals working in Higher and Further Education around the world has announced that its Australasia Chair, Russell Gammie, is to retire after 25 years of dedicated service. Russell Gammie Russell who also retires from his role at Monash University in Australia as Director of Global Security & Crisis Response was the force behind Australia joining AUCSO. Known as the Grandfather of the...

The Association of University Chief Security Officers (AUCSO), the pioneering organisation for security professionals working in Higher and Further Education around the world, has announced a compelling and exciting lineup of speakers for this year’s 40th Annual Conference, alongside the theme of ‘Unveiling the Added Value of Security Services’. The 40th AUCSO Annual Conference will be held at the University of Liverpool from Monday 8 April to Wednesday 10 April 2024. The conf...

The Association of University Chief Security Officers (AUCSO) has announced a partnership with ISARR, a bespoke risk, resilience, and security management solution, to gather vital benchmarking information for its members. As the pioneering organisation for security professionals working in Higher and Further Education around the world, AUCSO is looking to further enhance security within the Higher Education sector as a whole. The partnership builds upon the existing relationship between AUCSO a...

The Association of University Chief Security Officers (AUCSO), the organisation for security professionals working in higher and further education around the world, is delighted to announce that it has awarded Trevor Jones, (former Chair of AUCSO) a Fellowship. Fellow at AUCSO Trevor was AUCSO’s Chair between 2018 and 2021, and Vice Chair between 2015 and 2018, and is currently Head of Security at the University of Salford. He has bestowed the honour of being appointed a Fellow at the A...

The Association of University Chief Security Officers (AUCSO), the organisation for security professionals working in higher and further education around the world, has launched two interactive, free, online training courses for its members. The modules, which have been specially developed and are being run in partnership with Incident Ready Consulting Ltd, are Incident Manager Training and An Introduction to Business Continuity, which will be available to AUCSO members via a secure portal on T...

The Association of University Chief Security Officers (AUCSO), the organisation for security professionals working in higher and further education around the world, has praised its members for ‘outstanding achievements across the year’ as it announced the winners of its Annual Awards 2023. The winners were announced at a Gala Dinner on the final evening of the AUCSO Annual Conference, hosted at the iconic Signet Library in Edinburgh. Awardees Recognised for their exceptional work...

The Association of University Chief Security Officers (AUCSO), the organisation for security professionals working in higher and further education around the world, has announced its new Chair and Vice Chair who both take up their positions in April. Current Vice Chair, Oliver Curran, will become the Chair of AUCSO replacing longstanding Chair, Les Allan, who is stepping down after serving as Chair for two years, prior to that Vice Chair for two years. Logistics of local national A member of...

The Association of University Chief Security Officers (AUCSO) has announced plans to increase its global reach and expand its range of services and benefits for members. The association, whose membership already includes security staff at 228 higher education institutions worldwide, is targeting significant expansion in the Americas, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. The development plans were confirmed as Les Allan takes over as the new Chairman and Ollie Curran becomes Vice-Chairman. Driv...

The Association of University Chief Security Officers (AUCSO) has announced plans to increase its global reach, and to expand its range of services and benefits for members. The association, whose membership already includes security staff at 228 higher education institutions worldwide, is targeting significant expansion in the Americas, the Middle East, and South East Asia. The development plans were confirmed as Les Allan takes over as the new Chairman, and Ollie Curran becomes Vice-Chairman....